Parkrun is a free 5 km run.
It happens every Saturday morning, in parks, all over the world.
It started as one small run in London, and now it’s in more than 20 countries.
The format is beautifully simple.
Show up. Run or walk 5 km. Get a time, and head home.
That simplicity is the magic.
But I see two common mistakes.
Mistake one: not running parkrun at all.
Some runners ignore it because they think it’s “just a race.”
Or that it's not serious enough.
I’ve even heard it called a cult.
That misses the point.
A weekly, timed 5k is a brilliant training tool if you use it well.
Mistake two: racing it flat out every week.
Others go the other way.
Every Saturday becomes a full-on time trial, chasing PBs. Chasing places.
Week after week, they smash themselves and that adds stress.
It catches up eventually as a plateau or in injury and illness.
Use parkrun as a tool
Parkrun doesn’t need to be the same thing every week.
Sometimes I run it easy. A relaxed aerobic run, chatting with friends, and getting the work done. Sometimes I treat it like a time trial to check my fitness and practice pacing.
Sometimes it becomes a session.
I'll run one minute hard, one minute easy.
Or 800 metres hard, 200 metres easy.
It depends where I am in the training block. You can get creative.
Same event, but with a different job.
Practise the boring stuff
Travelling to the venue.
Packing your gear.
Warming up properly.
Managing the nerves.
That friction is useful. It’s a rehearsal for your A-races.
You get better at the process before it really matters.
It’s also a community
You meet other runners and find people around your level.
Training partners appear naturally.
And sometimes, you don’t run at all.
You give back as a volunteer and see the event from the other side.
The point
I encourage almost everyone to do parkrun.
Just don’t treat it like a weekly exam.
Some weeks go easy, and some weeks push. Use it deliberately.
Parkrun is a tool. A very good one.
