I grew up attending Church every Sunday and every Christmas morning. We’d get dressed up in our Sunday bests, be greeted when we arrived, chat, sing and digested the day’s teachings. It created a rhythm to my day and anchored Christmas very much in the Christian tradition and the story of Mary and Joseph.
As I grew older, stopped attending church, my relationship with Christmas Day wavered.
Since learning about and starting to attend parkruns on Christmas Day, everything has changed for the better 🙂
Each country can nominate a special day for a parkrun. In the UK, since 2004 this is Christmas Day. It isn’t mandatory for events, meaning you might have to go further afield than usual, with attendance being that rich mix of die-hard locals, tourist Santas, Elves, and Reindeer 🙂 It has become one of my happiest parkrun days every year.
An article in the Guardian spoke about how the Christmas Day parkrun could be seen as an obsessive and this was before the 2974 people who attended Bushy parkrun this year!
This year we headed to Peckham Rye a stalwart of holding a Christmas Day event. I turned up to collect my hi-viz jacket to complete my 50th volunteering stint for this calendar year.
There was a large contingent from Burgess parkrun with lots of people ensuring a huge familiarity with festivity in the air. The furthest travelled award being a runner from New Zealand! With festive cheer, the Run Director sent all 317 of us off under the watchful eye of the 28-strong volunteer team.
This was my 10th Christmas Day parkrun having previously attended events at places as varied as Sunny Hill, Hampstead Heath, Gladstone and Highbury Fields parkruns.
Looked after by the Friends of Peckham Rye Park this park continues to hold a Green Flag Award and is a beautiful location for this parkrun. My fellow Tail Walker Mark Judge, a member of Runhead AC and local historian gave me an education about how the park got its name from ‘ham’ from the Old English of the Anglo Sasons meaning ‘village’ and ‘Pec’ being the name of the River Peck which used to flow through this area.
Peckham Rye parkrun is a 3-lap course so I was able to enjoy being lapped regularly by the many Santa’s, Elves and Reindeer’s who had come out to play.
Like my days of attending church I now have a rhythm to Christmas; sharing time, laughs and song with my family, friends and community.
This Saturday will be my final parkrun for the year, the location is currently not known however it’s going to a a new one for us.
Stay well, stay safe and enjoy the festive period!
It looks like the time was Devine with your Family and I always love to read about the Parkruns’ adventures.
I love the church comparison. Community, good cheer and familiarity are in both. 🙏🏾 Happy Cherry Mismas.