2022 started in a new parkrun way as the traditional double had been scrapped following multiple issues that had happened all over the country in 2020. I did my single at Felixstowe as tail scooter as I still needed 4 more scoots to ensure I could complete my 100th on my birthday.
The following weekend though I found myself in hospital
Fortunately, I had some contingency space in the schedule for my 100, and due to the team at Ipswich being very kind, I was able to do their results from the hospital room. I also did the junior results from there as well.
Was out of hospital the following week and back Tail scootering along the prom. As usual my planning hat was on, as demonstrated by this post
The final visit of the month saw us visit the lovely Markshall Estate to see my friend Darren for the first time in ages and also to catch up with Len Marten who I hadn’t seen for ages. For some strange reason Len decided to include me in his YouTube channel clip. This can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5K3p3xFvQg In it Len describes me as his parkrun Miyagi (google it) which is quite a compliment.
During the filming by Len we were discussing my parkrun babies and as a result we also started talking about parkrun grandbabies. I said technically Markshall Estate was my 3rd. However, this played on my mind for a few days as the following shows
At the time of writing (27/12/2023) I realise that there must be several other grandbabies out there as ED at Chelmsford Central Gerry McGovern, is also an Event Ambassador so all his activations are also Grandbabies!
All this chat about parkrun babies leads nicely to the full story of the birth of baby 16 for me and baby 1 for Hilary.
The test event was all scheduled for Sunday 20th February, 6 days before the inaugural, however, a major stumbling block was hit on the Friday before. The forecast for that weekend was for strong gusts of wind. Although the picture below shows gusts of 82kph, that is the historical viewpoint.
At the time, the forecast was for speeds in excess of 55mph. This meant that Forestry England closed the forest for the weekend and therefore the test event was cancelled.
Hilary was advised that the inaugural would have to be delayed and that the planned start of February 26th would have to be used as the test event instead. This is the point where we hit some hurdles. As the 26th was my birthday and therefore the day I was completing my 100th, I couldn’t be at a test event as those don’t count towards your numbers. Hilary also needed to be with me for support and therefore a test event wasn’t going to happen. In addition, if the event didn’t go ahead on February 26th to be sure of having all the core team there, the inaugural would have to be delayed by a month. Hilary wasn’t accepting that though and successfully argued the case for proceeding without a formal test event based on the experience of her team (from memory in excess of 2000 volunteer credits between them, 3 with ED experience and a former Ambassador) and having had a mini test previously, no major benefit would come from holding a test, parkrun HQ agreed to the inaugural proceeding as planned without a test event.
Therefore, February 26th 2022 saw the launch of Rendlesham Forest parkrun.
The above picture shows how parkrun in the East of England had grown in the 9 years and 5 months between Ipswich and Rendlesham Forest starting.
I was also able to finally disclose where I was completing my 100th “run”
From the very first visit on November 16th 2019 – 833 days later the inaugural occurred
The following post sums it up very well
We had Len Marten along so everything was captured on film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c51aYrGbCkM&t=2291s
Other video clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eF_kraLLO8
And just like that we had a second Event Director in the same household.
Mid way through the next month I completed my parkrun volunteering calendar
On exactly my 11th parkrun birthday I was hitting some big milestones
A little reflection of the two core teams that I was a member of
It seems that my tourism had come to a big stop, however I was still number crunching
This post really does show that the 5km element plays a small part in the parkrun experience
On this day, after the parkrun, we went round to Debbie and Trevor Faggs for a bacon bun and coffee. Perfect morning.
It was at the end of this month that I decided to start writing this “story”
September saw parkrun in Suffolk reach the age of 10. Suffolk County Council had commissioned a film to be produced and so I had been invited along to contribute
A copy can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcJkEIenjxQ
On a trip to Scotland I finally got to volunteer at a 5km Q event (Quees parkrun). However, 1 of my bigger memories was being asked if someone could take a photograph of my v500 shirt
Later in November we went to the birthday of our home away from home junior parkrun
December and grandbaby number 3 takes part in her first official junior parkrun
Which leads perfectly on to the first Rendlesham Forest parkrun Christmas breakfast
Which was quickly followed by the first Christmas Day run at Rendlesham Forest parkrun
During 2022 I completed 5 parkruns and recorded 103 volunteer credits. These were done at 14 events including 7 new ones, and 5 times I both ran and volunteered. This took my run total to 100 and took my volunteer number to 844 of which 68 times I did both. These were completed at 129 different events.