The trail has been cleared (thank you Renton parks department!) so we were able to use our new out and back route for the first time Saturday. We came up a little short on the distance, however, so we'll fix that for next week. Results have been adjusted accordingly to add a percentage of time based on each participant's individual pace.

We welcomed several first-timers (including Emily, Jason, Adnan and Cat, to name a few I had a chance to chat with before the event). Cat and Adnan were kind enough to run across the finish line twice as I missed their actual finish line photos.

First-timer Jason has a few Ragnar races under his belt and now he's starting training for his first marathon. We're here every week and we'd love to be your training buddies! 

We also had two tourists, Thomas from Munich and Richard from London. Richard was excited for his first international parkrun. He has 94 under his belt, now, so he'll be sporting a black 100 shirt soon.

The pair made every effort to capture the perfect post-run selfie with their finish tokens!

Of course there were plenty of regulars, too. Nikol happily reported that she only had to take two short walk this week. She's gearing up to running the full distance without stopping, and we're cheering her on!

For some reason, we seemed to have a lot of folks who were completing their 4th parkruns this weekend. One of those was Karl, who has now run our old course, at least one if not two of our modified courses due to the trail closure, and Saturday our new course. We promise we'll stop switching it up on you!

Thanks to our awesome volunteer crew- Karen, Matt, Gracelynn, Daphne, Amy, Chris and Cathryn! Here's Gracelynn and Chris, part of our finish-line crew for the day.

See you next week!

Renton Parkrun #111 was filled with firsts:

Most obviously, it was Jan 1 2020 - New Years Day
Turnout was the highest in Renton Parkrun history, with 87 finishers! Kudos to visitors from Des Moines Creek and Perrigo completing the New Years double, regulars and newcomers alike kicking 2020 off with an endorphin high, and the revelry-friendly 10:30 start time.

It was our first run from our new starting line next to the Cedar River Dog Park and Renton Community Center. The I-405 overpass made for a nice spot to take shelter through the off-and-on drizzle.

For the first time in a long time, if not ever, the top two runners finished in the 17-s. Well run, Garrett and Phillip!

All of today’s photos are courtesy of Blake, who donned the purple cape in honor of joining the ranks of 25+ time volunteers. Thanks for all of your work Blake.

Record December rains caused a mudslide that closed the trail on a portion of the course. So, runners navigated a modified route featuring a split-friendly double out-and-back. Here are some heading into the turnaround at the halfway mark, within sight of where they started!

Quite a few folks stuck around after the finish to mingle and enjoy snacks under the overpass.

Thanks to today’s volunteers Melani, Ray, Drea, Karen, Cam, Blake, Crystal, Matt, Phil, Gracelynn, and Patrick.

If you read last week's run report, you'll see that I was supposed to be Run Director, but had a bit of a mishap. The team did perfectly without me, but I was excited to fulfill my volunteer duty this weekend, instead.

Yay, I made it!

It was a chilly one, with temperatures in the low-mid 20s during our event, but 19 brave parkrunners came out to participate and 7 bundled-up volunteers were there to support them.

It was a day of huddling together for warmth.

Chris and Amy, visiting from Nottingham in the UK, aren't quite used to these temperatures at their home event. However, Chris ran in shorts and didn't seem any more frozen than everyone else.

Hoodies, hats and gloves were the fashion of the day.

Erik and Jerry both came prepared, representing their favorite sports teams.

Cam looked cozy in her faux fur hat and fleece as she waited at the finish line as a timekeeper.

Gloves were only to be removed when absolutely necessary, as our barcode scanner Ken demonstrates here. (Editor's note- we do have a generous stash of re-usable hand warmers for our volunteers as a part of our event kit!)

However, there are always smiles, no matter the weather!

Here's one of our frequent volunteers, Matt, with a high-watt smile to match his bright high-viz vest as he came across the finish line as tail walker (or runner, today, as the crowd was motivated to get out of the cold!)

Several of the crew warmed up at Luther's Table in downtown after the event was over, enjoying HOT coffee, HOT chocolate and HOT tea, but most of all, each other's company.

Won't you join us next week?

-Cathryn Burby

I was supposed to be the Run Director this weekend. I got all bundled up, had hot tea in a thermos in hand, then reached my hand out to the table to grab the car key. It wasn't there. I spent the next 5 minutes frantically searching to no avail, then called my husband, who was on his way to some mountain biking trails 2+ hours away. He had taken what he thought was his key to grab gear out of the car as he was being picked up by a friend, but it was the same key I had been using that I thought was mine. Turns out, mine was locked IN the car...and I had no way to access it.

So, without a key and a 25 minute drive away from Renton, I called my Co- ED Cam, who was stuck at home in a boot, the result of a recent injury. She had sent her husband, Blake, to parkrun with the gear kit, as I was supposed to meet him to collect it. Blake has volunteered with us MANY times- mostly as a photographer, but in other roles as well (that happens when you're married to an Event Director). However, he had not been trained to be a Run Director, nor did he have a particular interest in the role.

After I shared my predicament with Cam, she called Blake to break the news that he might have to put on the RD hat for the day and I started sending messages to some of our other RDs, seeing if one of them might have the capacity to step into the role for the day. Thankfully, Nikol was willing to jump in and help deliver the run briefing, but had a bike ride scheduled so she couldn't stick around. No problem, Drea (who was already volunteering that morning) also stepped up and helped get everything set up and provided support to Blake after Nikol left.

Of course the other volunteers on the team helped to cover, and a few early finishers offered their help as well. Our parkrun community pulled together beautifully.

I sat at home, slightly embarrassed, kicking myself for my mistake and wishing I was at parkrun. However, it was a wonderful example of how far we've come in the past two years. Renton parkrun's success is not dependent on any one or two people, but rather the collective effort of the community.

-Cathryn Burby