Today Flo was out and about at Cardiff Junior parkrun, a free weekly event on Sunday's for 4-14 year olds (and part of the wider parkrun family).

Wales, November rain and weather warnings can only mean one thing - there will be mud, mud, mud!

In fact, the mud was so much that the finishing funnel had to moved from it's usual position, slightly to the side, at a spot in the park which was less muddy. And there wasn't just mud to deal with, there was also huge, powerful winds, which threatened to take the whole funnel tape and poles away with it. This meant Flo later added 'human pole' to her responsibilities today, though it's unlikely to take off as a regular parkrun volunteer role.

This week, Cardiff Junior parkrun was having a takeover from another wonderful Cardiff-based running club, She Runs: Cardiff. Nearly all the volunteers today are a member of that running group, and the volunteer roster was very full and healthy-looking all week. Flo was marshalling in 'playground' with a veteran volunteer who literally wrote the manual on setting up the playground spot, and two She Runners.

It was a beautiful day, enjoyed by all.

There was a bumper amount of wristband milestones today, 6 juniors collected their half-marathon wristbands, 4 juniors collected their marathon wristbands, and one prolific junior collected their ultra wristband.

Flo and Lew were back at Cardiff Junior parkrun on Sunday. Lew was barcode scanning, and Flo was tasked with time-keeping and also doing the first timers welcome. Unfortunately, Flo almost forgot to tell the juniors with their adults about the use of tokens at the finish. Ooops!

It was a big day for achievements. 8 juniors had earned a wristband! And most of them were marathon wristbands too! Flo ended up with a third, but unofficial, job of photographer for the social media post about the wristband achievements.

Achievements

164 x Finishers 31 x Personal Bests 10 x First-Timers 8 x Wristbands

Goodgymers Michael, Lew and Flo were all out in force at Cardiff Junior parkrun today.

Flo was up at the 'College Turn' marshalling spot (so called because it is the part of the route where the runners turn that is nearest to Cardiff Met University, I know, I know, should be 'University Turn' oh well).

Michael and Lew were barcode scanning and saw the most amazing sight. One of the participants today had taken part with a pram (not unusual so far) ... which had two rabbits sitting inside it (that is unusual, and not just for Junior parkrun). Unfortunately, due to the demand for the barcode scanners due to the 158 finishers, it was difficult to find the moment to recall this wonderful sight, though Lew did manage it by the end. There were no tortoises to be seen, and these rabbits were wide awake, so not everything happens just like in the books.

Achievements today:

158 Finishers, 39 Personal Bests, 16 First-Timers, and 6 Wristband Awards

Today's Cardiff junior parkrun was a much smaller than usual affair.

As it is the same morning of the Cardiff Half Marathon (the second biggest participant half marathon in the UK after the Great North Run), there was a lot of competition for different running fun today. Still, a dedicated amount of volunteers and runners turned up to enjoy a new autumn day.

Of the 84 juniors to finish today, 24 got a personal best time, and 10 were first timers (a few are known to have had grown ups taking part in the half marathon, but were getting a dose of parkrun tourism in too).

Flo was marshalling on the HS1 spot (Home Straight 1), very near to a different, wildly less newsworthy HS2 (Home Straight 2). HS1 is recognisable for being near a bin, as is HS2. An important need with Junior parkruns is to have a marshall every 100 metres, which is why the exact precision of spots (and landmarks such as bins) is noted.