My first parkrun

This morning I finally took the plunge and took part in my first official parkrun. These are 5km timed runs that take place all around the UK on a Saturday morning. The photo shows some of the keener bods doing their warm up stretches before the race - about 220 people ran today.

I'd texted a work friend before I left as she'd been nagging me to register for a while. I knew that she wouldn't be able to run as she has a cold. What I didn't expect was to her to have left her sick bed, jumped on her bike and come down to the river to cheer me on! I also met another work friend there too.... quite the place to be on a Saturday morning.

So with husband acting as pace maker and supplier of encouraging words, I set off, ran all the way round and made it back about a minute faster than my practice run a couple of weeks ago. My friends saw me approaching the finishing line and shouted out my name - it really helped me make it to the line. I wasn't even last!

About to go into the garden (still a bit like a bomb site) and read my book group book for a while. We've run out of green recycling bags so we are a bit scuppered on the clearing and chopping until the bin collection on Monday. Good excuse to sit in the sun rather than work in it!