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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Alan Martin

‘It’s absurdly welcoming’: why I do parkrun

A smiling man in a green running shirt takes a selfie under a bridge at a parkrun event in Japan.
Big in Japan … our writer joins the morning crowd at Futakotamagawa parkrun in Tokyo. Photograph: Alan Martin/The Guardian

I remember my first parkrun: Wimbledon in November 2014. I also remember the words I said to a friend at the end: “never again”. That was a promise that I didn’t so much break as grind into dust: I would complete 355 more of the free community 5ks over the next 12 years.

My modest running achievements are nothing to brag about: I’ve never run further than 10km, and my times are middling. In fact, the world record for running 5km while juggling (a niche sport delightfully known as “joggling”) beats my non-juggling PB by more than eight minutes.

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