Dear members of the Ethiopian Sports and Culture Federation,
My name is Kassa Tadesse, based in London and I am a member of ESCF.
I want to write to you about my first parkrun experience last Saturday.
I used to run a lot and competed at a high level in marathon. Last Saturday morning I took part in an event after a break of 7 years of no racing. It was a wonderful experience and I really enjoyed it. This time I was, should I say, a bit under prepared. My circumstances have changed. I am no longer a full time athlete and most of my week I am busy working. Nonetheless, I love running and I could not think of a life without running, ending up becoming obese and unhealthy. I made the decision that I will take part in doing a parkrun every Saturday to keep me fit and healthy!
For the last 7 years I have not done much running. I did not know what to expect, but I am glad that I managed to finish the 5k parkrun without stopping. In the end I finished in a time of 29:34 in 204th place out of 254 runners. On a more positive note I finished 13th in my age category. I was thinking to myself a couple of years ago I ran a 10k in 28:38 and now I cannot finish half the distance in a faster time. It was a wake up call. The amount of pain I had to go through to finish the 5k felt much harder compared to all the races I did in previous years. The lesson I learnt is that I need to spend time being active and getting better.
I set myself a new goal to continue to run every Saturday morning and go to the Gym. I want to be fit and healthy as soon as possible and target a time of under 20 minutes for the 5k for next 6 months.
Please join me and follow my training progress on the Ethiopian Sport and Culture Federation website.
For a subscription of only £10 each month we can provide you:
1. Free training information and personal training advice
2. Free sports information regarding where and how to start athletics, football and table tennis
3. Free entry for the ESCF sport festival every year.
4. Free entry for any programs ESCF do and many more benefits.
I am a qualified Level 2 Athletics Coach with UK Athletics and I have significant running experience. I am happy to share my skills and experiences with you.
Many thanks,
Kassa Tadesse
