Saturday was a special day for Darrell Harman as he brought up a landmark as he ran his 100th parkrun.

I had started to run around the block and had got myself some running shoes courtesy of my wife Helen then Tony Giles told me about Parkrun and would I like to go to Whitstable Saturday morning and have a go.

I am very competitive and thought I could easily break 30 minutes but it was a shock to the system as I ran 31 minutes 49 seconds on my first ever Parkrun, I ran two more at Whitstable and got worse, this was not what I wanted and began to doubt myself.

I then went over to Maidstone to help them set up Parkrun. I was still trying to get under 30 minutes and it took me until the 14^th of December to crack it.

Whilst I was at Maidstone I also helped out with marshalling and other volunteer roles. Saturday mornings were now parkrun, either running or volunteering.

In the meantime Tony set up the Great Lines parkrun, so over Blue Bell Hill I went and I ran there, one of a few who started on the first one.

My times have come down with an unbelievable PB of 26 minutes 17 seconds. My experiences of parkrun are all good although when struggling up the hill you do ask yourself why I am doing this.

I have met many new friends on the way to my 100^TH run. There are many stories to tell so here are a few, I believe I have helped other runners achieve their goals and mainly women, no surprise I hear you say.

Natalie Watson is one, when she started I encouraged her to keep going and after about three runs she was running all the way, but at the time she could not beat me. How times have changed as she now does Marathons. Clair Williams is another, she struggled to begin wit,h but with me encouraging her and possibly shouting at her, she now beats me hands down.

Another lady is Hayley with her trusted dog Jasper. They have helped me. I believe I am the Usain Bolt of parkrun as when the last 100 metres or so comes I sprint to the finish leaving people behind me, but what about the previous 4900 metres.

Another story I would like to tell you about is that my Wife Helen comes and runs and she got her PB on Christmas day when I moaned and shouted at her and what a run it was.

Another story and this shows you how special the volunteers are when one February morning with rain and hailstones coming down they were there and 60 of us who ran really appreciated this.

I would also like to say that parkrun would not be able to be as good as it is if it wasn’t for the volunteers, they come out Saturday mornings in all weathers and encourage you and make you feel good within yourself.

The conversations you have with them is priceless as they keep on smiling and give you words of wisdom to keep you going, so I salute you, probably the most important people on Saturday morning.

I have finally reached my 100^th run this weekend, I said a few hellos and listened to Andrew’s chat before the start, three, two, one we are off, it was a dull day and soon it would start to rain, but I carried on running with fellow runners coming past me congratulating me.

I was running with Steve Rodwell and Harry Stewart for the first lap and when going through the first lap I received cheers and boo’s from the volunteers watching.

I then put on a spurt and got away from my two friends and continued to keep going as I reached the 4K mark I knew I could get under 30 minutes but would need to up the pace, the legs were ok at this moment and with young Holly geeing me on, I started to increase my stride and in the end another great sprint home to get a time of 29 minutes 18 seconds.

I went down the funnel, collected my token and stood still for a moment getting my breathe back.

The run was now complete apart from getting my token and bar code scanned.

I would like to reiterate that the heroes of the day are the volunteers as if they did not turn up we would not have a run, so well done all of you. I amongst all of the others really do appreciate you.