Every new year starts with the resolution 'I'm going to get in better shape'. For me, that coincided with an urge to check out Park Run, which one of my adult daughters had told me was an easy option for kickstarting a personal 'get fit' campaign.

So on December 28 I embarked on my first unofficial park run (I had not registered online). Joining my daughter on her birthday with one of her good mates, I tagged along ahead of them and behind them, for the fiver-kilometre walk/run from a lakeside park in Booragul on the west side of Lake Macquarie, along the Five Islands bridges, to the Speers Point roundabout and back.

Read Judith Whitfield's story on the Park Run movement.

Aha, it was a lightbulb moment, caught in the stream of hundreds of people, walking, talking, jogging, running, with dogs, kids and mates. It was all over by 9am, I wasn't in pain, and I felt better.

Nearly 10 weeks later I've completed five events on the record, enjoying my nearest local event (Lakeview, at Green Point Park in Belmont), participating in one on holidays at Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula on the shores of Port Philip Bay, and returning to the Speers Point event, as an official entrant.

Best of all, it's all free. There are no fees. At all. Just before the race, a run director calls the group together for a quick chat about the day, the course and acknowledges the achievements of those who have participated in 50, 100 or more events. All the course marshalls are volunteers, and they are encouraging, with words, or high fives or hand slaps.

It truly is a world phenomenon. And for someone who is not a joiner, I find it a very comfortable fit.

Happy reading,

Jim