
Great turnout at Eagan parkrun #46 for St. Patrick's Day, in fact our biggest turnout of the year so far. Given the special day, quick shout out to our Irish friend Aidan Mullen from Cabinteely parkrun in Ireland. His second most parkruns have been at Eagan (4)! Aidan is only 2 parkruns from 100! Good luck Aidan and hope we see you again soon! The higher turnout we have had is not too surprising given the warming temperatures. It was a nice March morning last Saturday... still below freezing, but no wind at all. We still had to use our alternate course for Eagan parkrun due to a massive ice flow.

For those that haven't been there the last two weeks, our alternate course is a three loop course east of our normal starting line... mostly just a mile loop in the park, no hill, sidewalk or school. Don't worry, we'll be back there in a few weeks I expect. There were still some tough areas to get around, but we had some extra marshals on the course, you could see all problem areas and all runners were strongly encourage to watch your step and slow down in some spots. You can get a great view of the starting line from Andy Borne's AWESOME 360 degrees video that he took as we started. Andy was volunteer barcode scanner for us last week but he ran in the starting funner to get the footage. If you haven't seen it, check out Flickr or Facebook, both under Eagan parkrun.
After the parkrun, we snuck over to Bon Fire for an alternative coffee spot and to process the results. The coffee was hot, kids breakfast was just the right size... but the malt beverages weren't green! Guess we were there too early. Next week, back to our usual haunt. So, who has checked the forecast for this week. Am I the only one that is done with winter? 2-4 inches of snow is expected this Friday night. We'll be out early Saturday morning inspecting the course. If we have enough snow to provide traction, we'll run in the snow. If the snow just covers up some icy spots, don't be surprised when we cancel this week. Watch the website and social channels for updates.
Thanks to Eagan parkrunner and Mayor Mike Maguire and the City of Eagan who mentioned Eagan parkrun in the State of the City address on March 22nd. We appreciate the City's permission and support in getting Eagan parkrun off the ground and continuing to operate for nearly a year now! 
Speaking of nearly a year... April 28th is not just my 42nd birthday... it is also Eagan parkrun's 1st Anniversary!!! For those of you wondering how that is calculated, given we started on April 22nd, 2017 (the 4th Saturday of April), the 4th Saturday of 2018 is April 28th. Our anniversary will always be on the 4th Saturday of April. We are working overtime to make sure the weather cooperates, but beyond that, hoping to see a great turnout and after your parkrun, come and enjoy some goodies too!!
How about the Eagan parkrun #46? Well, we had 7 SUPER volunteers that made it possible. Can't say enough about this team... and we need more.

Looking to get some new faces out there volunteering, so look for Volunteer Coordinator Tom this week prior to parkrun and he'll get you set up. As for the running and walking, really nice work this week. Leif Hanson was the first finisher for the second week in a row and now has been the first finisher in both of his parkruns. Good turnout for First Timers this week and lots of PBs too... might be a bit easier without the hill on the course, but it will be back and I expect all of you to push for that PB this summer... HILL and all!
Thanks to Nicole Drinkwine who joined us from Tomah, WI. She was in town visiting for the weekend and we're really glad to have her spend her Saturday morning with parkrun. Nice work Nicole!

Sisters Elizabeth and Kathleen Pichotta were back for their 3rd and 4th Eagan parkruns. Great to have them join us for coffee afterwards too. PB for Elizabeth in 27:33! Great work!!!

Another team of sisters were at parkrun this week as well. Super to see Stephanie Pearson for the second week in a row. I assume that since she brought her sister Rachel Fafinski, she must have liked it. Based on the smiles this week, I expect we'll see you both back. Nice work! 
Did you know you can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? In addition, parkrun USA and parkrun global are on all of these channels too. It's a great way to see and be a part of a growing community that is making a difference one free timed 5k at a time!
Ok, so remember, watch the forecast this week, get ready for April 28th and give volunteering a try. Other than that, have a super week and looking forward to seeing you again real soon!
Nate