Parkrun (and systems)

Since about late 2019 when I started participating, Saturdays have been parkrun days. Obviously it hasn’t always worked out that way (I’m looking at you, pandemic and injury). But it’s a great thing do to, and here’s why.

By way of background, quite a few years ago now I heard an episode of the Tim Ferriss podcast, in which he was talking with Scott Adams. During the interview the subject of systems vs goals came up, which affected me greatly. In a nutshell, a goal is like a moon-shot that you’re failing at until the crunch point, whereas a system is an approach that brings benefits however it plays out. (Listen to Scott’s description on the link above, obviously it’s way better!)

For me, parkrun is a system: you turn up on Saturday mornings, run (or walk, or jog, or whatever) an extremely un-precious 5K, and then maybe have a coffee with friends. It isn’t like a competitive race - everyone is just doing their own thing, and then getting on with their days. But by doing it every week, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll get a bit fitter, and have some social interaction, and be outside in nature a bit more, and … and … This is a system that brings benefits irrespective of how any particular run goes.

This un-precious feel, with a low bar to participation, was also part of my plan for this very blog: setting a low bar for how much to write each day was intended to make it easier to develop a daily practice that improves my thinking and writing.

It worked for sit-ups at the start of the pandemic - it was hard to start with, but I now do 20 sit-ups every night before bed pretty well without fail. Let’s hope that with blogging and running I can be equally consistent!

Photo by Jennifer Birdie Shawker on Unsplash