Making Saturday mornings a routine

Cleveland, Ohio is home to the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation (OECR) parkrun and the prestigious Case Western Reserve University.

A group of PhD students from the university have made parkrun their Saturday morning routine!

The students all hail from MD, China, NJ and MA and are studying in the departments of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Molecular Medicine. Ellen, Shiyi, Abigail and Dean all like parkrunning for different reasons.

Ellen Hong is motivated to attend because she knows she’ll see her friends there and she likes that it’s timed. In her studies and work, she meets mostly only other students.  She enjoys the opportunity to meet non-students at parkrun.

Shiyi Yin likes to challenge himself and because parkrun’s free, he can do it often. He likes the social aspect because he can talk with others about running, sharing tips and resources. When his dad visited from China, they did the OECR parkrun together!

Abigail Dooley enjoys that parkrun is a routine and during the week she can look forward to putting in those miles on Saturday mornings. She thinks the park and the towpath are a beautiful place to run and she’s looking forward to running it in the spring.

Dean Pontius likes the sense of community and the social atmosphere. He indicated he’s often observed communities but hasn’t felt part of one like he does now at OECR parkrun.

As a Co-Cvent Director, it has been great to have them as part of our parkrun family. Each person gets what they need out of OECR parkrun whether it’s motivation, challenge, community, time with friends, swapping running tips or meeting new people.

We must be doing something right because all four hard-working students told me their weekends are precious and sleeping in is a treat they don’t give up easily!

Nancy Desmond

Co-Event Director

Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation (OECR) parkrun