Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

On the 14th February 2026 I ran the Trentham Gardens parkrun which was the 190th event held at the venue, my 276th parkrun and 190th different course I'd attended. Children under the age of 11 years old have to be accompanied by an adult when taking part in parkrun. With Hayden turning 11 years old on the 24th February, our trip to Trentham Gardens will be the last event we take part in together. My view is if he is old enough to take part unaccompanied then he's also old enough to wait at the finish line for me. He is also obviously very welcome to take part himself, but unlike me he hasn't really caught the parkrun bug! We stayed on site almost at the Trentham Gardens Premier Inn, a stones throw from the start line. Hayden 'injured' both knees crossing the car park and got a stitch less than 50m into the start of the event. It was a fight I wasn't willing to have and so I walked the course with him without muttering 'come on Hayden' as I usually do. B...

On the 7th February 2026 I ran the Panshanger parkrun which was the 536th event held at the venue, my 275th parkrun and 189th different course I'd attended. Running during the winter months can be a precarious pastime. Ice, snow, rain and mud are all potential obstacles that can get in the way of a good morning out. Luckily for me I like and enjoy those conditions and find it all rather fun.  There is the cautionary parkrun tourist who plans their winter based itinerary around venues and course that are tarmac based and save the grass based courses for the summer. I take it on a week by week basis and a luck of the draw. If a course is a trail based event and had a possibility of mud, then so be it. If it's hilly and on tarmac, so be that one too. If an event is cancelled due to weather conditions then that is also fine, I'll just rearrange my calendar and visit the next one on the list. Which is why, when I arrived at Panshanger Country park on Saturday morning I arrived ...

On the 31st January 2026 I ran the Foots Cray parkrun which was the 311th event held at the venue, my 274th parkrun and 2nd time I'd attended the venue. February is promising to be a busy month. Gillingham are almost Tuesday night, Saturday night back to back for the full month. The week they aren't, I'm taking Hayden to White Hart Lane as a treat. I've also got Uncle Paul's funeral in the West Midlands and so lots of miles on the road. When Foordy asked me what parkrun I was visiting and would I fancy something close by it didn't take me much convincing. Originally I had Dereham in the diary as it was running event 80, which I needed for my Wilson Index, but the thought of a two hour drive there and another two hours back felt unpalatable. So instead I had the enjoyment of looking up closer events that I'd already visited and one that enabled me to get Foordy home in time for a shift at Bluewater later in the day. I last ran Foots Cray Meadows on a warm Ma...