When Mel Crawshaw finished walking her first five-kilometre parkrun on the banks of Lake Tuggeranong she felt like she was going to have a heart attack.
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Seven months later she has lost 22 kilograms and is a parkrun devotee, pushing herself a little bit harder every Saturday morning and running most of the way.
But she admits fronting up to her first run was daunting and it took her a while to muster the courage to give parkrun a try when she decided to lose weight.
"I don't think I'd run since high school … I thought 'everyone is going to look at me, I'm too big, they're going to wonder what I'm doing at parkrun' but when I got there, there were people of all shapes and sizes and no one cared that I showed up in a pair of leggings and the baggiest T-shirt," she said.
"Once it hit me that these people weren't there to judge me, I absolutely loved it."
Her first run took her 56 minutes but she can now knock over five kilometres in 42 minutes with her children Thomas, 8, and Kailey, 6, her biggest motivation and both keen parkrunners themselves along with her husband, Matthew, who makes the occasional appearance.
"I said to my son 'even if you came in last, you're still before the person who didn't get out of bed that morning'," she said.
"They are learning … it's not about being the best, it's about being the best you can be on that day."
Mrs Crawshaw is one of more than 10,000 registered parkrunners in the ACT, and 222,473 Australia-wide, jumping out of bed at 8am most Saturdays to join about 300 other regulars in the Tuggeranong parkrun.
"It's being with a group of people and being alone … when you're out doing the five k's it's about you, and making sure you do your best, but it's also about being part of something bigger," she said.
Parkrun began in the UK in 2004 as a volunteer-run initiative where runners and walkers of all levels turn out each week for a free, timed, non-competitive, five-kilometre run on a set course.
Since 2012, when two British expats brought the phenomenon to the ACT with the Ginninderra parkrun at Belconnen, two more courses have sprung up at Tuggeranong and Gungahlin with, on average, more than 700 Canberrans attending each week.
And now the new Burley Griffin parkrun is coming to the territory to meet the growing demand, beginning on June 18 in Yarralumla.
By the end of the year territory director Gary Clarke said it was hoped Queanbeyan and the new suburbs of Molonglo would also have their own courses.
But the two extra runs, and four other locations earmarked as possibilities in the new two years, all depended on funds.
Mr Clarke said the $10,000 start-up cost was the biggest hurdle to beginning a new course, but parkrun headquarters paid half the costs and organisers hoped to secure government grants or business sponsorship.
"The ethos of parkrun is we'll provide an event anywhere someone wants one," he said.
"We'd eventually like to see nine parkruns within the bounds of the ACT with the one in Queanbeyan as well. That would satisfy the thirst for parkrun in ACT."
Once a parkrun is up and running, the only ongoing cost is maintaining runners' results on the website with all the other work done by volunteers in the groups.
Mr Clarke said parkrunners in Canberra ranged in age from four to their later 80s and prams and dogs were regularly seen at each run.
To find out more about parkrun in Canberra, visit parkrun.com.au/register.
