Those who know me will know I enjoy going for a run most days, an activity I find to be a great stress buster.
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And it is something I do always at the end of the day (regardless of what 44 degree nonsense Mount Isa is about to serve up like this week), with one exception.
That exception is at parkrun which runs every Saturday morning at 7am.
Here in Mount Isa it happens at the top end of Tharrapatha Way, Urquhart St.
It's very friendly and you don't have to be an idiot jogger like me - you can run or walk the 5km at your own pace.
Indeed the whole ethos of parkrun, founded in the UK in the early 2000s before heading international in the last decade is to be inclusive and the average parkrun time has gotten bigger as the years go by.
That's proof positive that more slower runners and walkers are taking part.
As for me, I chalked up a milestone just before Christmas, taking part in my 50th parkrun.
It entitled me to collect my bright red t-shirt from organisers with the words parkrun and 50 on it.
The 50 runs have been fun and they haven't just been in Mount Isa.
I've become a bit of a parkrun tourist (which I'm assured is "a thing") and have done ones in Cloncurry, Cairns, Noosa, Yamba (NSW) and at several venues in Brisbane including a lovely pre-Christmas one in South Bank parklands which crossed the Goodwill Bridge and went through the Botanic Gardens.
After a Christmas and New Year in Norfolk Island, where sadly there are no parkruns, I was ready to do my first one for 2020 on the Saturday just gone.
But with things still quiet on the home front, I decided to head down to Townsville on Friday and do the Riverway parkrun there alongside the lovely Ross River.
Someone asked if I'd wear my new red t-shirt there and I said no, I'd fly the flag for Mount Isa and wear an Outback to the Stack one. It was great but I'll never complain about our heat again as I can well do without that intense tropical humidity.
This Saturday I'm back at the Isa parkrun wearing the "50 parkrun" colours. Maybe see you there. Even if you don't want to walk or run, they always need volunteers.