Like pretty much everyone on this planet I had no idea that 2020 would turn out the way it did, but I’m pleased to report that I achieved some of my parkrun-related goals.
At the start of the year I was on 134 parkruns at 42 parkrun courses.
My main parkrun goals were:
- Run 12 new events (one a month average)
- Run 40 parkruns
- Volunteer once a month, or 12 occasions overall.
- Complete the alphabet (letters required were D, I, O and Z)
- Complete Staying Alive (3 B parkruns and 3 G parkruns, required two Gs)
I’m very grateful to have been able to have spent Christmas 2019 and New Year 2020 with my family in the UK.
This meant I started the year with a New Year’s Day double at Irchester Country parkrun and Daventry parkrun.
I chose this pairing after scouring the Tailrun New Year’s Day Double Finder. I wanted to run two new (to me) events, within a 90 minute drive from my mum’s house and new letters for my alphabet. This pairing also meant I achieved a new low number for my Wilson Index as Irchester was still quite new.
Also in January I ran at Severn Bridge parkrun (a bucket list parkrun as you run from Wales into England), and Oaklands parkrun in Birmingham (another letter and Wilson Index number).
While back in the UK I’d started planning a trip back for European summer to visit Zuiderpark parkrun in the Netherlands with my mum.
It would have completed both our alphabets. I have a few other northern hemisphere bucket list parkruns that I’d hoped to visit (The Pastures, Bressay and Lews Castle among them).
That trip will have to wait another year or two!
Achievements
What I did achieve in 2020 was 13 different New Zealand parkruns, nine of which I attended for the first time. I finished on 156 parkruns at 55 courses.
I visited 13 new events in total and on August 1 celebrated my Cow (50 different parkrun events ) at Greytown Woodside Trail parkrun.
My 13 new events were: Irchester Country, Daventry, Severn Bridge, Oaklands (UK), Gisborne, Anderson, East End, Greytown Woodside Trail, Whanganui Riverbank, Owairaka, University of Waikato, Queenstown and Foster.
The four parkruns I revisited were: Puarenga (my home run), Tauranga, Taupo and Western Springs.
At Greytown I also celebrated the Staying Alive challenge (Barry Curtis, Grangemoor, Bushy, Gisborne, Banbury and Greytown Woodside Trail).
Achieving 40 parkrun finishes was out of my control, but I did manage 22 runs this year from a maximum 34 opportunities.
There were also 12 parkruns where I volunteered instead of running, mostly run directing at Puarenga but I also wrote run reports for University of Waikato and Queenstown parkruns.
Gratitude
Other things I’m grateful for is bringing the Puarenga parkrun community together when we had to be apart – we met via zoom on parkrunday to chat about our week, our running and show off our baking.
I’m grateful for Air New Zealand lowering their fares when we went into level 1 so I could jet off to more parkrun venues.
And I’m so very thankful to the wider parkrun community I’ve met, who have literally given me a bed and shown me the most amazing hospitality.
My 2021 parkrun goals are:
- Run a minimum 40 parkruns
- Complete my parkrun alphabet (Z remaining)
- Wilson Index of 20
- Achieve Countryman status (currently on 24/32)
- Publish my book!
I have lots of other goals for Runs With A Barcode, starting with parkrun Resolution. Keep an eye out for my Seven Days To parkrun challenge, which will be coming in January.
This will be aimed at non-parkrunners and those who have lapsed.
What are you proud of achieving this year and what goals have you got for 2021?
2 replies on “My 2020 round-up”
I am proud of reaching parkrun 100. I did that the weekend before our parkruns were canned and we went into lockdown.
My non parkrun achievement was my first marathon.
In 2021 I would like to run one loop of home parkrun (Anderson) without stopping and create a new PB.
Non parkrun related to finish a half marathon in under 3 1/2hours. My current PB is 3hours 16minutes.
Thanks for the summary Alison, got me thinking about what parkrun goals I’d achieved in the crazy year that was 2020, and what I might hope to achieve in 2021.
Like everyone else, 2020 didn’t quite work out like I imagined it would 12 months ago, but probably unlike most people, with the expedition cruise ship work I usually do none existent since late March, I was actually able to complete more parkruns in 2020 than hoped for, 25 being my best annual total, bringing my overall total to 86. I had plans to add Holland and Singapore to the “countries run in” list adding a Z in the process, plus Cape Pembroke in the Falklands, the worlds’ most southerly parkrun. They will all have to wait for some future time!
What I did manage to achieve was completion of all 32 NZ parkruns, the “All Weather Challenge” (February and December had previously been missing), the Christmas Day parkrun (the last time I wasn’t working at Christmas was many years ago, well before I was a parkrunner), picked up some more letters for the “Alphabet Challenge” (now just J, V and Z to go) and some more times for “Stopwatch Bingo” (14 still to go) and, best of all, met some really great people.
Not knowing when work may restart (possibly June, certainly not before) or foreign travel will become possible again, it’s difficult to set parkrun goals for 2021, but here’s a few things I’d like to work toward.
I’d like to get my black “100” T-shirt which should be easy with just 14 to go as of New Years Eve (and 2 of them already done as I write this on Jan 2nd!).
Having been a keen writer of run reports, I’d like to complete my project to write at least 1 run report for very NZ parkrun (at time of writing I have 7 to go, though I know more will soon be starting).
I’d like to keep “Countryman” status my ticking off new parkruns here as they start and increase my Wilson index and P index which are currently both on a rather paltry 2!
I’m keen to try a few other volunteer roles too.
Further afield, I’d like to complete the Holland, Singapore and Falkland projects that were lined up for 2020 and, with Sweden holding their extra parkrun day on their National Day in early June (which falls on a Sunday in 2021) I have an idea to run in Denmark on the Saturday, then take a train across the border and run in Sweden on the Sunday. Wonder if that will be possible by then?
But I guess the main goal for the year is to stay healthy, stay solvent and keep on enjoying life!