Saturday morning church of fitness

IT has taken more than 10 years to get there but I have finally celebrated the milestone of completing 100 Parkruns.

That's a total of 310 miles and at a very average 32 minutes each, a grand total of 11 days running. OK, so I'm no Forrest Gump but they are statistics I think I can be a little bit proud of. Not least because on 100 Saturday mornings when I could have been having a well-earned lie-in, I was up at 7am ready for the 9am start at Parkrun.

I'm not surprised if that sounds a bit crazy. But as every other obsessive Parkrunner knows, the reward comes not in the actual running but after you have sweated your way round the 5k course.

The exercise may be good for your body (my knees are no longer sure of this) but what Parkrun is really good for is the soul. The post-run feeling of invigoration, achievement and desire to do it all over again the following weekend is a tonic that needs to be bottled.