Sunshine on tarmac and cheers that quicken
Bright crisp hi-vis and foam hands as mittens
Neat finish tokens tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite parkrun things

When the mud slides
When the cold clings
When I'm feeling drowned
I simply remember my favorite parkrun things
And then I don't feel so bad

It was pretty wet and miserable at Acton Junior parkrun this morning and bets were being taken on how many children would actually take part. Guesses ranged from 6 to 12. The children proved us wrong though as 20 of them ran the distance. Well done Kash for being the most optimistic!

The volunteers too were troopers, adding some humour into less than ideal conditions. Most were varying degrees of wet. Around the course there were:

• Sevan: Marshalling. Wet feet
• Kash: Barcode scanning. Wet all over
• Alan: Timekeeping. Wet jeans and wet phone, meaning some extra runners were recorded
• Chikako: VI Guide. Wet feet
• Joanna: Marshalling. Not wet in her signature DryRobe 💡

In the aftermath of storm Darragh, no one knew who would be at Acton Junior parkrun this morning. Today, the volunteers were hardier than the runners with 20 helpers around the course compared to 16 finishers. The weather didn't even put off Santa Steph, who flew down from north pole, through the storm to be today's tail walker.

Steph didn't fly around the course, using his legs to run instead. On his way, he passed Joanna, Kash, Mohamed and Sevan who were marshalling around the course, Chikako who was today's VI guide, Chris, who did an expert job managing the busy funnel 😂 and Harvey who was timekeeping.

There were a few children who wished they'd stayed in bed - like the volunteers, probably. Most of the runners were happy to be there and equally happy to have finished and go to the park café for a warm drink afterwards.

Five GoodGymers responded to the last-minute call to recycle their old sports shoes at Acton junior parkrun. Some of us couldn't make it the day before to the very successful shoe recycling initiative by We Run Ealing and GoodGym at Gunnersbury parkrun, so we gave those GoodGymers a chance to drop their shoes while volunteering at Acton juniors anyway.

Harvey made the most of both sessions: taking the lead in organising the Saturday collection at Gunnersbury with Tom and Steph, then bringing his daughter's shoes to Acton junior parkrun on Sunday. Chikako brought a couple of her daughter's sports footwear, and Sevan and Joanna donated their old running shoes. Kash, after a long wait, finally found a way to recycle her worn trainers that were getting a bit too slippery to run to GoodGym missions on pavements covered with wet leaves.

Ten collected pairs of used sports shoes will be packed up into a box early next week and sent to Jog On for reusing or recycling. That's twenty shoes saved from landfill!

Across the country, it was a Bert windy today and Acton Park was no different. Sevan and Mohamed arrived early to find Geoff, today's Run Director, almost finished with the course set up. The funnel poles were in the ground and Mohamed placed the "Caution Runners" signs at the top and bottom gates. Everything else was at risk of blowing away, including the runners and volunteers, so there were no cones to mark the course or lightweight table for the token sorting.

Harvey took advantage of the conditions, deciding to fly down the hill to the start line, where there were a good group of brave runners. 38 of them were blown around the course including Chikako who was the VI guide and Alan, whose tail walker tail was blowing in the wind. They flew past Mohamed and Joanna who were marshalling. They then tumbled over the finish line and into the funnel, where the other GoodGymers were at work. Sevan and Harvey were timekeeping, Divy was handing out finish tokens and Kash in her favourite role scanning barcodes.

There was little to pack up, so results were quickly submitted and then it was onto collecting all of the shoes that were brought for recycling.

An impromptu visit to Acton Junior parkrun by Kash and Sevan found 3 other GoodGymers on the roster. After Sevan's last visit, he enjoyed high fiving the runners so much that he decided to become a Foman too with his own red high five hand.

Joanna took her giant hand to her marshal post and Sevan used his to point children into the funnel as today's funnel manager. Kash and Alan needed to keep their hands regular sized to work the barcode scanners on their phones and Chikako too as to as the VI guide.

52 runners completed today's course and a few more managed to make it through the funnel. Sevan managed to stop most adults from entering the funnel, but one whole family including a double buggy managed to charge straight through 🤦

Who knows how many Fomans will be at GoodGym Ealing's next visit to Acton Junior parkrun. Sign up here to find out!

GoodGymers were up early to help at Acton Junior parkrun this morning. Joanna brought her favourite prop, a giant foam hand to high five the runners and wanted a volunteer to wield it. As Sevan was marshalling, he put his hand up and took it to his marshal post.

🎵 On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man
In a yellow high vis with a blue right hand

Chikako was the VI Guide for the day and was being cheered by the marshals, while Chris, Sevan and Joanna were doing the cheering to get the runners excited on this chilly morning.

🎵 They're cheering his name through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat is a blue right hand

In the funnel, Alan was timekeeping, with Michelle handing out finish tokens and Kash barcode scanning.

🎵 A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of finish tokens in his blue right hand

Everyone was excited by a possible course record by a visiting runner who ran a speedy 6:33 😲