来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2021年3月18日
On paper it doesn’t sound too exciting: a timed 5km group event around a park, with no prizes, no entry cost and no judgment for walking.
从纸面上看，这听起来并不太令人兴奋：一个围绕公园的计时5公里团体活动，没有奖品，没有参赛费，也没有步行判断。
Despite this, parkrun has come to be hailed as one of the greatest public health initiatives of our time, with 3 million people across 20 countries taking part each week in non-Covid times.
尽管如此，parkrun已被誉为我们这个时代最伟大的公共卫生行动之一，在新冠疫情爆发之前，每周有来自20个国家的300万人参加这项活动。
Now, a dedicated parkrunner from Cumbria has set out to explain why the initiative is so widely loved and – during the past year – desperately missed. Eileen Jones, a writer, found a female bishop whose home parkrun is at a church, a couple who got married halfway round a parkrun, a man who runs it backwards, old runners and very young ones.
现在，一位来自坎布里亚郡热忱的公园跑者开始解释，为什么这项活动如此受欢迎，而且在过去的一年里，还被极度怀念。艾琳·琼斯是一名作家，她发现了一位女性主教，在教堂里跑步，一对夫妇在公园跑步的半路上结婚，一个倒着跑的男人，跑者中，既有年长者，也有年轻人。
Their stories are collected in Jones’s new book, called how parkrun changed our lives. It will be launched on Friday with the start of a 330-mile relay “bookrun” from the Lake District to Bushy Park in London, home to the first ever parkrun in 2004. A copy of the book will be passed like a baton between 100 runners, the last of whom will deliver it to parkrun’s founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt.
他们的故事被收录在琼斯的新书《parkrun如何改变我们的生活》中。这本书将于周五上市，届时将开始一场330英里的“图书跑”接力活动，从湖区到伦敦的灌木丛公园，2004年首次parkrun就是在这里举行的。这本书的副本将像接力棒一样在100名跑步者之间传递，最后一名将把它交给parkrun的创始人保罗·辛顿-休伊特。
Researching the book, Jones found people who found solace, companionship, a new purpose in life, and just sheer joy in running every week in good company. She met doctors who are prescribing parkrun rather than medication, and talked to the academics whose research has proven the many benefits of taking part or volunteering.
通读本书，琼斯发现了一些人，他们找到了慰藉、友谊、生活中有了新目标，以及在每周有好朋友陪伴的跑步中获得纯粹的快乐。她见到了开parkrun而不是药物治疗的医生，并与研究证明参与parkrun或志愿服务的许多好处的学者交谈。
A former fell runner, Jones was “born again” as a parkrunner and had done 260 events at 104 different venues before lockdown. She occasionally well-placed in her age category.
琼斯曾是一名山地跑者，后来“重生”成为一名公园跑者，并在封锁前在104个不同的场地参加了260场比赛。偶尔在她的年龄组别取得不错的名次。
She also introduces us to the record breakers, including the British doctor who ran the fastest women’s time in the US at a parkrun near San Francisco. But mostly there are stories of very ordinary runners, walkers and volunteers who explain why parkrun has brought so much joy into their lives.
她还向我们介绍了打破纪录的人，包括在美国旧金山附近的parkrun中跑出女子最快成绩的英国医生。但主要是一些非常普通的跑步者、步行者和志愿者的故事，他们解释了为什么parkrun给他们的生活带来了这么多的快乐。
“Everyone’s parkrun journey is different and yet we share so many experiences,” writes Sinton-Hewitt, in the foreword to the book. “In common with many other people, I have made countless friends, covered parts of the country, and indeed the world, I never imagined, been united with family I didn’t know I had and shared a parkrun course with my grandchildren. I have been introduced to volunteering and learnt what a rewarding experience it is.”
辛顿-休伊特在这本书的前言中写道：“每个人的公园跑步之旅都是不同的，但我们分享了很多经验。和其他许多人一样，我交了无数的朋友，走遍了这个国家的许多地方，甚至走遍了整个世界，这是我从未想象过的。我和我不知道的家人团聚了，和我的孙子孙女们一起参加公园跑步。我被介绍做志愿者，并了解到这是多么有益的经历。”
Parkrun is free to enter and open to all. Runners print out a unique barcode, which is scanned by volunteers at the end of the 5km course, giving them a finish time and allowing them to keep track of their progress. The average finish time in 2019 was 32:31, but the female record is 15.45, set by Lauren Reid in January 2021 in Australia. The male record, set back on 11 August 2012 by Andrew Baddeley, is 13.48.
Parkrun可以自由进入并对所有人开放。跑者打印出一种独特的条形码，在跑完5公里后志愿者扫描条形码，获得跑步者的完成时间，并记录他们的进步情况。2019年的平均完成时间是32分31秒，女子记录是15分45秒，由劳伦·里德于2021年1月在澳大利亚创造。2012年8月11日，由安德鲁·巴德利创下的男性世界纪录是13分48秒。