Our parkrun week in pictures, October 13th 2017

In this week’s parkrun USA snapshot, we celebrate youth and experience, and shrinking distances across a big, diverse country. Across the US, more and more communities are creating parkrun events that connect community members to nature, and to each other every Saturday morning. If you have a great picture for our weekly roundup, share it on social media and tag parkrun USA.

 

 5 members of the Butler family enjoyed the beautiful boardwalk at Roosevelt Island parkrun this week, with PBs for 3 of them.

 

At Mansfield OH parkrun this weekend regulars Joyce and Diane brought along a young friend.

 

And at College Park parkrun 3-week old Henry listened attentively to his first pre-run briefing. Henry’s parents have over 300 parkruns to their names, so Henry can look forward to many future Saturday morning outings.

 

From youth to experience. Over at Livonia parkrun they celebrated co-Event Director Lynn Boven becoming the first person to do 200 North American parkruns. Until recently there were no other parkruns within 10 hours drive, so Lynn has done 198 of his runs at Livonia.

 

Lynn’s dog Cooper is also an avid parkrunner. No barcode, but estimates are that he is a canine 100-clubber.

 

Meanwhile, at Leakin Park parkrun in Baltimore, Doug Jones is parkrun USA’s newest event director. He is already seeing the power of parkrun for connecting communities.

 

The weather wasn’t perfect at Eagan parkrun this week, but these are Minnesotans, so they’re not so easily discouraged.

 

We don’t normally focus on first finishers, but Greg Krathwohl’s run at Crissy Field parkrun stood out to us this week. Most of the speedy runs at Crissy Field are by visiting parkrunners from far away. But Greg is a local who discovered Crissy Field a few weeks ago, and has been back every week since. This week he did one of the fastest ever US parkruns by an American.

 

Some of the Crissy Field parkrun crew made made this shot to celebrate parkrun’s 13th birthday. Thousands of parkrunners from around the world have pictures of them running with the Golden Gate in the background, thanks to these folks and the rest of the Crissy Field team.

 

Golden light at Fletcher’s Cove parkrun, as Silver L gives the pre-run briefing.

 

It was more steamy than golden at Clermont parkrun in Florida this week, but that was no deterrent to the 112 parkrunners who enjoyed the shores of Lake Minneola.

 

The Chicago Marathon is a big draw, but for these international parkrunners that was just a pretext for making the 90-minute trip out to Heritage Harbor Ottawa parkrun.

 

parkrun also brings locals together. Amy Sayle’s friend Pam was visiting from Washington DC, and eager to do some parkrun USA tourism at Durham, NC parkrun. Amy wasn’t able to run, so she offered to volunteer instead. Thanks, Amy!

 

“Even before the finish came into view, I could tell that it was PGRC Day, because of the loud cheering.”

 
At College Park parkrun the Prince George’s Running Club had their second take-over day, providing most of the volunteers, lots of runners, and countless smiles. If you thought that running clubs are only for super-serious athletic types, these folks have other ideas.

 

This week we added two new pins to the parkrun USA map. For one of them, you’ll have to zoom in, as the DC-Baltimore area’s 5th parkrun will be starting in early November. Anacostia parkrun will follow a beautiful riverside bike trail.

 

The other new pin in the parkrun USA map this week is Moberly parkrun, in North Central Missouri, starting October 28th.

 
At 13,000 people, Moberly is the smallest community in the US to have its own parkrun. Look out for an upcoming story about the unconventional origins of Moberly parkrun.

 

With the addition of Moberly parkrun, parkrun USA passes a milestone. Now everybody in the lower 48 states lives within 1000 miles of a free, weekly 5k.

 
But 1000 miles might still be further than you’d prefer to drive, even for a parkrun. So if you’re interested in having a parkrun event closer to home, drop us a line at usa@parkrun.com. (h/t Tim Keer of Livonia parkrun for the map.)

 

And if you’re already one of the millions of Americans fortunate enough to already have a nearby parkrun, we’ll look forward to seeing you next Saturday.

 
(And you really should check out the boardwalk at Roosevelt Island parkrun if you get a chance. This one mile section of the course literally puts a spring in your step.)