Grantham father runs while pushing daughter, 3, in buggy
A father and his three-year-old daughter spend their time together by running in parkruns.
While Harry Edwards, from Grantham, runs in parkruns every Saturday in Wyndham Park, he pushes his daughter Elise in a stroller so she is involved in the action.
It all began when Elise was six months old, as it was the recommended age she could be in a buggy and Harry could run with it.
After Elise’s mum Lara gave birth to Elise, she was keen to get back into shape so shortly after the pandemic, her and Harry started up parkruns together again.
Harry said: “I was keen not to be stood on the sidelines and wanted Elise to be part of what we enjoyed so much.
“We then took part at our first parkrun and surprised ourselves at what was possible.
Get the latest news to your inbox by signing up for The Briefing
“As Elise has gotten older she now shouts out to me ‘run faster Daddy’ or ‘he's beating you Daddy, come on!’, which really makes me up the pace!”
As Elise started to get involved more, Harry launched an Instagram account, under the handle @run_faster_dad and they have now done over 100 parkruns together.
Harry added that the runs are “always very enjoyable” and are some of their best “memories together”.
The fastest five kilometres they have run is 18 minutes and two seconds.
Harry added: “We have now managed to get our hands on five first tokens during our buggy running together which is the most precious achievement to have received together with Elise at such a young age.”
Also this year, Lara gave birth to the couple's second daughter Olive, and they now have a double buggy ready for Olive to join them.
Elise has also started to join in with the junior parkruns, which take place in Wyndham Park every Sunday and they run two kilometres.
Although the age to take part in these is four years old, Elise has “toddled” around these since she was two-and-a-half years old.
Harry added: “Despite buggy running being a rare site around Grantham, I would recommend anyone to get themselves a running buggy and give it a go.
“We have made some of the most precious memories together and Elise now has a serious competitive streak which I feel could be hard to beat in the future!”