Parkruns and Campfires
I took part in my first “Parkrun” yesterday morning – a regular weekly 5 kilometre run around the big park in town. Parkrun operates all over the world – you can register for free, and attend any of the runs.
About 300 of us started the run, which looped twice around the centre of the park before heading off along the river, and then back. I was nowhere near fit enough to run it, and the conditions were not ideal (the humidity was ridiculous), but I got on with it, ran it at my own pace, walked a little towards the end – and finished in a somewhat respectable time.
After a couple more runs in the week I'll hopefully keep improving my fitness. To be honest dipping under 30 minutes would be fine. My only reason to do park run is to keep fairly fit – some people that turned up took it all tremendously seriously – and that's fine – it's just not why I'm doing it. I sit in front of a desk most of the week – it's just an excuse to get off my backside.
After getting home from running and having a shower, I immediately turned round and went grocery shopping – to get food and drink for gathering of friends and neighbours on the green outside our house. It had been planned for weeks – and of course the weather tried to throw a gigantic spanner in the works.
I should get an award for continuing to play frisbee in the pouring rain while lots of others huddled under tents and cheered me on.
The rain eventually stopped, and neighbours slowly appeared – forming a circle of chairs around a firepit that burned late into the night. Although I'm usually quite introverted, I got over myself and spent the evening chatting with people I've not met before – and laughing at the antics of “the usual suspects” that drank a little too much. I dread to think how their head might be today.
It struck me during the evening how lucky we are to be in the company of so many nice people in our neighbourhood. I quietly watched a little girl from across the way tending to the fire for a good hour, closely watched by several nearby adults. I imagine she will remember evenings like last night for the rest of her life.
Anyway.
Today is about resting, and watching TV. Time to go make a hot drink and switch the Olympics on.