Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

On the 19th April 2025 I ran the Quakers Walk parkrun which was the 75th event held at the venue, my 233rd parkrun and 151st different course I'd attended. I have got a rather long list of planned events in an excel spreadsheet that is loosely put together with some form of logic, but heavily caveated that things are likely to change. For example I can't really put plans in place now for August and September until the football fixtures are released at the end of June. But they are there anyway waiting for me to adjust when the time comes Planning out this way does occasionally create some unexpected opportunities. I had worked out that Gillingham weren't playing on Saturday as it was Easter, so I planned to visit Quakers Walk parkrun with the idea of possibly making a family day of it with Steph and the kids. It would mean an early start, but we'd done it previously and had a good day out afterwards. But I hadn't quite considered Gillingham playing the day before a...

On the 12th April 2025 I ran the Gladstone parkrun which was the 601st event held at the venue, my 232nd parkrun and 150th different course I'd attended. In social media groups discussing parkrun adventures there's frequently tales of parkrunners who have bumped into someone famous on their weekly timed walk, jog or run. 'Famous' can mean lots of different things these days and so those celebrities can range from anyone, like Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the founder of parkrun to Joe Wilkinson the comedian, Gillingham FC fan and occasional parkrun participant. I even ran an event once where Dame Kelly Holmes was present and hadn't even realised until I'd read about it later on social media. So you can forgive me for feeling a little excited when I arrived at Gladstone parkrun and immediately spotted Olympic legend Ellie Simmons! She was attending her first parkrun event as an ambassador of parkrun to help further promote the parkwalk initiative which aims to encourage f...

On the 5th April 2025 I ran the Alexandra parkrun which was the 184th event held at the venue, my 231st parkrun and 149th different course I'd attended. No sooner had Hayden and I arrived home from our trip to Harrogate, it was time to get back into the car and head north again. Gillingham were due to visit Manchester again for their third ever visit to Salford City football club. Hayden and I have attended every single game Gillingham have played against Salford and at the beginning of the season this was one that we'd pencilled into the diary as to having to do. It just so helps that there's always something to do in Manchester and combining it with a parkrun there is a wealth of options to choose from. Despite having done Heaton Park before our fixture last season, and Woodbank before playing Stockport the year before there was still plenty to choose from. I wanted to do Peel parkrun, but I'd already ran at the scheduled parkrun event number so settled on Alexandra ...

On the 29th March 2025 I ran the Pontefract parkrun which was the 650th event held at the venue, my 230th parkrun and 148th different course I'd attended. Horse racing isn't my thing, and so a visit to a venue that hosts horse racing isn't necessarily on my list of places to go to. Had it not been for parkrun I'd not have visited any at all, but after York, Pontefract racecourse was the second parkrun venue I'd ran at where horse racing is also held. Being a Gillingham fan in league two this season has meant a lot of long away trips and lots of hours on the road. It has also provided opportunities to tick off a few parkruns in areas of the country I'd not be able to justify travelling to just for a 5k run. Combining football and parkrun tourism has also allowed me more time to explore the towns we play football in which has been an unexpected pleasure. This seasons we've done Doncaster Rovers, Morecambe, Fleetwood, Notts County and Carlisle all in combinati...

On the 22nd March 2025 I ran the Clapham Common parkrun which was the 269th event held at the venue, my 229th parkrun and 147th different course I'd attended. In the last few months or so I'd driven into London and passed Clapham Common in order to get to someplace else. On each occasion, whatever time of day the area around Clapham Common has been teeming with people out on the streets running or jogging along their way. It didn't take make perception or research for me to confirm my suspicions that when I eventually got around to running Clapham Common parkrun that it was going to be a well attended event. Well attended events tend to mean parking problems and London isn't short of that in the first place. As with Wimbledon Common a few weeks previously I had done a fair amount of investigation. Driving was by far the quickest option, but it carried a risk of being unable to park. Public transport would have dropped me right outside the door, but would have been more...