Why we love Harrogate’s Parkrun

Here at Audsley’s Butchers, we’re lucky to be very close to the finish line of the famous Saturday morning parkrun on Harrogate’s beautiful Stray (http://www.parkrun.org.uk/harrogate/).

Lucky, because every Saturday morning, we get to see proud parents high-fiving their off-spring as personal goals are achieved and memories are made. We get to witness sportsmen and women of all ages and abilities in the moments after they have pushed themselves to their physical limit – for no reward other than personal pride.

Actually, that’s not true. One man does it for more than just pride or a sense of personal satisfaction.

He does it for pie!

Pie Man is one of our regulars, but his visits are regular in their irregularity. The reason is that he only rewards himself with one of our award-winning pies, if he beats his target time. A scrumptious home-made pie is his reward for a race well run.

So, sometimes we see him and sometimes we feel his failure, purely through his absence.

As lovely as our Saturday mornings were pre-Pie Man, (think award-winning sausage sandwiches and the delicious smell of freshly cooked bacon on a warm, fresh roll) he has unknowingly added drama, where before there was none, with his unwavering commitment to the run and to our delicious pies.

Now each Saturday we wait and we watch, and on those Saturdays when he walks through our front door – ready to choose one of our award-winning pies as his reward – well, we genuinely feel like we’ve run the race with him (and we don’t own a pair of trainers between us)… and won!

It’s exhausting and exciting and it almost makes us want to dash out, buy some trainers and join in the next race.

Almost.

But, isn’t there a theory that you should stick to what you know and what you’re good at?

Well, here at Audsley’s, amongst other things, we’re very good at making delicious pies.

We’ll leave the running to Pie Man. x