We are very grateful to Maurice Fitzgerald for this week's run report. Maurice ran at our first park run in 2017 and he has, to date, completed 75 parkruns with 70 of them being at Crewe; he is one of our loyal runners and a frequent volunteer. Here is Maurice's story:
I started running many years ago when a good friend of mine caught the bug and inspired me to do the same.
I took part in many races ranging from 5 Kilometres to half marathons, and enjoyed the challenge. I ran when the weather was freezing, when it was hot; when I was injured; when I had a cold, just all the time. I felt guilty if I didn’t run for more than a couple of days.
However, my friend contracted a brain tumour and sadly died and although I kept running, I seemed to lose my drive to run. Then I caught pneumonia and ended up in hospital for 2 weeks which stopped me running completely.
I began running tentatively after a few months but not nearly as often, or as quickly. Roll forward several years and I heard from a friend that parkrun was coming to Queen’s Park in Crewe. As the park is within a mile of my house I felt I just had to try it. I thought I would be able to run a 5K easily and in a comfortable time of about 27 minutes as I used to run 5Ks in 22/23 minutes when I was running consistently.
So imagine how shocked and disappointed I was when I took part in the first Crewe parkrun, and struggled to run it in 34 minutes. Fortunately, I did not allow this result to dissuade me from trying again and I nervously attended the 2nd Crewe parkrun and I improved my time by 2 minutes. I was hooked and I resolved to do parkrun every Saturday morning. My times improved marginally and I managed to run regularly at 29-30 minutes each week for several months. However, as much as I love parkrun I was not really progressing as much as I had hoped. I needed something to help motivate me to train harder and improve my times.
One Saturday I witnessed the Couch to 5K ( CT5K ) graduates being presented with their medals for completing their running course organised by the South Cheshire Harriers ( SCH) . The runners were all smiling and glowing after achieving their 5K runs from a standing / sitting start! I discovered that many had joined the SCH and I decided that I should go along to try one of their bi-weekly training sessions. I was made very welcome and invited to join a group nicknamed ‘The Inbetweeners’ as my parkrun average time was considered suitable for this particular team of runners. I enjoyed it so much that I have been running with them every Tuesday and Thursday evening for 5 months. It has been brilliant, and I have extended the distances that I run to up to 8 miles, something I had not done for many years. This has improved my stamina immensely and I made me feel more comfortable running the 5K distance of parkrun. As a direct result of running more frequently and longer distances with the SCH I have recently improved my parkrun time to 27’ 15.
I entered the Sandbach 10K in August, my first race for at least 15 years, and I was delighted to achieve a time of 56’ 36 – the equivalent of running back to back parkruns of 28 minutes, something I would not have thought possible when I joined the parkrun community. I ran the Wilmslow 10k in another very pleasing time; I am now looking forward to entering further races in 2020 and beyond.
I would recommend parkrun and joining a running club to anyone who is looking to get fit, lose weight, and make new friends. It has certainly helped my physical and mental well-being and I have even managed to lose over a stone in weight!
Maurice Fitzgerald A4293877
Crewe parkrun
Event number 96
7th December 2019
This week 247 people ran, jogged and walked the course. Representatives of 21 different clubs took part.
The event was made possible by 21 volunteers:
Ruth BEACH • John PUTT • Harry WARDLE • Selina HOOK • Suzanne BUCKLEY • Peter RATHBONE • Laura DOWNTON • Ian ROYLE • Sadie PRINCE • Roy WILLIAMSON • Gail PRINCE • Karen TOMLINSON • Maurice FITZGERALD • Dennis MARTIN • Pam SAUNDERS • Ray SWEENEY • Louise WRIGHT • Chloe WILD • Karen WILD • Andy WILD • Joe SCOTT
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Crewe parkrun Results Page.
The male record is held by Matthew MCCORMACK who recorded a time of 16:08 on 16th February 2019 (event number 55).
The female record is held by Chloe LEATHER who recorded a time of 18:29 on 23rd November 2019 (event number 95).
The Age Grade course record is held by Pam DAVIES who recorded 88.96% (23:51) on 5th October 2019 (event number 88).
Crewe parkrun started on 17th February 2018. Since then 5,084 participants have completed 28,019 parkruns covering a total distance of 140,095 km, including 6,472 new Personal Bests. A total of 425 individuals have volunteered 2,494 times.
Notable Achievements
There were 14 first timers and 39 recorded new Personal Bests at Crewe. Niamh Sweeney completed her 10th park run and Nadia James a fantastic 50 - most of which have been at Crewe. Bob Kettle from Sandwich Striders was celebrating his 70th birthday and he attributes his boyish good looks to being a regular park runner.
Chloe LEATHER equalled the ladies' course PB she set only two weeks previously.
Visitors
We welcomed parkrunners from Pitchcroft near Worcester, Marple and Liverpool.
Events
It is pacer day on Saturday 14th December. We anticipate having pacers at 20, 22, 25, 30 and 35 minutes.
It is foodbank collection day on Saturday 21st December. Local foodbanks that people provide, if they are willing and able, normal items as the Christmas foodbank packages will have been distributed.
On Christmas Day there will be a park run at Crewe with a 9am start. The cafe will be open for drinks and cakes only. Yes the toilets will be open too.
We anticipate the 100th Crewe parkrun being on Saturday 28th December and we hope that all of you will be able to join us.
On New Year's Day we will have our run at 10:30am enabling people to run other events locally that start at 9am and get to Crewe to complete the New Year's Day Double.