Saturday, 18 October 2014

End of the chapter but not the story


Dear reader 

Although my volunteering story is coming to an end for now its not the end more like moving onto the next chapter of a book.

Glasgow 2014 saw me gain more independence, this time I stayed in some Uni accommodation and made many new friends, The flats we stayed in were occupied by many volunteers I had previously met due to being involved with Olympics so it was like a big family and I felt comfortable knowing it would be a great experience sharing accommodation with many others who clearly share the same love for volunteering that I do. We all had different shifts and were based at many different locations for the duration of the games, ranging from athletics at Hampden Park, Swimming at Tollcross and a wide variety of roles, from spectator services to results to the many variations in The Press Operations Team. 

I was quite lucky in the respect that being with the Road Events Team helping the press photographers getting their pictures for papers around the world I ended up working in different venues so wasn’t suck in same routine unlike Wembley Stadium in 2012. I was involved with Triathlon at Strathclyde Country Park, Marathon at the start/finish line of Glasgow green, Cathkin Braes for mountain biking and Glasgow green for cycling time trials, my volunteering finished out in the centre of Glasgow for cycling road race.

To the present day since 25th May 2013 most of my Saturday Mornings are spent volunteering at Newcastle Parkrun and I wouldn’t change it for the world. This morning marked by 49th time volunteering so next week will be pretty special as 25Th October will mark exactly 17 months to the day I started getting involved and I will hit 50 times volunteering that day. 

In February this year I finally persuaded my mum to start getting involved and she ran her 17th Parkrun today, proud of her times improving and the support and encouragement gained from the Parkrun community. She may be last to finish but I don’t care, the times are improving and the community is so supportive. When I have completed the run its just an achievement for me to be there running, although I too also have came in last many a time everybody running is amazing as today 537 people were out of bed early on a Saturday morning. Next week me and mum have hopefully persuaded my dad to do his first parkrun (probably his only one as he prefers longer runs than 5k) on his birthday.


Tomorrow I go on my travels so nothing much happening this weekend 

Happy weekend
Claire x

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