Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

On the 20th April 2024 I ran the Sherwood Pines parkrun which was the 360th event held at the venue, my 179th parkrun and 102nd different course I'd attended. Last week I went back to the Isle of Sheppey and ran The Leas parkrun for the second time. Foordy had requested a visit to a flat parkrun and it was the closest one to home that matched his criteria. I managed to get a new course PB and was a few seconds shy of a new parkrun PB. Has happened a few times this year, so I must be doing something right. It was back to the tourist trail this week with a trip to Sherwood Pines and doubling up the day with a football trip following the Gills on another away day. Reaso and I had a conversation about whether or not we'd be going to Mansfield Town for the last away game of the season. I'd never visited Field Mill, home of Mansfield Town before and so I was quite keen. I suggested an early start and taking in a parkrun on the way. The suggestion went down well, except Reaso wan

On the 6th April 2024 I ran the Pendle parkrun which was the 441st event held at the venue, my 177th parkrun and 101st different course I'd attended. In between parkrun days are normal days that make up a normal week and are usually a rinse and repeat of work, eat and sleep. Mostly weeks go by with nothing much happening and occasionally something interesting might happen to make the week a little less dull. Even rarer than a less dull week are weeks when an event occurs that rocks you to your core and parkrun becomes a necessity as opposed to something nice to do on a Saturday morning. Sadly last week was one of those rare weeks. We received news on Tuesday that Hayden's football coach had passed away and had taken his own life. Explaining that to a nine year old child was quite easily the hardest thing I've ever had to do as a parent. I've always said running has been a tonic for my mental health and nothing could be closer to the truth last week when I went out for

On the 30th March 2024 I ran the Gunpowder parkrun which was the 573rd event held at the venue, my 176th parkrun and 100th different course I'd attended. If you'd have said to me in 2014 after my first parkrun that I'd do it again another 175 times, and that I'd run at 100 different parkrun venues I would have laughed at you. The truth was, I didn't like running and I still can't say that I do all these runs later! There's a secret sauce in the parkrun enterprise that keeps me coming back and whatever it is, whether it's the accessible nature of the event - that irrespective of ability everyone is welcome, or the fact that the volunteers are so helpful and supportive. For my 100th different parkrun venue I wanted to celebrate by running at an iconic venue and/or running with as many friends and family as possible. Due to the Easter Weekend and other plans coming up we wasn't able to get to an iconic venue, think Severn Bridge, Woolacombe Dunes or Fo

On the 23rd March 2024 I ran the Pymmes parkrun which was the 604th event held at the venue, my 175th parkrun and 99th different course I'd attended. There are 62 parkruns in the Greater London area, and visiting them all is arbitrarily known as LonDone. If you widen that out a little bit further to include all parkrun events inside the M25 you'd need to attend 76 parkrun events and you'll get to rightfully claim LonDone+ status. Which is why I found myself in North London, a stones throw from Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and their impressive new stadium at White Hart Lane. In nearby Pymmes park to tick off my 36th Greater London event, and 44ti picked h out of 76 inside the M25. Foordy said that he wanted to visit somewhere quick and fast. I checked my planner and ruled out the scheduled event at Lloyd on the basis of previous research and the 'challenging' reputation of the course. And once I'd read the Pymmes course description which used words such as &#

On the 16th March 2024 I ran the Beckton parkrun which was the 548th event held at the venue, my 174th parkrun and 98th different course I'd attended. The beauty of parkrun tourism is seeing places that you'd never normally see by any other means. By visiting and trying to visit all of the parkruns inside the M25 you are guaranteed to see parts of London you'd never normally visit outside of the key tourist areas. Like Beckton for example, just a stones throw from the London ExCel centre. London has a rich variety of parkrun events, some vastly more popular than others.The two closest events to Beckton are Victoria Dock and Thames Path Woolwich which average 200 and 250 participants each week respectively where as Beckton is a much smaller event with and average of only 64. It's nice to visit a smaller event as there is much more of an intimate, community feel about it. The first timers meeting and race brief at Beckton were taken at the same time for example, and the

On the 9th March 2024 I ran the Tilgate parkrun which was the 550th event held at the venue, my 173rd parkrun and 97th different course I'd attended. There are two parkruns in Crawley, Tilgate and Ifield Mill Pond . Like many alphabet chasers I visited the latter in search for a rare 'I' event and would have missed out on Tilgate had it not been for geography and the fact that Crawley isn't that far and quite accessible from home. I also had another reason for wanting to visit the event, which was to say hello and catch up with a former James Villa Holidays colleague who like me has taken up running since our time ended at the company. He is a regular runner at Tilgate and ahead of my visit I slid into his DMs to get the lowdown on what to expect. He reiterated advice which I'd already learnt in that the course was a beautiful one around a lake, but he warned me of 'chevron' hill, a short sharp beast that was somewhat of a nemesis to him. Tilgate parkrun ge

On the 2nd March 2024 I ran the Heaton Park parkrun which was the 624th event held at the venue, my 172nd parkrun and 96th different course I'd attended. This parkrun touristing lark is hard work. Planning where to run each week and what number event is exhausting. Adding the challenge of combining it with football adds a whole new level of complexity, and budget! Stephanie had planned a trip to Portugal this weekend with my sister, my nieces and some of my female cousins to celebrate my cousin Bethany turning 30. I was due to pick up all Stephanie's parenting commitments on Saturday morning and so my usual parkrun trip was due to take a back seat. I'm very lucky to have Stephanie do the Saturday routine. Hayden and Phoebe have football and performing arts clubs that are reasonably close to one another and timings currently work quite nicely. I'm aware that if the situation was different or changes then my parkrunning ambitions will need to be scaled back accordingly.

On the 24th February 2024 I ran the Dover Waterfront parkrun which was the 24th event held at the venue, my 171st parkrun and 95th different course I'd attended. In December 2022 I ran the Margate parkrun , earning myself 'A total Kent' status which is given informally to anyone who runs all of the parkrun events in Kent. At the time this would have been a full set of 24, but on the 9th September 2023 a 25th event was added when Dover waterfront ran their inaugural event. I could of course visited Dover sooner and reclaimed my unofficial title already. But I've been saving my visit to coincide with an event number I'd not ran at yet to try and fill gaps in my 'Wilson Index' (another phrase/unofficial challenge from the parkrun tourist lexicon).  Once again I was joined by the two Andrew's who have unwittingly become parkrun tourists recently, albeit without wanting to self-identity with that label. I'll keep calling them my running companions until

On the 17th February 2024 I ran the Southend parkrun which was the 529th event held at the venue, my 170th parkrun and 94th different course I'd attended. All week leading up to parkrunday I'd planned to visit Oak Hill parkrun, for what feels like the fifth attempt. Everytime I add it to the planner something crops up and I don't end up making it and run elsewhere instead. This week was no exception. The message arrived on my phone Friday morning. 'Can we run Leigh-on-Sea or Southend?'. It was from my friend Foordy and it was too random a request to be random. I acquiesced and said that Southend wouldn't be a problem. But it wasn't until later in the day that I received a follow-up message explaining the reason behind it. Foordy needed a new pair of swimming goggles and unlike most normal people, avoided Amazon and wanted to hit the closest swimming Google shop to home... Which happened to be in Leigh-on-Sea. It could have been a lot further I suppose! And

On the 10th February 2024 I ran the Wollaton Hall parkrun which was the 128th event held at the venue, my 169th parkrun and 93rd different course I'd attended. Last week I revisited Malling parkrun on request of the two Andrew's who are enjoying the parkrun experience but haven't quite taken to touring in the same way as I have. Despite having a posse of pacers I wasn't able to get anywhere near to last year's PB, although I suspect the heavy night of alcohol the night before was partly to blame. I didn't mind the revisit as I knew I had this weekend coming up and it's been a weekend that I've looked forward to now for some time. Last September a colleague in my department arranged a volunteering day at Wollaton Hall which involved us spending an afternoon in the walled garden and doing chores around the place to try and maintain it's upkeep. As part of the day we had a guided tour of the house, including walking out around the rooftop and deep unde

On the 27th January 2024 I ran the Brentwood parkrun which was the 377th event held at the venue, my 167th parkrun and 92nd different course I'd attended. It's now part of my weekly routine, rewriting my parkrun planner on the basis of my mate Foordy and his last minute decision making. I've planned my parkrun schedule out well in advance and there are routine changes depending upon cancellations or last minute things that crop up. But invariably I'll stick to a plan. Foordy doesn't and he likes to live a day at a time. Nobody answered my weekly call to arms and so I assumed I'd be running by myself at the as planned Crystal Palace event. Foordy was due to head down to Folkestone with Will and Reaso and so I was very much looking forward to the challenge. But I got a text message on Friday morning from Foordy saying that he and Reaso were available on Saturday morning after all and would be up for a parkrun, albeit one a bit closer than Crystal Palace.  Challen

On the 20th January 2024 I ran the Cassiobury parkrun which was the 404th event held at the venue, my 166th parkrun and 91st different course I'd attended. Having enjoyed the last few weeks with running company having Foordy join me on my parkrun fix, it was time for me to go it alone again. Whilst Foordy is still over in the UK he wasn't able to attend this week due to issues with his knee and there's no reason to aggrivate anything further just for the sake of it. Since Foordy has been back, the runs that we've done have tended to be flat, and mostly tarmac so this week I was going to suggest an off road course with a few hills thrown in for good measure. Ideally we'd do Lullingstone again, but with wanting to keep up this streak of new courses I pencilled in Brentwood which looks.to be a great challenge. Nevertheless it will.wait for another day as Foordy was unavailable. My original plan was to visit Cassiobury with the goal of ticking off another of the parkru

On the 13th January 2024 I ran the Hove Promenade parkrun which was the 357th event held at the venue, my 165th parkrun and 90th different course I'd attended. My Saturday had looked very different at the beginning of the week. I had planned to travel north to watch Gillingham Vs Accrington Stanley, as I've still got three grounds in league two I've not visited with Accrington being one of them. The plan was to make an early start and stop off in Birmingham and run a parkrun with easy access of the M6. But Hayden received an invitation to a birthday party and accepted the better offer. I contemplated travelling north by myself, but it's a long way and there will hopefully be other opportunities. Plan B was to tick another event off inside the M25, but when I shared the details with Foordy who is still home at the moment he suggested an alternative. He wanted to run by the sea and wondered if there was anything in Brighton that fulfilled his criteria. Indeed there was a

On the 6th January 2024 I ran the Barking parkrun which was the 533rd event held at the venue, my 164th parkrun and 89th different course I'd attended. At the time of writing there are 62 parkruns in the Greater London region, and by my calculations 76 inside of the M25. My aim is to try and complete both totals by the end of the year and after visiting Barking this morning I have 28 and 35 left respectively. Once again I was joined by Foordy who is back home for an extended break from life in Canada. He said he wasn't feeling it this morning but went on to crack a new parkrun PB so I'm no longer trusting his pre-run psychology. Barking parkun is two anti-clockwise laps around Barking park and is virtually pancake flat and entirely on tarmac paths. Starting in the centre of the park by the play area and cafe, participants meet at the finish line where there is a tarp of trust for people to leave their belongings as they run. Before the briefing takes place the run director

On the 1st January 2024 I ran the Catford parkrun which was the 225th event held at the venue, my 163rd parkrun and 88th different course I'd attended. The hardest parkrun of the year is the special event held on New Year's Day. Getting up out of bed after the night before and having to moderate how much you can drink (unless your not driving) all adds to the challenge. The last thing you need after all of that is a challenging course.  Being New Years Day I was limited in which event I could attend. Not every course hosts a special event on New Year's Day and with two years worth of touristing under my belt the closest event to me that I've not completed yet is getting ever further away. I contemplated re-running Bexleyheath which was my very first tourist venue (before touristing was a thing), but I figured Catford wasn't that much further up the road so why not visit their instead. I was joined again by Foordy who is having an extended stay at home. He and his m