After five and a half years of working two jobs, I finally make the transition to life with parkrun this week. Thursday is my last day as an employee of Hutchison 3G – the mobile internet phone company - I leave 3 on my 3rd anniversary with the company! 3 are aware of parkrun and quite a few employees now take part each week and they have been a great support to me as parkrun has grown – thanks 3.

Personally, this if a defining moment in my life. To begin with I never thought parkrun could be an employer. I spent many hours in the first few years crafting the parkrun systems at the expense of others. I found myself having to justify the commitment on a regular basis. It was difficult to explain where all this effort would be going, what the goal was and how we could ever turn it into an organisation that could support the growth. I’d like to say a special thank-you to my wife Joanne for allowing me to spend untold hours getting parkrun to where it is today, and to the many who devote their time to parkrun. It’s amazing that we’ve had nearly 36,954 different parkrunners at 1,833 events, and we currently have around 3,500 runners each week at the 29 events, with around 1,000 more joining the parkrun family each week. But what makes parkrun special for me are the individual stories and smiles that I hear and see at every event, and more people enjoying more running, making new contacts and friends, more people entering local events and joining clubs – worth every hour that I’ve put in to parkrun so far!

parkrun is still in its infancy. We have only just started out, there is so much more to do and so much more to come. My dreams of old are now a reality and I have had to create new dreams. My goals have gotten larger as you have increased the mileage at your parkrun event!

I am delighted to be stepping over the threshold and becoming a full-time parkrun employee. We are a small team funded by the sponsors - Anita Afonso is doing brilliant work setting up new events around the country, Chris Wright as General Manager keeps operations and the website going and improves what we offer every week, Joanne on the many administration jobs we have, and I on running the whole thing, working with sponsors and partners, and developing the parkrun software and newsletters. But we are also bolstered with regular help from Roger Wilson (on sponsors and all-round advice), Tom Williams (northern new events), David Rowe and Richard Leyton (on IT), Duncan Gaskell (Finance), Ray Coward (T-shirts and kit), the wonderful Event Directors, and 10,000 more volunteers. Together we are a formidable team and I’m very lucky that some amazing people have chosen to devote their time to parkrun events. As we face the remainder of 2010 I expect we will take on a couple more full-time employees as we accelerate parkrun’s growth and bring free, weekly running to many more thousands.

In closing, I wish to remind everyone that parkrun is a community-led project, that we will always be free to the runner and we will not change the model or ethos of parkrun. We have no commercial ambitions - we operate on a not-for-profit basis where any surpluses are re-invested into the expansion of parkrun and our existing events – and volunteering remains at the heart of our success, which is what makes parkrun events so special. parkrun & I are committed to delivering as many free, 5K, timed runs across the country as are wanted by local communities.

Thank you to everyone. Happy running this weekend!

The BUPA London 10,000 is presented by the London Marathon and is run on the course likely to be used for the 2012 Olympic Marathons. Unfortunately, online entry for the 2010 race has now closed. However, at least 100 parkrun volunteers are guaranteed an entry if you take part in this competition.

The London Marathon have provided 100 exclusive, guaranteed entries to parkrunners for this race which takes place on the 31st May 2010. If selected, you will be able to enter at the usual cost of £25.00.

To be in for the running, we will select the top 100 parkrunners who apply who demonstrate the best volunteer record.

To apply, please drop me an email with your name. The competition will close on the 27th February and we will notify all the winners by the 28th February.

The latest advice from Martin Yelling and Liz Yelling is now available on our Lucozade Sports sponsor page.

As we move towards lighter mornings and longer days, Martin offers advice on the benefits of these early training sessions and how they will help you throughout the rest of the year.

Don't forget to bookmark this page to get the advice as soon as its published: www.parkrun.com/sponsors/lucozadesport/TrainingTips.aspx

Jane Nodder is a member of the Mornington Chasers Running Club based in Kentish Town - London, a regular marathon runner and about to run her first parkrun in Finsbury Park this Saturday. She is also a Senior Lecturer and Clinic Tutor in nutritional therapy at the University of Westminster, London, and she is completing a research project as part of the requirements for the MSc Nutritional Medicine in the Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey, Guildford.

Jane's research will investigate the extent to which the dietary practices of club runners participating in the London Marathon 2010, meet guidelines for the composition of diets during training for endurance running events. The study will also identify key sources of nutritional information and knowledge amongst this group of athletes. Study participants will be involved in completing an on-line questionnaire and a 7-day Food & Training Diary during the period 22-28 March 2010. The outputs from her work will help to inform initiatives for improving the nutritional knowledge and practices of club level marathon runners.

If any parkrunner is interested they should contact Jane at nutriworks@aol.com

We have keenly awaited the first iPhone application on iTunes targeting parkrunners. Now that there is one available we should point out that these applications are provided by a 3rd parties not related to parkrun and that all revenues go directly to them. We do not plan to introduce nor sell applications but will work with other parties to offer interesting added value applications to parkrunners.