Welcome Back, Parkrun, My Saturday Serotonin Surge

Normality is returning - glorious, unpredictable, never-to-betaken-for-granted-again normality.

- By Paul Tonkinson

We're starting to be able to do 'normal' (i.e. non-Covid) things. So, a glut of new 'old' experiences: a trip to the movies, a meal, gigs. I'm in a busy Italian restaurant and people are chatting. The theatre of the night. Vibrant, intoxicating... and that's not just the house red. Everyone's taking it at their own pace, of course, but there's a collective surge out into the world. Lots to let go of, and some things we've learned to take with us. I'm letting go of everything Covid-related: the arguing, the judgement, the theories. I've had it. Let's never speak of it again.

I'm taking with me the simple joy of running, at any pace. That's been my saving grace. And there was one particular thing that helped me through all this: the idea of being able to do a parkrun again. That low-pressure run-not-race that drags you out of bed on a Saturday morning and sends you grinning into the weekend. Like most things pandemical, the return was postponed. So it was only a month or so ago that the good news was finally posted - it really was happening!