Pumpkins, Personal Bests and a Giant Inflatable: Halloween at Burgess parkrun #633 - 31/10/26
This year, Halloween fell on a Saturday, providing the opportunity to combine the wonderful palette of autumn colours, community spirit, some frightening characters and a 5k at Burgess parkrun. Halloween has a history stretching back thousands of years. Its origins are commonly traced to Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. Celebrated around 31 October and 1 November, Samhain marked the changing seasons and the belief that the boundary between the living and the dead blurred. People lit bonfires and wore costumes to protect themselves from wandering spirits.
Over the centuries, these traditions blended with Christian observances, including All Saints' Day on 1 November. The evening before became known as All Hallows' Eve, eventually shortened to Halloween. Today, the celebration has evolved into the familiar mix of pumpkins, spooky costumes, trick-or-treating, horror film mania and an opportunity to embrace our inner Am-Dram😀
The orange of Halloween pumpkins mirror the orange of the leaves scattered across the park. Add the yellows, reds, russets and browns, and you have a natural colour palette that not even John Constable could improve upon.
There is something wonderfully grounding about running in thi
s season. The trees are changing, leaves are falling, and the landscape is preparing for winter.
This is one of the great things about parkrun. It gets me outdoors, appreciating the natural environment, running, walking, volunteering, and catching up with old and new friends. And on Halloween morning at Burgess, the community had certainly embraced the occasion! Fancy dress was very much the order of the day, with people embracing the opportunity to add a little theatrical flair to their Saturday morning.
There is something fantastic, loony and lovely about seeing people who might otherwise turn up in their usual running gear making the effort to dress for the occasion. It creates a shared experience, gives everyone something to smile about, and reminds us that exercise doesn't have to be serious to be worthwhile.
There were 724 participants today, including 32 first-timers. There were 52 unknowns, which perhaps included the giant blue inflatable!
If you have never encountered a giant inflatable at a parkrun. There is something inherently funny about watching someone attempt to run while encased in an enormous inflatable costume. The combination of enthusiastic running and questionable aerodynamics is a sight to behold!
Seeing the blue inflatable immediately reminded me of a hilarious YouTube channel called Inflatable Runner. Its creator describes himself as a beginner runner, inflatable costume enthusiast and parkrun regular. The channel features parkrun adventures across the UK, race-day vlogs, and plenty of videos featuring increasingly ridiculous inflatable costumes. It features funny running moments, occasional mishaps, and surprises for unsuspecting parkrunners.
This goes to the heart of parkrun's philosophy: participation matters more than performance, and having a laugh along the way is an entirely legitimate objective.
Perhaps it was the conditions, perhaps it was the excitement of the occasion. Or perhaps, somewhere in the back of my mind, I was worried about being chased down by Dracula or a particularly determined zombie. Whatever the explanation, I set off quickly!
I had my ‘super shoes’ on and quickly found myself running faster than usual. I locked into a pace, gritted through the tough 4k mark, and got into a wonderful sprint to the line with someone young enough to be my son 🙂
I had turned up to enjoy a Halloween-themed parkrun, take in the autumn colours and spend time with the Burgess community. I had not anticipated producing my quickest 5K of the year.
And if a giant inflatable and a few Halloween costumes help create the atmosphere for a Seasonal Best I’m all for it 🙂
At the finish, there was no traditional Halloween apple bobbing. There were, however, bananas- a huge thank you to the people who contribute to this regular supply of sustenance at the end of every event. If you’d like to contribute, you can give cash, a Tesco gift or bank transfer; speak to one of the volunteers at the table.
And a huge thank you to the 38 volunteers today #hivizheroes
The banana table is where you can hand in your token, enjoy a snack, cheer on other participants, and get your picture taken to capture the occasion. The fancy dress added to the atmosphere, and there was a real sense that people wanted to enjoy the occasion; laughter and a sense of belonging all around.
In the post-run fuzzy zone, I got talking to Lyianna, who had completed her 52nd parkrun and achieved a personal best! She explained that she had been following a training plan using Runna alongside Strava, and that the combination had worked well; today’s personal best was 12mins quicker than when she started back in June 2023. Lyianna shared that she’s hoping to go a bit quicker and I’m confident she will.
It can be easy to focus on the numbers: time taken, distance covered, the number of events completed or the next milestone. Those things are motivating, but parkrun also gives me something that is harder to measure. The connection with others, the connection with the seasons. And sometimes a giant inflatable reminds us that life does not always have to be taken so seriously.
Fittingly, the first finisher didn’t have a barcode (perhaps it was the blue inflatable) 🙂
The first female finisher was - Flavia Dent at her first visit!
The first male finisher was - Aman Yemane
The founder of parkrun, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, who is care-experienced, has helped create a global movement that brings people together through free, weekly, timed events. He will be featured on Desert Island Discs; I’m looking forward to listening.
Happy running, walking and volunteering. Stay well, enjoy the autumn colours, and keep an eye out for suspiciously large inflatables!
How parkrun began
You can read about how parkrun was created by the founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a care leaver, in his book ‘One Small Step’, The Definitive Account of how a run became a Global Movement by clicking here.
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