On 5th August, 2017 I attended my first ever parkrun. I'd heard about it back in January that year but it took me all those many months, and travelling through several states of Australia, before I finally decided to go along and find out what it was all about.
Since then I've become somewhat obsessed with these free, weekly, times community events. I've been to a parkrun, somewhere, almost every single Saturday since that fateful August day.
Yes, we had enforced break during 2020 for that little thing called a pandemic but despite that I've managed to, as of this morning, walk or run (mostly run) 200 parkruns. Since every single parkrun is always 5km, 200 x 5km = 1000km of parkruns.
There are many recognised and celebrated milestones in parkrun. See the photo below to see which ones I've already achieved.
But to me, 1000km is more meaningful. I can't imagine doing that distance in one go. And if you'd told me, back when I started, that I would do 1000km on my feet, on these courses, I might have said,
"Tell 'er she's dreamin'".
And yet I have.
To me this reminds me that we are actually capable of waaaaaaaaay more than we realise, especially if we chunk really big goals down into very bite-sized pieces and allow ourselves to eat each chunk one slow mouthful at a time, over time.
Amazing things have happened over that 1000km. Yes, I discovered I could run faster than I ever believed was possible.
Yes, I travelled to very cool places that I might not otherwise have gone.
Yes, I discovered how incredibly joyful volunteering can be when, at parkrun, I got exposed to the idea that I could train to lead visually impaired athletes.
But more wonderful than all of those things (and they're pretty great, let's be honest) is the fact that I met my love at a parkrun.
If you told me that the next 1000km would bring in equal amounts of things to be grateful for then my feet would be walking out the door, ready to go. 👣
{All screenshots were taken on my phone inside the 5K app and marked up using the photo editor on my phone. The three other photos were taken at Ecco Ripley parkrun this morning, where the magic happened, by said adventure mate, parkrun mate, life mate, @new.things.}