I am extremely lucky enough to have been selected to run The London Marathon 2026 with parkrun Global.

Parkrun was my gateway into running many years ago. My mum used it as a weekly catch up with the girls, followed by breakfast after. The breakfast part was certainly more appealing than the running but I felt I should give it a go and completed my first event back in 2013. With a couple of return visits in between, I really got the bug in 2018 and I completed 34 runs that year, with my time dropping from a 30 something to a mid 23 minute. I quickly discovered the parkrun challenges which had me chasing new locations and times for the likes of the Alphabet challenge and Stopwatch Bingo. 2023 was certainly my busiest year, completing 56 runs, which involved trips to Denmark and Sweden to complete their extra events on public holidays. I have introduced parkrun to a number of work colleagues, selecting a few different locations to visit as a group. As fun as it is to chase your own goals it’s also great to help others hit their targets too!

My favourite part of parkrun is my family and friends’ involvement. All my immediate family participate in parkrun, even both parents who both now sport two new hips. One Uncle has even (at the point of writing this) completed 860 runs, and I believe is comfortable within the top 10 for most parkruns completed in the world!

Parkrun is an amazing worldwide weekly event which offers so much to so many people. The best part, its FREE. You can run, walk, volunteer or just support. There are so many different take aways and it has a different meaning for all of us.

Some like to chase that PB, while others are simply getting their steps in. Some people travel far and wide in attempt to tick off as many new ones as possible, while others return to the same event to have their weekly catch up with friends.

But its not just for those looking to run or walk. People kindly give up their time to volunteer each week to ensure there are events for runners and walkers to visit. Without the volunteers the events simply wouldn’t be able to take place.

Although parkrun is free, your kind donation can help the continued support to keep these events going. This ranges from supporting existing locations, to helping to setup new ones, but most importantly keeping parkrun events free!