Saturday 16th October

Today was the first day of my improptue week off in October. I had accrued a tonne of annual leave this year thanks to a very busy rotation in children's oncology during Oct 2020 to Sept 2021.

I had a busy start to Saturday. First business was sorting out Chevin Forest parkrun as run director this week. This was the second time I have done the role. And it was much easier this time. Last time was event number 3, and it was very busy with around 300 runners. This time, event number 8 was only just under 200. So, everything seemed a bit more calm. I was at the park early again for the pre-event course check, and was greeted with a beautiful brilliant burning sunrise.

A nice part was bumping into a couple of colleagues from work. The megaphone was broken this week so I had to shout very loud at the time.

This is a copy from my the run report posted on the parkrun website:

Autumn was well underway for Event #8 at Chevin Forest parkrun. The mornings are getting noticeably colder and darker as we go outside for our weekly parkrun fix. On the Chevin, the trees are starting to turn orange and brown colours. Leaves are starting to gather on the forest floor, on top of ever increasing amounts of mud!

Once again, I was extremely grateful and proud to lead a wonderful group of volunteers this week. The roster was filling up steadily through the week (don't forget you can volunteer at any time beforehand, just drop us an email to book your place!). We still had a few open spots and I am thankful to those who responded to our request on Friday. We even had a couple more impromptu volunteers before the start, the more the merrier!

A special mention goes to Lucy who has volunteered most weeks with us so far. Unfortunately, parkrun does not have a 'dog poop scooper' role. But I wanted to highlight the fact that this was one example of the many ways that the volunteer team goes above and beyond to ensure that parkrun is an enjoyable experience for everyone.

I was very disappointed to learn that the batteries in our newly acquired megaphone have run flat already. We will be quickly trying to figure out a solution to this. So apologies from myself that the run brief was again reliant on the strength of my voice. Thank you to everyone for respecting the brief, it contains a lot of important information!

And so, with a "3, 2, 1....go!:, event #8 was underway. It is great to see everyone set off on their parkrun journey, and even better to see them arrive at the finish. Another special mention goes to Lorna and Matt Langdon who were barcode scanning for the first time. I think I was still fuelled with some adrenaline from the pre-run brief and must have given a clear, but slightly loud, set of instructions for them. They certainly did a great job, and a key part of making sure everyone gets the correct time.

Everything was very relaxed at the finish line, that is until the first finisher came around the corner. Then, without any need for direction, everyone turned their attention to the task at hand.

Another thank you goes to everyone for keeping the finish area clear and maintaining distance between all of us at the finish. However, I admit that another rewarding part of participating in parkrun is the social aspect afterwards. I was pleased to catch up with several colleagues of mine from Leeds Teaching Hospitals, which is always nice to see people outside of work.

In what seemed like no time, I caught sight of Vicky wearing the orange tail walker hi-vis cross the finish line to signal the end of the event for this week. We packed up and moved the equipment back to the Chilli Yard for next week. Over a well earned cup of tea to warm up, I was pleased to see there were no issues with the results and they were quickly uploaded to parkrun HQ.

All in all, another successful event. See you next week!

Stephen - RD Event #8

I had to do a quick turnaround after the results were uploaded. I said goodbye to Debbie and Phil. Kjell asked for a lift back and so I dropped him back in Otley. I then picked Kathryn up and we straight out to Ilkley to collect her flowers, some cakes and a paper for me.

When we got back, I put the last of my things in my bag and we had a quick coffee before it was time for me to leave. I walked up to the station and took my heavy bag and bike (and flask of coffee).

It was a nice uneventful ride down. First class was nice, and I got a seat to myself. The coffee and cake I had packed was very nice. And, there was a lovely sunset by the time we got down to Bristol.

My parents were there to greet me at Tiverton Parkway. And we had a good car ride home that took about an hour and a quarter. We had pasta for dinner.