Heart of a Lion! - Burgess parkrun #569 - 14/06/25

Doing the course check is a wonderful way to start Saturday.  With the sun's rays so bright, yet with no one around, the park takes on an ethereal beauty. There’s a silence and sereness which I marvelled at. The swans were out monitoring their cygnets, and there was no evidence of any Freddie Kruggar ‘slasher’ activities from Friday the13th.

The swans were out with their young.

When I arrived at the start area, I informed today’s Run Director, Josie, that the course was good. The stage was set for another great event.  

Today, my duties extended to pacing our friend Lucy to a personal best. Lucy is part of the Burgess heartbeat and is seen by many when she uses her sign language skills. We often do the ‘new runner welcome’ together.

A few months back, Lucy had asked me for my top tips for running faster as she sought to chase down a pre-three-children pb, set many moons ago, to run under 22mins. Impressed by her ambition, I provided my top tips and we set today as the attempt date. Lucy followed my suggestions diligently, including buying the recommended super shoes. So diligent was Lucy’s application that she broke the sub 22min goal 2 weeks earlier. But today was still in the diary so we decided to go after a sub 21min 😃 

Carbon-plated shoes at the ready!

Parkrun is a run not a race however sometimes it can be fun to have a time you're chasing to test yourself and learn a little bit more about what you've got inside.

I have every confidence that Lucy has a sub-21min in her but today was not to be that day. Halfway round, at ‘Tesco Turn’, completely uncharacteristically, Lucy took a tumble, hitting the tarmac hard. She returned to her feet, saying she was fine even with blood streaming down her leg. Sub 21mins was left at ‘Tesco Turn’ but Lucy showed the heart of a lion to record her second fastest ever parkrun!

Lucy can often be seen running in fancy dress. Here she is as Miss Scarlet! Photo credit Lucy Frankelby.

Milling about at the end in the liminal space that parkrun creates, I saw Jen in her Guinness World Records shirt! Jen was one of the 56,640 finishers in the 2025 TCS London Marathon, the largest number of finishers in a marathon. Jen hadn't been a runner, opting for crafts and drama when she was younger. But after moving to London post-university, for work, she plucked up the courage to do her first parkrun when some friends visited back in April 2017. 

From 5k, Jen is now in that 1% of people in the UK to run a marathon, and she did it raising money for Motor Neurone Disease Association (MND).  Jen shared that ‘unfortunately, MND affected our family with my grandad having died with the disease in 1977, and very little research has taken place since due to lack of funding’. You can read more about the charity and still donate by clicking here. 

This was Jen’s first parkrun since the marathon, saying ‘Post-marathon has been tough physically as I injured myself further, but I’m up and running again and looking forward to getting out more. Mentally, the marathon has made me realise there’s nothing I can’t do if I want to do it’!

'Mentally, the marathon has made me realise there’s nothing I can’t do if I want to do it’! Photo credit Jen Longden

Jen truly showed the heart of a lion to complete her marathon. Like Lucy, Jen also does sign language support, contributing to making Burgess parkrun accessible and an inclusive event for all. 

Where will your parkrun journey take you?

Stay safe, happy running or walking and happy volunteering.

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