There’s a fitness phenomenon sweeping the globe.
It’s open to everyone whether you’re an Olympic athlete or a first time trainer-wearer, old or young, large or small. It won’t cost you a penny to join, there’s no sweaty gym involved and, aside from the aforementioned footwear, no specialist gear required.
We’re talking about parkrun and, with over 600,000 runners in the UK, you may well already be part of the parkrun family. And if you’re not, you probably won’t have to look too far to find an event near you – there are currently 305 locations holding weekly runs in the UK alone.
This family-friendly, mixed ability 5 km run (parkrunners will never call it a race) takes place every Saturday in green spaces across the land. Now in its 11th year and ever-growing, one of the things that makes parkrun so popular is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Never has the old adage ‘it’s the taking part that counts’ been truer. This relaxed, friendly approach makes parkrun an easy first step for anyone wanting to try and get into doing regular exercise for the first time.
The not-for-profit events are free to enter and staffed by a dedicated army of volunteers. And they can become truly addictive, especially when there’s a milestone t-shirt at stake. After completing your milestone number of runs (10, 50, 100, 250 and 500) parkrunners are rewarded with a t-shirt, with a different colour awarded for each milestone reached. And although it’s definitely not a race you can always try and beat your own time as every runner is issued with their own personal barcode to help keep track of run times.
So if your New Year’s resolution to get fit has already fallen by the wayside don’t give up. There’s always next Saturday to get started. Register at www.parkrun.org.uk