Southampton Parkrun - a newbie's experience

Southampton Parkrun - a newbie's experience

Posted By admin |22 Apr 2013
Southampton Parkrun - a newbie's experience

One intrepid member of the JCI Southampton Council team donned her running shoes early on Saturday morning to join the Parkrun crew & complete the weekly 5km run around Southampton Common.

Southampton parkrun

Photo Credit: Paul Hammond

 

Kat Haines, JCI Southampton's Marketing Director for 2013, enjoyed it so much that she couldn't wait to share her enthusiasm for the event & share her thoughts on the experience:

"So, I finally gave in to the gentle persuasion of my fellow Council team members to attend Parkrun on Saturday morning.

I was a little nervous about going; my main concern being that out of the hundreds of people who attend each week I would come last.  Now, I know someone has to come last and it isn't a competition, but I was still determined that there would be people behind me!

It turns out that it wasn't that bad - yes I could barely breathe and thought I was going to keel over at one point, and yes, the following day every single muscle in my body hurt, but I survived!!  This was mostly down to the fact that James Lambert, our Community Director, agreed to run with me at my pace and was extremely encouraging at the moments when I felt like I could do no more - a massive thank you James for this!

I would definitely go again and would recommend others to go too - even if it seems scary to complete a 5km run.  It's definitely achievable (I'm living proof), especially when you do it with the wider support of the JCI Southampton team!"

 

P.S.  And for those of you wondering, Kat ran the 5km in a very respectable 'first timer' time of 32m 32s.  Well done Kat !!!

If you're interested in joining the JCI Southampton team for a Parkrun event (& supporting Southampton Hospital Charity, our nominated charity for this year) please check out the Events page for the next available date!  We'd love to see you there....