Marathon Mann

“He’s got ’em on the list — he’s got ’em on the list; And they’ll none of ’em be missed — they’ll none of ’em be missed.” From The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan.

My mum, Maggie was always one for lists, she was famous for it.  She would have a list for everything, particularly for trips away.  This is something I’ve picked up and I religiously make lists every time we go on holiday to the great amusement of the family.  They do realise though that it’s a great way of de-stressing travel because if you have ticked everything off a well put-together list, you know you haven’t forgotten anything!  The best holiday list I ever came across is very simple and it goes “passport, tickets, money”, the rationale being that if you forget anything else, the money will be able to replace it.  When we leave the house on any trip abroad, I always use that for final peace of mind.

What about travelling to London for the Marathon though?  You don’t need a passport but you do need your registration form, that’s an absolute must because if you don’t have that, it’s game over!  I suppose I could buy rail tickets on the day with money, but that would cost a small fortune compared with the cheap advance tickets that I have, so tickets are on.  I really need to pack my running shoes because money can’t replace the wear that has made them optimal for me & able to carry me blister free through 26.2 miles.  So my minimal London Marathon list is: registration, tickets, running shoes, money.

When we leave tomorrow I will definitely have a list because I can certainly do without the stress of going without something (how could I possibly run so far without my Garmin).  Overall though, above all other things I am looking forward to what people tell me will be an experience of a lifetime.  I am very thankful for the opportunity to do this and for all my friends who have been so supportive and generous.

I also thank God because “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians‬ ‭4:13‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

They say a week is a long time in politics, but how long is 7 days if you are waiting to compete in the world’s greatest marathon?  How nervous should you be before a running event?  Remember this isn’t your “get up, pin your number on your vest, collect a few bits and pieces, hop in the car and park up at the venue about 45 minutes before the start” job. No, this is in a whole different league of logistics; we have a train to catch and then provided it’s on time, 5 hours to collect my number from the Expo (at a place called ExCel which I’ve never been to before on Saturday, a day they say to avoid) and then the following morning, taking the tube then a train together with 40,000 other runners to get to the start venue by 10 AM!  Furtunately I have done marathons before so at least when I cross the start line I kind of THINK I know what I am doing!

The thing to do in the next 7 days is to try and NOT run very much because If I’m not trained up now, then it’s far far too late and all I can do now is mess things up.

I have done enough public speaking in my time to know that it’s a good idea to be a little bit nervous because it sharpens your senses and makes you concentrate on what you are doing.  You don’t want to be too nervous of course because then you just go to pieces and become a blithering idiot!

So it’s all about not panicking or worrying, being organised and striking the right balance and all being well this time next week I’ll be able to blog about how it all went.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew‬ ‭6:34‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

To misquote from that popular Blur number: “Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as parkrun.  And morning soup can be avoided if you take a route straight through what is known as parkrun.”

I don’t want to get too far into the arguments around the publicity that parkrun has got over the last few weeks, but following the brilliant time we all had at the Temple Newsam parkrun pacer event this morning, I wanted to write about why people get so passionate about parkrun.

There have been quite a few misconceptions about what parkrun is in the news.  For example it has been called a “running club” and the national parkrun organisation has been accused of running events across the country like a chain store.  Firstly of course it’s not a running club and many of the people who regularly turn up at parkrun do so because they would have been terrified to approach a running club; experienced members of local running clubs rub shoulders with first-timers.  Secondly, all local events are conceived, organised and run by committed local volunteers.  What parkrun nationally does is provide support to them through the website, results system, milestone t-shirts etc etc.  parkrun totally relies on sponsors to fund equipment, IT and free milestone t-shirts – the accusation that anyone is “on the make” would be laughable if it wasn’t offensive.

So given that parkrun IS a national and international network of weekly running events, what is it that makes people (including me) get so emotional about it?  I think that in order to “get” parkrun you need to understand that it’s so much more.  The thing is that parkrun is a community of the very best kind.  All the people who come to parkrun be them committed club runners or those donning running shoes for the very first time have a common want to be active and fit.  parkrun gives an environment without barriers for people to do that and what makes it a great community is that everyone is supportive of everyone else and great friendships are formed.  parkrun is ignorant of class, race, culture, nationality, age, sex, fitness level and income.  People call parkrun a “family” and I think that when people in a community call it that, it’s getting things right.

I hope that in the light of publicity, parkrun will shine and be seen as a great asset to local communities.  I hope that relationships between parkruns and the landowners where they operate can all be as warm and mutually supportive as it is between Temple Newsam parkrun and Leeds City Council.

Finally, I will take one more liberty with the words of Blur: “All the people, so many people and they all go hand in hand, hand in hand through thier parkrun.”.

“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.” Proverbs 26:4 NIVUK