Starting Out with parkrun

For the last couple of years, I've made plans to exercise more via the various long distance paths in and around London, but those plans haven't worked out too well. I've started each year with regular walks, but they got further and further apart as the months went by and fizzled out entirely by the summer. I have still to finish the Capital Ring, and it's on my 'to do' list for 2018, but I have another plan for regular exercise.parkrun organises timed 5km events every week in parks across the UK and in some other countries too. They are free, open to everyone regardless of ability and you don't even have to run. My sister and brother-in-law have been taking part for a year or so, enjoy them and are fitter now than they have been for some years.

I looked up my local parkrun (Thurrock in Essex) and decided to sign up at the start of the year. Since these events are run at a set time each Saturday, I'm hoping that they will become part of my routine each weekend, a habit that I will have no reason to break. It'll be impossible to postpone them because of work or bad weather which was all too easy with my previous un-timetabled walking. 

I'm pleased to report that I've done all four runs in January, though the first two were entirely walks and I didn't run very much of the next two either. However, that's 20km under my belt so far and I am actually enjoying the exercise.

Being a scrapbooker, there's no way that this is going undocumented and I've started a new album dedicated to parkrun so that I can record my progress. I'm keeping this one clean and simple, with photos and journalling obviously, but little embellishment and nothing bulky. I've chosen 8x8, partly because I had a spare album in that size, but also because it feels 'right'. The pages are small enough for one run per page when I have lots to write, which was the case initially, but also large enough for several photos/runs per page without feeling cramped once I get in the swing of things and have less journalling.

I started the album with a title page, cutting the parkrun logo on my Silhouette backing it with white cardstock, and adding stickers for the year. I found a paper strip with the words 'the beginning of every journey starts with a single step' which I thought was appropriate and stuck it below the logo, then added torn washi at the top and bottom of the page to give me three horizontal lines on the page.

My first 'proper' page is an introduction with journalling about parkrun and why I'm doing it, similar to what I've written here. I also filled a Project Life card with parkrun-related words and phrases using various letter stickers.

Page three is dedicated to my first parkrun, and has loads of journalling again. My husband ran too, so there's one photo of him at the finish and one of me with some other runners. I've decided to use tickets to record the key details of each run (date, temperature, weather and time taken). I have a ticket stamp and I've sized a Silhouette cut-file to match it so I can make as many of these as I want with no fear of running out later in the year.

The next page records my second parkrun (which my husband didn't attend as he was elsewhere), with photos from the start and finish. There's normally a volunteer photographer at each event, which is great for a scrapbooker, but the quality and composition are variable. I set a PB this time, and have decided that I will mark each one in the album with an extra shape and the letters PB next to the ticket. 

My husband was back the following week and my sister joined us so I have three photos, one for each of us, and a fair amount of journalling once again. I actually ran a short stretch this week, which contributed to another PB.

Last Saturday was week four, and I was on my own again. Just one photo, taken as we set off (it's the only one I'm in) and I only used half a page; I was expecting/planning for this to happen and later in the year, as the runs become routine, I can even see me fitting four to a page, with just photos and tickets.

I plan to continue with parkrun, to add to the album each week and to share the pages with you at the end of each month. Please start badgering me if I fail to keep this up.