The Apricot Army

A “rest” day today had me dodging the Ultra-Violet rays as the 1km out & 300m to go marshal at the Edinburgh parkrun, on Cramond foreshore.

The sun made an appearance as did many parkrun tourists who had made the trip north to Scotland’s capital for the Edinburgh half & full marathon events tomorrow.

As a (park)running tourist myself, I understand this rationale totally, it’s what you do. You have the long event tomorrow or for those full of vim later on the Saturday, so why not tick off a parkrun this morning as a “leg loosener”.

I have to drive to parkrun and as I drew near to the parking place the Apricot coloured parkrun vests and t-shirts came into prominence. It’s a great colour as a uniform and much more distinguishable than the purple, red or black parkrun “club” t-shirts. The Apricot Army was on the march, the parkrun tourist caravan was coming to town.

There were a lot of visitors and it reminds me of attending the football match with my Dad when I was a child. The support decked out in their green and white, (the team was Hibs), scarves, hats and shirts at first in ones and twos then more and more until it becomes a mass movement heading towards the stadium. Today, Apricot was the colour, parkrun at 09:30 was the game.

We might not have had the crowd to match a Hibs game but many team sports would welcome a crowd that matched some parkrun event attendance figures. High 400 at Edinburgh this morning.

It’s tribal this parkrun thing but without the nasty bits, a happy, welcoming, sweaty (it was this morning), friendly, all encompassing thing, held in some lovely places. #loveparkrun indeed!

The number of parkrunners in Edinburgh this morning although not a record but it was a healthy amount but probably not as many as you might think on this week end. Although there were lot’s of visitors perhaps the locals had taken the day off, like myself, to rest for tomorrow.

We had Apricot Army devotees from all over the UK map and fortunately the Cramond weather was kind with a breeze countering the effects of the until recently, reclusive sun.

Our visitors seemed to enjoy their Edinburgh experience and good luck to them in their endeavours tomorrow.

I’ll be there at 8am!

Yes 08:00 for the start of the 1/2 Marathon and hopefully it’ll be a pleasant and gentle canter through the east of Edinburgh, down to East Lothian.

This is my number and I’ll be wearing my Apricot Army parkrun vest, be sure to say hello as you sail past.

C’mon the Apricot Army.