Iona and I were back at our home parkrun today, Coventry parkrun, but of course we weren’t running it as that would interupt Iona’s tourism streak! We, instead, donned the pink hi-vis and clapped and cheered 511 amazing parkrunners on their two laps of Memorial park.

We love running parkruns, we love exploring different places (& cafes & playgrounds!) on our parkrun tourism travels. But while running parkrun is great, volunteering is also a really special experience. We marshalled today, which meant we got to cheer every runner out on the two lap course from the super speedy ones at the front (how do they run that quick?), parents pushing pushchairs (one with two children in it!), a group of coloured crayons running (yes really, see our vlog), to the tail walker marshall making sure no one finishes last.

If you haven’t tried it, even if you have no intention of ever walking or running a parkrun, give volunteering a go, I guarantee you will walk away with a smile on your face knowing you’ve done something amazing to start your Saturday. And it’s not just me saying that, in some recent research by parkrun “84% of respondents said that volunteering at parkrun made them feel happier”.

We, of course, made a little vlog of our volunteering experience today and a review of the Memorial Park playground (an essential part of Iona’s parkrun experience). If you fancy giving volunteering a go and making yourself feel happier then just find your local parkrun page and click on the volunteer tab, this is Coventry’s. Of course we used out bikes to get there and back too because, as you will hear me say often, “Bike is Best“!