Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

On the 17th December 2022 I ran the Margate parkrun which was the 439th event held at the venue, my 107th parkrun and 41st different course I'd attended. Multiple events had been called off around the country in the days leading up to the weekend, and as I lay in bed on Friday night refreshing the Margate parkruns facebook page for news I was secretly hoping for a cancellation too. I'd been feeling rough all weekend and I had a sneezing, coughing Stephanie lying next to me who had gone through the same dramas. But schedules are schedules and as part of the plan I was due to complete the Kent parkrun set at Margate which ordinarily I could have shifted. However, I had volunteered to mark the occasion by writing the run report for the events website and didn't want to let anyone down by not attending. So after a final check on the morning of the event for further news on facebook, I ventured out at minus something degrees and de-iced the car with a cough and sniffle and wond...

On the 10th December 2022 I ran the Tonbridge parkrun which was the 391st event held at the venue, my 106th parkrun and 40th different course I'd attended. Last week at Whitstable was the moment where it felt like the seasons had changed. Out had gone the autumn and winter had taken it's place. Yesterday morning we woke up to thick frost and icy conditions, winter had certainly arrived alright. But was parkrun going to survive the conditions? That was the million dollar question. I'd not been affected by cancellations before, as in the sense that ordinarily if an event was called off, I'd shrug and stay at home in bed. But as a new tourist devotee with plans and schedules cancellation can cause allsorts of replanning conundrums. It is of course part of the game and one shouldn't expect too much of events, particularly as safety is paramount. Winter becomes a game of roulette and so far it seems, so good. No pre-planned cancellation at Tonbridge and no updates via ...

On the 3rd December 2022 I ran the Whitstable parkrun which was the 571st event held at the venue, my 105th parkrun and 39th different course I'd attended. For some bizarre, masochistic reason I cannot understand I've wanted to run a parkrun on the seafront with big wind, dramatic waves and plummeting temperatures. It sounds romantic to me, madness to others, but is the reason why I had two coastal events planned for December. First up? Whitstable! Up until very recently, I had never been to Whitstable which I found strange considering in forty plus years as Kentish man I'd been to virtually every other seaside resort in Kent and arguably Whitstable is one of the finest and most popular of all. Nevertheless, I found myself driving down Thanet Way a little over a month from my first ever visit with the weather very different than before. Upon arrival at Marine Parade, the road that runs along the top of Tankerton beach, separated by Tankerton slopes I was comforted by the w...