Learning to love running again, via Crewe parkrun

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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.

 

Crewe parkrun #94 – 16/11/19

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Thankfully we were blessed with a break in the seemingly relentless rain for the whole duration of the event. This RD was very grateful for dry feet at the end.

Notable mentions this week for Stirling Marsh and Jake Lightfoot who both celebrated their 10th parkruns, take a bow please boys. Who could forget Georgia Durrant’s amazing home-baked cakes for her 50th parkrun ! Quite an achievement in one so young. One of our veteran volunteers Ray Sweeney celebrated his birthday by pulling the legs of many of the younger participants outside the cafe, so a standard event for him then.

Kris Sivills definitely put the work in on this event.  Not only was he the first finisher, he also volunteered as a barcode scanner and then did the hat-trick by sorting the tokens in the cafe afterwards.

it was also great to see so many people attend the post event meeting in the cafe for an update from our ED, John Putt, on the proposals for a Junior parkrun at Crewe.  Interest is looking high.

Crewe is very cosmopolitan don’t you know - this week we were blessed by visitors from Captain Kirk’s home state, I think this was a first for this event (answers on a postcard please - ok it might be elsewhere on this page for the eagle-eyed).

Thanks as always to our amazing volunteers who make this event happen week in and week out.

 

Crewe parkrun
Event number 94
16th November 2019

This week 294 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 28 were first timers and 46 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 22 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 28 volunteers:

Ruth BEACH • Ivor TWISS • John PUTT • Harry WARDLE • Kris SIVILLS • Steven CROWE • Simon COOTE • Liz PRESTON • Sadie PRINCE • Ed MCCAULEY • Roy WILLIAMSON • Gail PRINCE • Chris SWANN • Pam SAUNDERS • Ray SWEENEY • Malakai SWIFT • Juliet CARTER • Bill WHITE • Chloe WILD • Karen WILD • Lorraine COWAN • Nigel WHITEHEAD • Karen WHITEHEAD • Emily WALLACE • Graham WALLACE • George CLARK • Nicole BRANDRETH • Jack MCINTYRE

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Crewe parkrun Results Page.

The female record is held by Holly WEEDALL who recorded a time of 18:30 on 3rd March 2018 (event number 3).
The male record is held by Matthew MCCORMACK who recorded a time of 16:08 on 16th February 2019 (event number 55).
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 5,058 participants have completed 27,533 parkruns covering a total distance of 137,665 km, including 6,393 new Personal Bests. A total of 422 individuals have volunteered 2,446 times.  It’s Iowa.

 

New Year’s Day – Crewe parkrun

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We will be having a parkrun at Crewe on New Year's Day - January 1st 2020.  Our start time will be 10:30am.  This gives you the opportunity to complete the 'double' - that is running two parkruns on the same day as other local parkruns will begin at 9:00am.  Check these and other Christmas Day 2019 and New Year's Day 2020 parkruns here: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/special-events/

 

Christmas Day

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Dear park runners,

We will be holding a parkrun on Christmas Day at Crewe.  It will be a 9am start.  We will confirm arrangements regarding cafe opening etc nearer the time.

We look forward to seeing you all.

Crewe Parkrun Team

 

Crewe parkrun #89

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Crewe parkun number 89 on 12th October 2019 welcomed pacer day once again.  In the spirit of Eliud Kipchoge, who was in the process of breaking the 2 hour barrier for a marathon, our very own parkrunners were doing their very best to reach their individual personal bests by chasing down our volunteer pacers.

Special thanks to our pacers this week who were; Darren Varley, Stephen Lee, Will Chung and our very own Simon Coote.

A fabulous milestone was also reached this week by Charlie Lewis, who at just 11 years old took part in his 50th parkrun with his mum Vicky.  Huge congratulations Charlie from all at Crewe parkrun, what an achievement!

This week 382 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 46 were first timers and 90 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 19 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 30 volunteers:

Ivor TWISS • Harry WARDLE • Darren VARLEY • Jim KELLEHER • Wil CHUNG • Peter RATHBONE • Simon COOTE • Liz PRESTON • Michael ASKEY • Sadie PRINCE • Karen RATHBONE • Roy WILLIAMSON • Gail PRINCE • Nicola MARSHALL • Ray SWEENEY • Matthew MARSHALL • Louise SMITH • Chloe WILD • Karen WILD • Neil COE • Emma HICKSON • Emily WALLACE • Graham WALLACE • Steve LEE • Roman ASKEY • George CLARK • Nicole BRANDRETH • Lucca BORRUTO • Joe SCOTT • Jack MCINTYRE

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Crewe parkrun Results Page.

The female record is held by Holly WEEDALL who recorded a time of 18:30 on 3rd March 2018 (event number 3).
The male record is held by Matthew MCCORMACK who recorded a time of 16:08 on 16th February 2019 (event number 55).
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 4,952 participants have completed 26,300 parkruns covering a total distance of 131,500 km, including 6,186 new Personal Bests. A total of 411 individuals have volunteered 2,318 times.

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