Happy 1st anniversary Fell Foot Parkrun

Today marked the 1st anniversary of Fell Foot Parkrun. We had taken part in the inaugural event and have taken part in 12 runs there (me), 11 for my son and my daughter has run a couple but prefers to volunteer. Today she had signed up to marshal so we were down at the lakeshore bright and early for 8:30:

Not surprisingly the turnout was bigger than the average 130 with 221 runners taking part. As usual there were all ages from the stalwart octogenarians to tiddlers in buggies. After the presentation of the parkrunners of the year award and a burst of happy birthday we all headed off on a newly extended route (apparently we have been 34m off the 5k for the previous 49 events!). We were serenaded by Dalton Town band as we took part:



My son had once again found a responsible adult to run with at his pace as there is no way I can keep up! I would only briefly see him again until the finish... Meanwhile I was carried along with a fast moving middle group to run the first couple of kilometres at above my usual pace. For a change I didn't manage to find someone to run alongside and chat to so just plodded along. I was pleasantly surprised to finish with my 3rd fastest time on the course only a minute off my PB - the daily runs are paying off! I was greeted at the finish by my son tucking into a slice of birthday cake courtesy of the National Trust:

He had well and truly earned his cake with a new PB of 24:31 and 1st place for boys 10 and under. His age grading is so close to 70% now too. My friend broke her own PB trying to keep up with him!

After the race was over there was a chance for more official photos of the team behind our Parkrun plus Conrad and John who were jointly awarded the first director's award:

My daughter had loved being a marshal once again even though she had a croaky voice and sore hands by the end! She well and truly earned her slice of birthday cake:

We look forward to many more years of running Parkrun at Fell Foot!