It’s time to make your parkrun resolution

It’s time to make your parkrun resolution. parkrun’s Global Head of Health and Wellbeing Chrissie Wellington tells you everything you need to know about our special new year campaign.

Firstly, Happy New Year from everyone at parkrun!

We hope you had a restful festive period, and you have welcomed 2021 with open arms, especially given the challenges and difficulties we all faced during 2020.

We know that the dawn of a new year can be a fantastic time for change. A chance to commit to do something a little bit differently. And this new year is no different. Yes, it’s the time to join thousands of others around the world in making a #parkrunresolution!

So what will your resolution be?! You might decide to walk a little bit more, to get more sleep, to be active as a family once a week or to help mentor someone else.

For many people (including millions of parkrunners!) 5k is a magical distance. If you want 2021 to be the year that you walk, jog or run your first 5k, then we would love to help you achieve that goal. If you have always dreamt of running 5k, or you want to walk some or all of that distance, we have just the plan to help you get there. This fantastic blog piece also provides some really useful tips to help get you started, including what to wear and how to choose where to walk or run.

It is your goal, but we are here to support you every step of the way. We all have to start somewhere and this can be the starting place for you.

Over the next eight weeks we will be providing huge doses of encouragement, guidance and motivation, and calling on people to share their #parkrunresolution passion, whether that is in person or virtually. We’ll be coming together to celebrate not once, but twice during the campaign, and we can’t wait to see everyone’s progress. You can read more about the two celebrations here.

But we know that making changes to your lifestyle can be scary and hard, so here’s five tips to help you kickstart your parkrun resolution.

1. Seek support from those around you, or be that supporting figure for someone else. That might be a family member, a friend, a colleague, or someone on social media, it’s so much better to share the journey, have someone to hold you accountable and to support you in achieving your goal. We can be a community, and help one another, even if social distancing restrictions are still in place.
2. Focus on daily micro steps and improvements. For example, if you haven’t walked or run before maybe focus on moving for 60 seconds each day, dancing to a song in your lounge or walking up the stairs a few times.
3. Make implementing any lifestyle change practical and feasible. We all lead busy lives and have many different commitments, so try to choose an activity or make a change that can easily be incorporated into your day.
4. Keep a diary and record how you feel each day, it’s a great way to stay motivated and see how far you have come.
5. If you aren’t already a parkrunner, we would love for you to join the family by registering online here. If there isn’t a 5k parkrun event in your area for you to participate in, perhaps you could record your own 5k time via the (not)parkrun link in your personal profile.

Of course, your #parkrunresolution doesn’t have to be a personal activity goal. Maybe you could commit to mentoring someone else to achieve theirs? Perhaps you could even create a small group of people, within social distancing guidelines, who are aiming for the same thing and support them all? There’s no better gift to give yourself then the satisfaction of seeing someone else achieve what they have dreamed of, and of knowing you played an important part in that journey.

This new year can be a new start.

After the challenges of the last year, we want to help you start 2021 with positivity and optimism. We want to support you in achieving your #parkrunresolution!