It’s New Year’s Day and a Saturday, so this morning the five of us set off to blow away some cobwebs at our local Parkrun. The grass was still crispy with frost, but the sun was shining and moods were buoyant.
Parkrun hasn’t really taken off in France in the same way as some other countries – there are only eight events in the whole country, but luckily one of them is just ten minutes’ drive away at La Ramée (near Toulouse). It’s organised week-in week-out by a wonderful Franco-British family (and a few helpers) who are super welcoming and fabulous cake-bakers to boot!
YY and SB are fairly sporty, but neither had run 5km before so I wasn’t sure how it would go. Luckily the route takes you past the finish at the halfway point, so we could bail out then if necessary.
We popped DD in the Chariot and lined up for the special New Year’s Day 10am start. 3-2-1 we were off!
I needn’t have worried about the kids’ stamina – they were great. SB (aged 6) actually pulled away from his sister, so he sped off with his dad and finished in a smidge over 32 minutes. YY (she’s 8) jogged alongside me and the buggy and we came in two minutes behind the boys.
What a great way to start the day…. and indeed the year! I was surprised and proud at what the kids managed to do and they enjoyed their chocolate cake and then bobbed along on their wave of good endorphins for the rest of the day.
If you’ve never tried Parkrun then you must. It truly is for everyone – ours is only little but from 22 runners today there were finishing times between 22 and 58 minutes, ages from six to 65, two pushchairs and a pup! More info here.
