Parkrun triumphs 2022

2022 was another year of triumphs at parkrun for my family. Here are our highlights…

On 1st January, my 6 year old nephew got a massive new PB of 32:04 – knocking 2 minutes and 44 seconds off the PB he’d set three weeks earlier. My niece, who is 9, also got a new PB – of 42:49.

On 15th January, my brother-in-law reached his 100th parkrun milestone.

On 5th February, my nephew smashed his PB again – getting 29:44!

On 30th April, after struggling with injury, I ran 23:18 – my best time at my home parkrun since parkrun came back after Covid. I was also third female, which was my best gender position for a long time.

On 14th May, we had a big family volunteering session – me, my husband, my sister, my mum, my dad and my niece. It was the first time my mum and dad had volunteered.

On 21st May, I ran my 250th parkrun. This is a big milestone, which has its own special Tshirt – not to mention a silly outfit to wear on the day at our home parkrun.

On 6th August, my sister’s family ran Swansea Bay parkrun and my niece got a new PB of 39:37.

On 20th August, my husband, son, daughter and I all ran Eden Project parkrun for the second time. It was my son’s second parkrun of the year and my daughter’s first time doing parkrun this year. We all got an Eden Project PB, apart from my husband. I ran my second fastest time of the year so far – 23:25.

On 27th August, my son ran Hasenheide parkrun in Berlin – only the second time any of us have done parkrun abroad.

Also on 27th August, my sister said she wanted to get a PB – and she did! She ran 25:58, her first time going under 26 minutes and her first PB for nearly a year.

On 10th September, my sister ran another PB – 25:39.

On 10th September, I finished running and realised there were only two people scanning barcodes. So I started scanning barcodes myself. It was the first time I’d ever finished running and started volunteering!

On 17th September, my sister ran her 100th parkrun.

On 1st October, my niece ran a new PB of 34:54.

Also on 1st October, Hetty completed her first parkrun. She’d run a bit of it a few times, but had never made it all the way round before. (Sadly there are no finish tokens or official times for dogs, although I suspect it’s only a matter of time!)

On 8th October, my niece and nephew both ran PBs – 34:40 for my niece and 29:40 for my nephew.

On 15th October, my niece ran her 50th parkrun – one of the official parkrun milestones.

On 22nd October, my nephew ran another PB – 29:39 – and he was 1st in his age category. Not bad for a 7-year-old!

Also on 22nd October, my son’s girlfriend ran a 40 second PB – 25:42. She always runs with her dog, but today she borrowed a faster dog – Hetty! I volunteered in a new role – parkwalker – which is about encouraging more people to walk at parkrun.

On 29th October, my nephew ran a massive PB of 28:30. Not bad for a 7-year-old!

On 5th November, my nephew ran yet another PB – of 28:10. Also on 5th November, my niece ran her 50th parkrun – one of the official parkrun milestones.

On 12th November, my parents did their first ever parkrun tourism. The whole family went to Tewkesbury parkrun, which was my first parkrun tourism venue nearly six years ago. I was 2nd lady, 17th overall and ran my fastest time of the year – 23:10.

On 19th November, I went back to Tewkesbury parkrun. This time I was 1st lady, 7th overall and ran it in a new fastest time for the year of 23:09.

Here’s to 2023 and another year of parkrun triumphs for us all…