A couple of weeks ago we celebrated one year of parkrun* in Munich! I attended the first run on 19th January 2019 and have been involved as a participant, volunteer or organiser ever since.

Westpark parkrun – one year old!

Personally it helps me keep fit, brings some routine to my weekend and gives me a grounded and regular sense of purpose to be in Munich. I have made some great friends over the last year and there is a real sense of community and mutual support. Along with a few of the other guys we went for a daytrip to Ingoldstadt to visit another event and as one of the Run Directors I have really enjoyed our planning meetings – always in a Bierkeller or Biergarten!

At my local Westpark Event we usually gather between 40-80 runners and our early success meant another group was able to begin in Munich in July at Riemerpark on the other side of the city. Although the parkrun phenomenon has very much come out of the UK we are very pleased that there are more and more Germans joining us every week! We also have tourists come from all over the world for parkrun in Munich – most weeks there are visitors from at least Australia, South Africa, Russia and the UK.

I also find that being part of parkrun really complements our church ministry here in Munich. Our family’s ethos is that all aspects of life should serve God and love other people – we use the phrase ‘building the Kingdom of God’ to describe this. Being part of parkrun is certainly a way to do this by helping to organise this healthy and social initiative for the community as well as build personal friendships that can encourage others – they certainly encourage me!

I’d thoroughly recommend getting involved with your local parkrun – it can change and transform lives for sure… And if you live in Munich it would be wonderful to see you at the start line in Westpark one Saturday morning! (see the links below)

When mum and dad came to visit

*parkrun is a free, timed, weekly 5km run each Saturday at 9am for anybody and everybody to participate in with at least 200,000 runners each week. https://www.parkrun.com/ https://www.parkrun.com.de/westpark/