Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

On the 30th August 2025 I ran the Oldham parkrun which was the 697th event held at the venue, my 251st parkrun and 168th different course I'd attended. Last week I celebrated my 250th parkrun event and celebrated the official milestone in relatively low-key fashion. If you weren't already aware parkrun celebrates official milestones at 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1,000 events, with a range of coloured merchandise 'unlocked' and available to purchase at each stage. 3 years on from celebrating my 100th parkrun at Bushy, and five years at least until I reach my 500th I returned to Leybourne Lakes and took part in the event volunteering as a tail-walker. I figured that by walking the event I'd be able to encourage more people to participate alongside me and so I was joined by Stephanie and Hayden who walked around with me. Phoebe joined us in making the trip, but got as far as the start line whilst Oliver couldn't quite get himself out of bed. That was my fourth effo...

On the 16th August 2025 I ran the Ruthin Memorial Playing Fields parkrun which was the 164th event held at the venue, my 249th parkrun and 167th different course I'd attended. In the early 90's, I spent.time.on holiday with my Grandparents in North Wales and have lots of childhood memories of the times we spent there. Since I've had my own children, I've always wanted to take them back with me so I could share a nostalgic look back at my childhood whilst given them their own memories to treasure. For whatever reason, we've not had an opportunity to do so, until now. With Gillingham playing Tranmere Rovers in August, I was able to peice together a short itinerary that allowed us to spend an extended weekend in the North West. Using an Airbnb style accommodation outside of Wrexham we planned to travel up on the Friday, watch Gillingham on Saturday and then spend Sunday and Monday exploring the best of what North Wales has to offer. It wasn't quite long lazy days ...

On the 9th August 2025 I ran the Fulham Palace parkrun which was the 510th event held at the venue, my 248th parkrun and 166th different course I'd attended. Last weekend, once I'd got home from my trip up north Stephanie called me over and asked me just what the hell I thought I was doing. Dazed and confused I asked her what she was talking about. She explained that she'd opened the parcel that I had ordered by mistake and/or curiosity. It was a long cardboard tube and I was completely in the dark. I hadn't ordered anything and so was completely mystified. I opened the lid and slid out the poster, unrolling it full of excitement as I realised what it was. It was a huge poster with a list of all the parkrun venues broken down into geographic regions. There were checkboxes next to each venue and a roll of 'tick' stickers so I could add stickers next to all the venues that I'd visited  I spent a good hour working through my tick list, oblivious to the origin ...

On the 2nd August 2025 I ran the Hyndburn parkrun which was the 323rd event held at the venue, my 247th parkrun and 165th different course I'd attended. 92 days after Gillingham took on Port Vale to bring the curtain down on the 2024/2025 football season, they took the field again to take on Accrington Stanley in the curtain raiser for the new campaign It meant that 92 days had also passed since my last football/parkrun double when I visited Isabel Trail parkrun along with Hayden and his mate Henry. Combining football away days with parkrun tourism has opened up areas of the country that I wouldn't ordinarily be able to visit direct from home. It also extends the football day significantly as we are no longer travelling up and back on the same day and so getting a chance to see the local area more widely than just simply the town and it's football stadium. I'd saved up some extra hours to give me and Hayden the ability to travel up earlier on the Friday afternoon. Rath...

On the 26th July 2025 I ran the Markshall Estate parkrun which was the 178th event held at the venue, my 246th parkrun and 164th different course I'd attended. As parkrun day fell on my birthday it was a chance to have a rare Saturday morning with my family in tow - although that didn't quite include Oliver who can't be convinced to get up early in the morning for anyone. So knowing that I'd have them joining me, and knowing that they'd not be willing to participate i had to encourage them by other means - breakfast. My normal planning schedule now had another criteria it needed to meet. Event number, unvisited and a stones throw away from aeam bacon sandwich. Top of the list that met all of those parameters was Markshall Estate, my 17th Essex venue and home to Mrs Salisbury's of Coggeshall Tearooms. Once again, another example of where the road to parkrun has taken me to places I would never have otherwise heard of, let alone visited. An hour from home, a rela...

On the 19th July 2025 I ran the Watermeadows parkrun which was the 252nd event held at the venue, my 245th parkrun and 163rd different course I'd attended. Visiting different parkruns has always been about keeping my running motivation going. I figure that if I keep going back to my home event week after week, I'd lose interest and miss a week which would lead to two weeks and before I know it parkrun becomes something I used to do. Tourism has always been about ticking things off, all the events in Kent, letters of the alphabet, closest parkruns to football grounds and arbitrary numbers. But on Saturday for the first time I visited a parkrun where it actually felt like it meant something, a personal homage to someone I loved deeply. My Nan and Grandad lived in Towcester when she was diagnosed with cancer, eventually succumbing to the disease in 2005. I remember vividly the last time I visited her, knowing she wasn't long to live and her expressing her sadness that she...