# Park Run - Great fun!



## Pigeon (Apr 17, 2010)

Hi, well, after registering on parkrun.com I went along to this Saturday's Newcastle event. Park Run organise free 5k races every Saturday morning all over the country, you just turn up and run with a barcode that you get when you register. After you cross the finish line you get your barcode scanned to register your time and position. Then you can try to improve on your time in future weeks.

This morning there were about 90 runners at my event, of all shapes and sizes. Everyone was very friendly and there were volunteers at each corner of the course to cheer you on. There were some super-fast people who did it in 15 minutes, but I was chuffed to come 70th at 28 mins. They were going to a cafe afterwards for a coffee, which I might join in with in future weeks.

Anyway, just thought I'd recommend that if you want to do some free exercise then have a look at the website as there are events all over and new ones seem to be set up all the time - the Newcastle one only started in January with about 20 people. I think it will be good for me if I can get into a routine of going as it was much more sociable than running on my own, so easier to keep going.

Just need to work on my sugar levels now - as it was a 9am start I just had orange juice and a little bit of insulin beforehand, but then I got a bit carried away eating glucotabs and ended up at 15! Oh well, practice makes perfact, I'm not used to running at that time of day.


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## Northerner (Apr 20, 2010)

Sounds terrific Pigeon! I'm hoping that they start one up in Southampton - there are plenty of places they could use, Southampton Common being the most obvious as it's used in the Race for Life. Basingstoke is too far for me to go to get there for a 9 am start. Let us know how the next one goes!


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## Pigeon (May 8, 2010)

Hi Northerner, I saw that they started a ParkRun in Eastleigh today (I get a  weekly newsletter which gives details of new events) - I don't know if Eastleigh is easy for you to get to? I know you're injured at the moment, but maybe it would be of interest to you when you're on the mend!

Unfortunately I haven't made any of the Newcastle ones since my first adventure - I always seem to have something else on Saturdays, but I'm hoping to make it next week.


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## Northerner (May 8, 2010)

That sounds good, thank you Pigeon - Eastleigh is about 5 minutes away by train!  My knee is taking longer than expected to heal, still black and blue after over a week now


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