Parkrun triumphs 2023
2023 was another great year of parkrun triumphs for my family – from my 78 year old dad to my 8 year old nephew (obviously he was still 7 on 1st January, in case you’re confused).
On 1st January, my nephew ran his 50th parkrun. A very good achievement for a 7-year-old!
On 4th February, my husband volunteered as pacer for the first time – something he has wanted to do for a long time.
Also on 4th February, my dad ran his fastest time since he had Covid – 43:28. For anyone who doesn’t know, my dad was on a ventilator in December 2020 and nearly died of Covid. Although he has no long Covid, it did affect his running. His PB before Covid was 36:41.
My dad got himself another post-Covid PB on 11th February – 43:02.
On 11th February, I improved my time for the fifth consecutive week – going from 24:33 on 7th January to 23:10 on 11th February. I also got my highest EVER age grading at 71.51% (my age grading for my PB of 22:23 in 2017 was 69.77%).
On 18th February, I failed to make it a sixth consecutive week of improving my times, but I did get 23:10 and I was 2nd female. As our parkrun has over 400 runners every week, it is very rare that I am 2nd female. I’ve probably done it only three or four times before.
Also on 18th February, my sister got a new PB of 25:07. She was also first in her age category, possibly for the first time ever!
On 25th February, my nephew got a new PB of 28:09.
On 4th March, my nephew got a huge new PB of 27:33 and my 10-year-old niece got a PB of 34:20.
On 18th March, my husband ran his 250th parkrun – a very big milestone.
On 15th April, my husband and I ran Cannon Hill parkrun in Birmingham and I recorded my best time of the year – 23:08. I was 11th female out of 212, first in my age category and got an age grading of 71.61% (the age gradings make it easy to compare runners of different ages and genders).
Also on 15th April, my sister ran a new PB of 24:28 – her first time below 25 minutes!
On 6th May, I paced at parkrun for the first time. I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t completely accurate! At our parkrun, we always have pacers on the first Saturday of the month. My husband has done it every month since February. He now does the 24 minutes.
On 13th May, my mum did her 50th parkrun. She actually did her 49th in November, but was ill for a long time over winter. It was very good to have her back!
On 20th May, I ran my 300th parkrun. It’s not an official milestone, but I thought it was worth celebrating.
On 27th May, my husband, eldest and I all ran Severn Bridge parkrun – my dream parkrun. And I got my first PB since 2017 – 22:15. I genuinely didn’t think I could run that fast any more! I was 3rd female and got an age grading of 74.46%. I rarely get over 70%.
On 24th June, my dad ran his 200th parkrun. It’s not an official milestone, but is a fantastic achievement for a man of 78.
On 1st July, I volunteered as pacer for the third time. It was also my 25th time volunteering, which is an official parkrun milestone, with a Tshirt! I’m the first member of our family to volunteer 25 times.
On 19th August, at The Old Showfield parkrun, my eldest ran his fastest time this year – 22:36. I was 2nd female at The Old Showfield in 23:00.
On 26th August, I ran my fastest time at my home parkrun since 2018 – 23:01.
On 30th September, my husband and I ran Bushy parkrun – where parkrun started back in 2004. My husband ran his fastest time since 2020 – 21:17.
On 21st October, my husband, eldest and I returned to Severn Bridge parkrun. My husband and son both got a Severn Bridge PB and I ran my fastest parkrun ever – 21:52 – my first time under 22 minutes! I got an amazing age grading of 76.68%.
On 28th October, my husband and I did double volunteering for the first time. We did course set-up, then I did timekeeping and he was funnel manager. Course set-up was fairly stressful!
On 4th November, we went one better and did triple volunteering! We did course set-up in horrendous wind and rain, followed by pacing and barcode scanning.
So that’s our year of parkrun triumphs. We look forward to seeing what 2024 will bring for the whole family.