Ridiculous - causing or worthy of ridicule or derision; absurd; preposterous; laughable
‘3 parkruns in two countries in 4 days’
Parkrun is currently in 22 different countries. Each country can nominate two ‘special days’ to do parkruns. In the UK it’s Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. In Denmark, it’s their Constitution Day (the 5th June) and in Sweden, it’s their National Day (6th June). This year the 5th of June fell on a Monday thus a trip to Denmark on the Friday would enable the completion of a parkrun on the Saturday, rest on the Sunday for the Danish Constitution Day on Monday and then a bus over to Sweden with their National day being on Tuesday 6th June. This looked like the trip to tear down my ‘causal parkruner’ status. The Scandi adventure called and we answered!
On Saturday we elected to do our first Danish event Amager Strandpark parkrun. We took the metro, from our hotel hopped off and crossed a road to the ‘island’ which is a haven for strolling, swimming, water sports and running. As we walked to the start it became evident that we weren’t the only visitors from England, the Brits were convening en-masse with their milestone t-shirts.
In recent years Danes have consistently ranked as some of the happiest people in the world and this is often attributed to their love of Hygge. Hygge is a combination of being comfortable, togetherness, contentedness and it’s become part of their national identity.
This hygginess was firmly on display as the volunteer team welcomed us warmly. Their previous attendance record was 126 and on that Saturday there were 250 of us, tourists, locals and a Hen party. The run director gave us a rousing welcome and under a radiant sun, at 0900 we did what we have come to love to do, we ran. Two laps on paved paths around the northernmost lagoon, totally flat except for two wide charming wooden bridges. With stunning views of the £2.6 billion Oresund Bridge which connects Denmark to Sweden. This was premier league parkrunning.
After finishing I cheered in the other runners, walkers and hens and thanked the volunteer team. They directed us to a local cafe which provides discounts to people bearing barcodes so off we strolled. The cafe was on the boulevard which looks out over the sea, there was us and legions of Brits in their DIY parkrun shirts. Shirts had flags of all the countries they’d been to and lists of events done and challenges completed. I was there to soak up the experience so imagine my surprise when firstly being identified as Mr Southwark Slam and then been seen by a colleague, Ruth, who I sit with on the Adoption London South panel, whom I’ve never previously met in person 😀
There was one lady wearing a parkrun faathing t-shirt, something every parkrunner knows and loves to do. We did brunch, we did faathing. We did good.
Then back to the hotel and then to Copenhagen to adventure.
One parkrun down, next a day off then two more to go #ridiculous
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