Parkrun, 5km at a time...

If it wasn’t for the parkrun I wouldn’t be running…

The parkrun at Yerrabi is a Saturday morning ritual for Shellie Grieve and her family. In fact the parkrun is a big part of Shellie’s personal journey toward improved health and fitness.

Shellie had heard about other park runs but after having her second child decided it was time to build her fitness and work hard to achieve some personal weight loss goals, so she signed up for the Yerrabi parkrun.

“The first time I ran it, it was hard”, Shellie admits and her focus was “just to get to the end” of the 5km course, which she did and surprised herself with her results. Then the goal was set to do the park run without stopping and beat the 30 minute mark. Shellie’s third attempt was a non-stop run in 24 minutes.

Whilst there’s many reasons why she loves the park run, Shellie says the sense of community and professionalism of the volunteer-run event keeps her coming back. Participants are emailed their results and photos are shared on the park run’s Facebook page. “There’s lots of support and motivation to keep turning up every week”, Shellie said.

Like many mums, Shellie brought her kids along to her first park run. With a baby in a pram and a 9 year old in tow, Shellie knew her fitness regime would have to work around her family. Five months on and Shellie is registering for even more fun run events.

“I was never a runner but the park run has made me believe in myself and appreciate what we have on our doorstep at Yerrabi pond. I would never have believed I’d come in at the front of the pack rather than at the end”. 

Thanks for sharing your story Shellie.

Register at www.parkrun.com.au and bring your bar code along for an 8am start at Yerrabi Pond every Saturday morning.