Our parkrun week in pictures, October 20th 2017

This week’s parkrun USA roundup is all about sharing. We share the trails, we share volunteering, and we share our local parkrun communities with family, friends, and visitors.

We love to see your parkrun photos. If you capture a moment that you love and would like to see in this weekly roundup, share it on social media by Sunday afternoon, and tag parkrun USA. Maybe your picture will appear in next week’s collection.

It’s just after dawn at Clermont parkrun in Florida, and parkrunners are sharing the lakeside trail with other earlybirds who are enjoying the cooler morning air.
 

Meanwhile, at Fletcher’s Cove in Washington DC there’s another 5k on the trail, with the same starting point as Fletcher’s Cove parkrun, organized by the Polish Embassy. What to do?

(Who was Tadeusz Kosciuszko, you ask? An 18th century Polish-Lithuanian military leader who fought in wars of liberation in both Poland and the US. You’re welcome.)
 

… No problem. The two events shared the same start/finish location, and Fletcher’s Cove parkrunsimply flipped their course and headed in the opposite direction than usual.

Of course, this accommodation is easier to pull off if your parkrun course is on the 184-mile C&O Canal Towpath. parkrun USA is grateful to the National Parks Service for permission to use the towpath.
 

But there are so many other events happening at this time of year, and some of them are a little too large to squeeze a parkrun around. This was the scene at Deep Run Park in Richmond, VA on Saturday morning. So the Deep Run parkrun crew instead canceled their run and pitched in as volunteers with the Walk to Fight Suicide. There will be plenty more weekends for parkrunning.
 

At Crissy Field parkrun everybody was watching the air quality reports, to see if they would be able to go ahead with the parkrun. Our thoughts were with our friends in Northern California who are dealing with the fires there.
 

Fortunately, the overnight winds were favorable, so 79 parkrunners got to enjoy the usual spectacular views at Crissy Field parkrun. Among them was Kate Driskell, a veteran “parkrun tourist” who has visited Crissy Field more than any parkrun other than her home run in Wimbledon, London. 

parkrun is part of Kate’s remarkable journey from overweight non-athlete to ultra runner. A couple of months ago she undertook a mind-boggling 1000-mile self-supported run from Lands End to John O’Groats, the extreme tips of the UK, to raise money for a public health charity. This weekend a 5k was more the ticket.
 

Back east, at Leakin Park parkrun in Baltimore, they were also sharing the park with another running event. No biggie. Both events co-existed peacefully. (Not a given, since the other event had something to do with zombies, apparently.)

But there was other sharing besides. The Leakin Park crew was happy to welcome a field trip from College Park parkrun. Andrea, Clark, and Gus are all closing in on their 50-parkrun milestones. 

Clark’s 48th parkrun was his first away from College Park, and he’s already looking forward to encouraging Delaware-based family members to join him at Leakin Park in the future.
 

More US parkrun tourism. Karen and Steve Crane are the founders of Mansfield OH parkrun, and they wanted to show Angie Bryer, visiting from Brisbane, Australia, the cool sights of the midwest. So of course they took her to Livonia parkrun in Michigan. 

Next week Angie is looking forward to doing her 50th parkrun in Mansfield, where the post-parkrun pastries at Relax, It’s Just Coffee, are celebration quality.
 

Of course, we also share the volunteering roles, so that everybody gets to enjoy free weekly events forever. At College Park parkrun Diana Gough and her son Carlos were talkwalkers and roving photographers for the day. 

In the first year of College Park parkrun, Diana and Carlos have together completed 37 runs and have volunteered 18 times. Carlos is looking forward to being timekeeper in a few weeks, when College Park parkrun will hold its first Kid Takeover Day.
 

Back at Livonia parkrun Ryan Keberly and his son Mason brought along cowbells, to ensure that nobody’s spirits were dampened by the rain.
 

And while in some parts of the US they’re just seeing the first hints of Fall, for the volunteers at Eagan parkrun in Minnesota it’s time to break out the hats and gloves already.
 

While some US parkrunners are now traveling long distances between parkruns, others are traveling long distances just to get to the closest parkrun. Nicole Bester earned her 100-club shirt mostly at Sunrise-on-Sea parkrun in South Africa. This week she and Rowan Richter made the 3-hour drive to Durham, NC parkrun, and both of them set PBs.
 

Here’s one that we missed from last week. At Eagan parkrun in Minnesota, 11-year old Daisy Islas reached her 10-parkrun milestone. Congratulations!

Oh, and Daisy was also overall first finisher in a time that most grownups only dream of.
 

Of course, we only have these great pictures from around parkrun USA thanks to the efforts of an army of volunteer photographers. Here’s one, crouching in the forest at Roosevelt Island parkrun. This week a lot of the great photos from the island came from a parkrun tourist who offered to take pictures instead of running.
 

And then after the run they had cause to celebrate at Roosevelt Island parkrun. This great new coffee shop just opened up around the corner from the island, and so they’re now looking forward to enjoying the regular post-parkrun meetups that are a feature of so many of our other events.
 

Take it easy out there. And see you next week.
 
#loveparkrun