Paul Sinton Hewitt had no idea what a phenomena parkrun would be when he started a free timed 5k run with a few friends around Bushey Park. Today there aren’t many people in the UK that haven’t heard of parkrun but just when you thought it couldn’t get any bigger or more addictive you discover the 5K app. Well, that’s what has happened to me, some might say I’ve become obsessed but there are worse things to be hooked on!
So, what is the 5k app? Basically, it’s an app that can tell you almost any stat about your parkrunning (be warned you can lose days studying these) but for me the best thing about the app is the challenges. There are 33 challenges listed but it is also possible to make your own up if you complete the existing ones, so the fun never needs to end! The challenges are based on everything apart from speed so are very motivational in a way other than being the fastest. The first one is ‘Alphabeteer’ this involves doing a parkrun beginning with every letter of the alphabet. This is a challenge I have been aiming to finish this year and it has been very interesting visiting so many different parkruns and experiencing their hospitality.
There are several challenges also based on the first letter of the parkrun like ‘Pirates’ involving 7C’s and a R, ‘Staying Alive’ 3B’s and 3G’s and ‘Old MacDonald’ I’ll leave you to work out what that might be!
There are also some based on parkruns around the world, doing the same parkrun 100 times and some which you can’t plan for like Position Bingo and Stopwatch Bingo.
In addition to the running challenges there are several based on volunteering an area of parkrun which is often over looked but parkrun wouldn’t happen without the volunteers so you can make a difference whilst ticking off the challenges. There really is something for everyone.
The app has definitely changed my attitude to Saturdays, instead of shall I do parkrun on Saturday the question has become which parkrun will I do this Saturday to achieve a challenge?
So, if you haven’t downloaded the 5K app yet what are you waiting for? But don’t say you haven’t been warned your parkrunning will never be the same again!