Another nice thing about parkrun is the nice photos.

On Thursday I ran the Framingham Turkey Classic - I was by myself, since my daughter was a little sick (she stayed home from school Wednesday, so I don’t think she was just trying to get out of the run) and it probably wasn’t a great idea for her to run.

Then on Saturday I ran at parkrun for the first time.

On Thursday I pushed the pace a bit. I was fairly fresh, the weather was good running weather, and I realized I had never actually run the Turkey Trot in Framingham by myself at a good pace. I’ve always either run with kids or we were in New York and I wasn’t able to run it.

I found what felt like a good pace - a little more than 8:30/mile (8:36 the first, then 8:33 the last two - I was surprised at the consistency) - and finished at 26:04, according to the official timer. (But Strava only clocked 3.07 miles, so I don’t think I can count this as my fastest 5K of the year. I finished the Boston 5K in 26:13, so they were close.)

I was happy with how I ran in the Thanksgiving race. It didn’t feel like I was pushing too hard, and it got me excited about my next round of training.

I decided to run parkrun because the volunteer spots were all filled up and I figured I might as well get a run on the board.

(One of the coolest things about parkrun is it keeps your stats - that’s my page pictured at the right. It will be neat to see it fill up over the years.)

I didn’t want to push the Saturday run because I didn’t want to run my fastest-ever parkrun in my first parkrun.

Mission accomplished.

I ran a good 5K, but I definitely have more to give.

It’s a good little course - a couple of uphills, some time spent running on grass and gravel and tree roots to navigate - and I actually was surprised at how fast I was able to run it.

I guess being around other people helps.

Which is what’s nice about parkrun - it’s not a competition, but it certainly offers you other people as a way of measuring how you’re doing.

I was thinking during marathon training if I have a Saturday morning long run I could run down to Farm Pond, do parkrun, and then run home. (It’s about 3 miles away.)

I’m going to volunteer next week (if snow doesn’t force a cancellation - not sure how they navigate that because it’s not like it’s a plowed path), and then we’ll have to see if I do another one before the end of the year. (When, hopefully, the permit gets renewed.)

Otherwise, these might be my last two 5Ks of the year.

I might sign up for a New Year’s Day one, but I’m pretty sure I’ve intended to do that race the past couple of years and have been sick both times, so I’m not making plans for that day yet.

This has certainly been the year I’ve run the most 5Ks I’ve ever run. Maybe total races even.

I feel like I’ve gotten out of each one exactly what I wanted.

I guess maybe it’s good that we’re going out on that high note.

And now we’ll see what happens in 2026. (Haha, 2025-K. OK. Bye)