First Parkrun Completed!
Hey everybody!! I made a post last week about how I was struggling with a bit of anxiety that would creep in every time I considered showing up to parkrun. More than anything, I just want to say a huge thank you. I didn't get around to replying because honestly I thought I was venting to the wind and it felt a bit overwhelming, but I did not expect such a nice amount of responses, but they really helped to alleviate my concerns. I'm really glad I went.
As for my race itself, I have a couple things that I want to share for those interested - a few people were curious after my initial post, so this won't be a weekly thing (at least not as separate posts!), but maybe it'll help a few other people in the same boat I was at.
First off, it is HARD. I ran the course with basically zero expectations of the course itself, zero training & not having done serious, consistent exercise since I was in school 8 years ago. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I definitely underestimated the difficulty of jogging it. My local course (Bournemouth) is fairly flat with only a little bit of a hilly section, so I thought it'd be fine - I thought wrong. It got to a point that I genuinely considered just giving up after the second lap and I walked more of it than I had initially hoped.
More importantly though, for anyone else in a similar boat, the difficulty didn't make it any less enjoyable. One of my big concerns was that I would struggle, and it would take the fun out of it, but when I finished? I was proud of myself in a way that I have not been for something physical in a very long time. My time wasn't the fastest, sure, but I finished a 5k with basically no training and I had a great time, and that pride is the feeling I remember from earlier.
I was worried about the run having a competitive feeling so to speak, but I actually really loved how non-competitive it felt. It made me feel so at ease, and I think the fact that I wasn't the only person running slowly helped me to enjoy the experience so much more because while I wasn't competing with people, I was aware that others were around me, so I could relax and didn't have much of the self-consciousness about my speed.
With that said, I do have to say my only SLIGHT negative is nothing do with parkrun itself, but just that I need to try to overcome my own thoughts. I was one of the slowest people in their 20s, and at times, that lingering doubt came in of "oh everybody is going to think you're stupid and unfit". I KNOW it's irrational, and everybody either is supportive or just simply doesn't care, but I think that's going to be a mental hurdle to overcome as I (hope to) keep doing these! I do also have to give an incredible shoutout to all the volunteers - one specific marshal I think could tell I was struggling and was really supportive at a time where this feeling was really making me down. Definitely makes me want to volunteer at some stage.
Sorry for the ramble! But yeah, I had a great time overall and once again I want to thank you all for the support, it really was the catalyst for me to actually show up and not just keep having it as a concept. I have to skip next week, but I'm committing myself to at least two more (I want to do Bournemouth again, and I've also heard Poole is a great local one) but if they stay as enjoyable as I found this one, I can't see myself stopping.