To complement our parkrun super Sticker Saturday, GoodGym Liverpool has taken to the occasional "Parkrun on Holiday". This time, we were ticking off "C" on the Parkrun alphabet and heading to the coast for the Crosby Parkrun.

This extra run was arranged by Clara, and Clara's phenomenal organisational skills soothe my soul. She'd ascertained attendees, sorted a WhatsApp group so we could stay in touch without spamming the main group, and shared all the important information including public transport options, parking, amenities, and event schedule in advance so we all knew exactly what we were doing. As a fairly organised person myself, it's an absolute pleasure to attend a session Clara has arranged so thank you Clara for all your hard work in keeping us all together ♥️

The weather forecast was looking, shall we say temperamental, and Clara and I met early at the leisure centre and sheltered under the cover. We were soon joined by Liam and Aatefa and headed to the briefing point, where we were given the first-timers brief including the turnaround point at the iron man statue the Parkrun Crosby team have affectionately named Bing (get it?).

We were soon joined by Amina and got the all important group photo. Liam was nearly in hot water for not sporting his GoodGym t-shirt, but when it transpired he'd recently completed his 25th Parkrun, and was debuting the much sought after 25th purple t shirt on this, his 26th parkrun, all was forgiven.

It was then time for the general brief and GoodGym got a shout out welcome as parkrun tourists. One of the volunteers was celebrating her 400th time volunteering, a phenomenal achievement.

And off we went! The weather was kinder to us than expected, there was a little light drizzle mid-run but nowhere near the expected downpours ⛈️. It's quite a challenging course, running first on the sand (the 'out' was fine as the sand was quite firm, the 'back' much harder as the sand was more clay-like and sticky). We were all glad to reach solid ground for the section along the prom, up to the lifeguard station and back. Along the prom, one of the friendly volunteers was high-fiving us with Sweep, a beloved puppet from the children's show Sooty & Sweep. Then came the most challenging section of all - grass!

We all regrouped at the finish line, 25km completed between us. Amina had done well to make the run and had to get back for her bank holiday weekend plans, the rest of us headed for a Goodgym-style breakfast at a local cafe 🍳

Somehow despite the super challenging course, Aatefa had STILL managed to maintain her new sub-30 minute streak with an amazing time of 29:18. And I learnt it had actually been my 25th Parkrun! Might look into that purple t-shirt...

I certainly wouldn't have so many under my belt without the Goodgym Sticker Saturdays, so thank you GG Liverpool for endless motivation to get out running on a Saturday morning, and thank you Clara, Aatefa, Amina and Liam for a lovely morning of seaside fresh air, exercise, and a lovely cafe (particularly one that serves an iced matcha latte with coconut milk 💚).

We said goodbye and Aatefa and Liam made their way back to the city centre for ANOTHER Goodgym session, this time volunteering at the Savera march and festival. Well done guys what an amazing effort 🌟 But that's another report...