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| bokeh [photo:7t] |
So instead of running, I brought my camera along and acted as one of the official photographers. My camera skills are usually just about ok but I am really out of practice when it comes to DLSR photography so I had a few lighting and so shutter speed issues. Anyhow snapping away came a (close?) second to running at the event. My photos can be found on flickr (here).
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| richey briefing the volunteers [photo:7t] |
Because my official role was barcode scanner (Richey asked if I wanted to be RD but nerves got the better of me and I declined) I had to get back over to the start area after about 16 minutes, so I headed over where I had a barcode scanning debutant as my scanning partner. Judging by the results, I think we did a pretty good job and there were no obvious mistakes.
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| dartford parkrun eleven [photo:7t] |
Part way through the scanning I went off to check on a runner that had not been feeling well post run. So I handed over my scanner to my wife, who in turn ended up handing it over to my daughter. So the whole Stockwell clan had turns at scanning today.
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| volunteer roster [photo:7t] |
Once I returned to the scanning area there was no way that my daughter was going to give the barcode scanner back to me so I continued to take some more photos while the remaining runners came through the finish line - these were mostly of the volunteers who sometimes don't make it into the photo albums.
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| it's not the first time she's done some barcode scanning [photo:7t] |
So overall it was a fantastic day because it included parkrun. It was also international parkrun day 2014 and also parkrun's 10th birthday where Bushy parkrun got a turnout of 1705. However for me it meant the end of my latest parkrun(ning) streak which stands at 76 consecutive events. I love streaks and I hate it when they end, especially when it's not my choice to end them! However it's just a run and I'm sure there are much more important things to spend time fretting over.
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| one of the central park flags [photo:7t] |
To end on a positive - during the last week one of our runners/ volunteers managed to sort out the locks on our storage box so from now on I will no longer have to run through the streets of Dartford carrying or wheeling the stanchions along with me. I can simply jog over to the park, open the box and then set up the course. I gather Richey is pretty chuffed too - who knows, we may even start having pre-parkrun jogs over to the park together in future!
