Typecast

This weekend I earned my 25th credit for volunteering at parkrun UK . During the pandemic, I made a conscious decision to participate in parkrun more when it returned, both as a runner and a volunteer.   Then I broke my foot.   Parkrun returned whilst I was still injured so I rocked up a couple of times to my local spots (Witton parkrun and Hyndburn parkrun) and offered to help out. After a few weeks, the Events Director asked if I'd like to join the team of Run Directors at Witton and I jumped at the chance. What a great opportunity! I now volunteer a minimum of 2 out of 7 weeks on the Run Director rota but I'm always there to lend a hand when I can and when needed. There's plenty of chances to gain a run and volunteer credit on the same day but I also really enjoy static volunteer positions like timekeeping, barcode scanning and marshalling at the top of The Beast (like today!). I love parkrun - it's good for my mental health and well-being. I enjoy seeing everyone...

A couple of months ago I noticed a request on our running club newsletter to organise a "club takeover" for a local parkrun so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Hyndburn parkrun is a fairly new parkrun course (this was their 46th event), it's one of our nearby parkrun courses and is one that I really enjoy running. So I was put in touch with their Run Director, we chose a takeover date and I was given a list of jobs roles that I needed to fill on the day. Our club members really enjoy parkrun and we have at least 12 courses within an hours drive from our central point in Blackburn. This year we have a couple of challenges available to encourage you to get out of bed on a Saturday morning; there's a "12 in 12" challenge where we can be awarded a badge for visiting twelve different locations during the year and we have a volunteers badge available for rocking up and helping out on at least 10 occasions in a year.  One thing I do love about our...