Rachael - what a star..!
After a week off due to injury (mild sciatica - very irritating with the Edinburgh Marathon Hairy Haggis relay just 2 weeks away) it was back to Endcliffe Park this week to offer my services as a parkrun volunteer.
Nice chats on my arrival with work colleagues Frazer and Steve before the 500+ runners of all shapes and sizes departed on their two laps of the park. A minor incident occurred at the start in which one runner hit the deck, but thankfully he emerged, a bit battered and bruised, but otherwise unscathed and soon rejoined the pack.
My volunteer role was to help run the funnel alongside Rachael from Barnsley who, I discovered later, is also a colleague of mine at SHU but whom I had never met - what a small world! Rachael was perfect for the job - a self-confessed loud, bossy lady, she clearly knew what she was doing and certainly took no prisoners, least of all me, but in a friendly way. I simply did as I was told - just as well as the logistics of organising a funnel system to cope with that many runners are quite challenging and there needs to be someone in charge. Pleased to say it worked like clockwork, mostly due to Rachael it has to be said..!.
I had to leave pretty swiftly at the end to take the dog to the vets (a small lump on on her tail and we thought she might be in season) but before I left Ryan, the race director, was heard to mutter that Rachael could probably organise the whole parkrun on her own, no bother - I wouldn't go quite that far Ryan. Rachael - you are a star!
A thought has occurred to me... I wonder if we could encourage more parkrunners to visit other events in the city and surrounding region. Not only could this help to relieve some of the pressure on the busier parkruns like Endcliffe Park, it is also a great way to see the city and get to know people from different walks of life. Diversity and inclusion are right at the heart of the parkrun mission - encouraging more people to mix and match is one relatively simple way of enabling this mission to be achieved. My parkrun tour is certainly enriching my life - it could enrich others' too and in a small way make a contribution to social integration and inclusion in and around the city.
What are people's thoughts..?
For the animal lovers amongst you, pleased to say that the lump turned out to be benign and yes, she is in season, so a challenging few weeks ahead making sure she doesn't get too friendly with any male dogs - couldn't cope with puppies at our age!
Hoping to get back to running this week and get a few miles in my legs in preparation for the aforementioned relay. The link to our fundraising page is attached - any donations welcomed.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/chris-cutforth
After a week off due to injury (mild sciatica - very irritating with the Edinburgh Marathon Hairy Haggis relay just 2 weeks away) it was back to Endcliffe Park this week to offer my services as a parkrun volunteer.
Nice chats on my arrival with work colleagues Frazer and Steve before the 500+ runners of all shapes and sizes departed on their two laps of the park. A minor incident occurred at the start in which one runner hit the deck, but thankfully he emerged, a bit battered and bruised, but otherwise unscathed and soon rejoined the pack.
My volunteer role was to help run the funnel alongside Rachael from Barnsley who, I discovered later, is also a colleague of mine at SHU but whom I had never met - what a small world! Rachael was perfect for the job - a self-confessed loud, bossy lady, she clearly knew what she was doing and certainly took no prisoners, least of all me, but in a friendly way. I simply did as I was told - just as well as the logistics of organising a funnel system to cope with that many runners are quite challenging and there needs to be someone in charge. Pleased to say it worked like clockwork, mostly due to Rachael it has to be said..!.
I had to leave pretty swiftly at the end to take the dog to the vets (a small lump on on her tail and we thought she might be in season) but before I left Ryan, the race director, was heard to mutter that Rachael could probably organise the whole parkrun on her own, no bother - I wouldn't go quite that far Ryan. Rachael - you are a star!
A thought has occurred to me... I wonder if we could encourage more parkrunners to visit other events in the city and surrounding region. Not only could this help to relieve some of the pressure on the busier parkruns like Endcliffe Park, it is also a great way to see the city and get to know people from different walks of life. Diversity and inclusion are right at the heart of the parkrun mission - encouraging more people to mix and match is one relatively simple way of enabling this mission to be achieved. My parkrun tour is certainly enriching my life - it could enrich others' too and in a small way make a contribution to social integration and inclusion in and around the city.
What are people's thoughts..?
For the animal lovers amongst you, pleased to say that the lump turned out to be benign and yes, she is in season, so a challenging few weeks ahead making sure she doesn't get too friendly with any male dogs - couldn't cope with puppies at our age!
Hoping to get back to running this week and get a few miles in my legs in preparation for the aforementioned relay. The link to our fundraising page is attached - any donations welcomed.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/chris-cutforth
Good idea about people visiting other parkrun's, although it might mean driving, and parkrun encourage people to walk/cycle to the park wherever possible :-)
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