My current parkrun stats are the result of my overall parkrun journey. I like to see how things have progressed from learning I did not hate running during my second attempt with C25K to what is now one of my main hobbies.
These stats are a result of my parkrun journey and they are influenced by what is going on in my life. I can see my the ups and downs in my personal and professional life reflected in my overall performance development.
It all started in 2019, I am a late joiner to this great community event. I was shy, nearly ashamed to get in there as a ‘non runner’. I was wrong: I felt welcome and enjoyed it. Anyone can do it.
At the beginning, the main pull to it was seeing how fast a beginner runner can improve and if I could keep some consistency.
parkrun aggregate stats
| Events | 174 |
| Locations | 100 |
| PB | 26:19 |
| PB at | Burgess, June 22 |
| Most parkrun in 1 year | 46 |
| – | 2023 |
| Total distance | 870 Km |
| Average time | 29:31 |
| Longest tourist streak | 53 events |
| P Index | 6 |
Then it become a way to see my improvements reflected by the convenience of timed results: performance. Seeking for variety and exploration led me to parkrun touristing before I knew what parkrun touristing was: UK and international It was fun, I hit my second country (Italy, Milano Nord parkrun) pretty soon. Then I discovered the unofficial parkrun apps that got me into the parkrun challenges and it was over: hooked.
Completed parkrun challenges and achievements
This is where I got so far. The parkrun journey continues.
parkrun countries
parkrun clubs
parkrun challenges
parkrun journey timeline
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
| Break |  | | |||||
| Clubs |  Wimbledon, 10/8 |  Richmond 25/1 |  Wimbledon 18/12 |  Brooklands 6/5 | |||
| Locations |  Tourist: Lloyd 28/5 |  Cow Club: Huddinge 6/6 |  Cowell Club |  LonDone Valentines 15/2 | |||
| Countries |   UK: Wimbledon 25/5 Italy: Milano Nord 17/8 |  Netherlands: 5/11t |  Sweden: Huddinge 6/6 |   DE: Nidda Malaysia: Presint 18 | |||
| PB | PB: 26:19 Burgess, 4/6 | ||||||
| Achievm. |  Bushy pilgrimage: 5/10 |  Christmas Day: Bushy 25/12 |    Festive double: Roundhaw 1/1 Monthly: Nonsuch 2/4 |   World Tourist: Huddinge 6/6 parkrun: Upton Court 19/8 |   Staying alive Alphabeteer |  Old MacDonald |
A parkrun blog cannot be only about achievements and course reviews: as a community event, parkrun can become a stable part of your overall life journey and it did for me. I started in 2019 and it quickly got addicted to it. When I went on holiday to Italy, I organised a short stop in Milan on the way to my final destination. Why? Because I wanted to try parkrun in Italy and get my first ‘international country’.
Covid was around the corner and unfortunately the long, sad months it brought also put a stop to parkrun and other organised running events. It was a very productive time for solo training though and when things came back I quickly saw results with several PBs.
Something crazy happened at the end of 2021: I got myself out of bed on Christmas Day and on New Year’s Eve and run the two special events. The former at Bushy Park, the latter and Roundshaw Downs. Weird, I am definitely not a morning person 🙂
I never managed to run times anywhere close to my ‘race’ PBs at parkrun, but it’s ok, but spring 2022 I was getting close to 25:xx and managed to my PB at Burgess parkrun. Then my training and performance slumped and I am still nowhere close to it. Life and work took unexpected directions, but consistency will be back, it has to.
Somewhere in 2022 I also got into parkrun tourism seriously: I learnt that I truly enjoy visiting new events and the areas around them. It’s a fantastic excuse to get to a location you would never visit otherwise and most parkrun events have something unique to remember them for.
The next big milestones came on the same day: a business trip to Sweden allowed me to visit the Swedish parkrun special event and on that same day I joined the Cow Club / Half Cowell (50 different events) and the parkrun World Tourist clubs (at least 4 different countries). Thank you Huddinge parkrun, it was great!
My current parkrun targets
I find motivation setting achievable targets for myself, short term and long term. parkrun challenges and stats allow that.
At the moment, I am more or less consistently working on:
- 1) Completing LonDone
- 2) Completing Surrey Regionnaire
- 3) Cowell parkrun achievement
- 4) Alphabeteer achievement
- 5) Increasing my P-Index to 7
- 6) Filling up unbearable empty areas in the parkrun Voronoi map
- 7) At least one new parkrun country per year
You can read more about parkrun challenges and achievements on my dedicated post, which I try to keep up to date.
A bit contributor to my parkrun journey is parkrun tourism. Planning where to go and seeing progress is part of the fun for me, I am planning to write about my highly unscientific process to pick locations for the following few weeks… or on the spot on parkrunday’s eve.
My parkrun annual stats
Annual parkrun stats tell a story: a story of how my life affected my training and how running has and keeps changing my life. It makes better and not only because it gives my a reason to exercise.
2019 was when everything was new: I learnt I could run and that organised running events are not scary
2020 saw the first real meaningful improvements, before Covid stopped everything
2021: a tale of two halves. Covid meant serious solo training, then big improvements when events restarted
2022: more results until summer, when my current performance slump started
2023: so far, a slow and inconsistent path towards mental recovery. Consistency in training is not there yet, but attendance is.
| Year | # of events | PB |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 21 | 28:10 |
| 2020 | 9 | 27:24 |
| 2021 | 17 | 26:21 |
| 2022 | 37 | 26:19 |
| 2023 | 33 | 27:26 |
I enjoy analysing data. One day I might get all my parkrun performance stats in a spreadsheet and see if I can pull trends and charts interesting enough for a dedicated post
