We did our second takeover of Upton Court parkrun today on what could have been a very wet day however the sun was on our side.

Arriving earlier than usual to meet Alison the Run Director for our marshal’s briefing. High-vis on we made our way to the start to listen to the welcome brief.

Not fast…just furious

I remember my first every parkrun, which coincidentally was at Upton Court Park. I was coming to meet the Run with Active Slough team as my initiation for my run leader role (or just to meet the team) back in September 2017.

I had heard of parkrun before but with 3 young children and Saturday clubs in place coming down to experience it was always a bit difficult.

What I still remember is how friendly everyone was on my first visit. Not knowing a single person there yet people still saying ‘hi’.

I was one of those ‘naked’ runners who ran without a watch so had no idea what time I did my first ever parkrun in. Therefore when the email came in it was a lovely surprise to see a 28 minute finish and 4th female in my age category…though the word Veteran took me all day to get over! I really enjoyed the run and since then have been back as many times as I can.

A park, some friends and a run

Parkrun has come on a long way since it started as a runners meet up event, to now being more focused on improving health and well-being, inspiring people to take exercise and meet others as well as the crucial volunteers who help make it happen.

About time we got involved

With the launch of Salt Hill junior parkrun tomorrow, Ciaran and I as the new Run Directors decided to take on the high pressure role of time-keepers! Which actually was more enjoyable than we thought it would have been. Waving in the first and the final runners was so satisfying. What a great way to see every runner come through the finishers funnel - all 194 of them.

Kam was on finish token duty making sure each runner got their token.

Cheer-ios

Our on field marshals team were Gauri, Nisha and Sut – cheer squading the runners and making sure they went the right way round the park. This was Guari’s first ever experience of parkrun and what an experience it was.

Walk this way

Our tail walking team consisted off Sara and Manjit. This was Manjit’s first task with Goodgym, so great to have you on board.

Lets hit the Bar-code...I've got free tokens

The dream team on scanning and sorting duties were Jenni, Ruth and Lucy, adhering to the parkrun guidelines on scanning those barcodes.

Picture Perfect

And our tourist Goodgymer Andy from Hounslow was on photo duty (hopefully not all selfies of himself)! Thanks for coming down to support us Andy.

Thank you to Upton Court parkrun for having us over to do the takeover and to all of our brilliant Goodgym volunteers for being amazing as always.

Already looking forward to our next takeover.