I join the Totnes 5k Parkrun every Saturday morning. OMG.
Preview
A rat, a rodent, not a metaphor for a form of human behaviour, took up residence under the kuti (meditation hut) at the bottom of my garden. For several months, the rat and the birds ate the daily provision of bird seed and played together as well. Then another rat took up residence under the hut. This could give rise to 10 baby rats from one litter.
Mind the cracks
Last September (2024), I caught one of the rats and took it in a bag for three kilometres to set it free.
About five minutes walk from home, I saw more than 120 runners on the track just before 9 am on a Saturday morning at the beginning of the Sharpham House 700-acre estate. A marshal told me it was the start of the five kilometre (3.1 miles) Parkrun, beginning weekly in Totnes in 2023.
She invited me to join the run the following Saturday. Depending on the weather, number of participants range from 75 to 150, open to all ages, from children to seasoned pensioners.
It has proved to be a lovely start for the weekend for many, not only for locals, but for visitors from within the UK and from overseas. For some of us, it was challenging.
History
Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a Zimbabwean born runner, living in London, organised the first Parkun in Bushy Park in London in October 2004 with 13 participants and a stopwatch to time their run.
From this modest beginning, Parkrun began to expand in numerous locations in the UK and worldwide. By 2018, more than five million were registered globally. Today, there are more than 2000 locations offering Parkruns across 23 countries and on five continents.
Freely available to everybody, Parkrun, a UK charity, offers a service supporting local communities, using a wide range of settings worldwide for the runs, including parks, beaches, forests, and even prisons. Participants can walk, jog, run. On the run, you will see a parent or guardian pushing a buggy with a child or two inside the buggy, those walking, fast club runners and those jogging and chatting. Elsewhere in parks in the city, you will see people in wheelchairs and people running with their dog.
We carry with us a unique Parkrun ID, which the marshals scan at the end of the run to record the completion time. Two or three hours after the race, we receive by email such information as:
List Of Names Of All The Runners
Number Of Our Parkruns
Gender
Our Finishing Position
Age Group
Our Parkrun time on the day
Personal Best Time
Personal Experience
Last Saturday, I completed 25 Parkruns – regarded as the first milestone. I see some runners with 250 or 500 Parkruns to their credit, indicated on their t- shirt. Week before, I managed a personal best.
Pep talk at just before run starts
So far, I have come in first every week in my age category (80 – 84). On first glance, this might look impressive. It isn’t. I can’t come in second. I could reach the finishing line two hours later or walk backwards and still be first. So far, there is nobody else older than this wallah. Hence first.
I remember the first few Saturdays for the aches and pains in the range of body sensations. It made a long, long sitting meditation in the cross-legged posture like a holiday camp.
In the Totnes Parkrun, we run uphill for several minutes from the start. I renamed this section Mount Everest. Thoughts also arose while jogging such as I could be sitting in the Hairy Barista coffee shop or Coffee *1 in Totnes High Street having a delicious, decaffeinated oat latte instead.
To make the run as easy as possible, I don’t look up when jogging uphill. I look two or three metres ahead, except when facing concetre cracks (see photo), potholes and rough bits of track. Nor hang my head down as the OMG thought might arise. The body language of looking up and looking down could whisper in the mind pursuing triumph or facing defeat.
With ease, waist high children regularly run past me, and other oldies. The youngsters have much shorter legs. That means they run twice as far. It doesn’t make it easy for the rest of us seeing them flying past. By the time some of us finish, the kids and their parents are probably back at home, had a shower, with a smoothie and muesli for breakfast ( this is Totnes) and gone to play on the swings in the local park.
Were the body sensations or thoughts or resistance presenting the bigger challenge? I suspect both were equal or it changed between sensations and thoughts. I did not wake up on Saturday morning with a spark of excitement about climbing Mount Everest but did experience the thought of heading in the opposite direction for a coffee and further beneficial reading of the 600-page Buddhism and Japanese Culture by Dr. D.T. Suzuki.
I have a goal to complete the 5k run in under 30 minutes without having to use a great deal of willpower to break the barrier. Hopefully in this lifetime.
Nshorna, my daughter, will often ring later on Saturday morning to check I am still alive. Sometimes, I felt like checking the Totnes Times to see if I am in the obituary column. I use to regard PB as meaning Probably Back or Probably Breathing.
A decade or two ago, I put in my will the wish to be buried on the Sharpham Estate burial ground. Nshorna knows I don’t like to fuss about anything. Dig a hole and drop me in, I told her. The track we use on the Sharpham Estate for running is only five minutes walk away from the burial ground. Very convenient.
The Saturday run has become much easier as the years, ooops typo, weeks, went by.
Benefits, the Rat, Parkun Sign Up and my Change of View
Research shows Parkrun contributes to the health and well being of participants, as well as an active engagement in sport, rather than as a spectator. Participants make new friends and develop a sense of community. It is all free of charge. The marshals take great care of us along the route with a pep talk before we start.
I am grateful for the rat for introducing me to Parkrun. I found a suitable home for the rat in a hole in a stone wall, centuries old, and left the creature with a small supply of rice crackers coated with peanut butter for breakfast.
A few days later, the remaining rat squatting under the hut left of its own accord to find a new residence. Probably shared accommodation. It can be a challenge living alone.
Do consider joining Parkrun. You can sign up for a Parkrun on the website or turn up and talk with a marshal.
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/
PS. You might think. Gosh, a 5k run sounds like hell. It did feel close to hell. The view changed. I have been enjoying the Saturday jog for many weeks now and, time to time, even go for a 10K jog during the week. Not on the Sharpham Estate. On the track by the river. It’s flat. Heaven.
Love
Christopher
I am most impressed!!
Ros Langdon.
Such a beautiful reminder of how life nudges us in the most unexpected ways, even via a rat! Thanks for sharing your path, inspiring and heartwarming