Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

On the 11th April 2026 I ran the Stretford parkrun which was the 448th event held at the venue, my 284th parkrun and 197th different course I'd attended. Salford City vs Gillingham might not be the most glamorous of football fixtures, but Hayden and I have attended every historic fixture between the two teams - all 8 of them. The away games in Manchester have given me.the opportunity to tick off a few of the cities parkrun venues at the same time. In recent years we've visited Heaton Park, Alexandra and now this time around we chose to visit Stratford. Joining us again this weekend was Henry, Hayden's friend who had enjoyed weekends with us at Morecambe and Port Vale and is infinitely more enthusiastic about partaking in parkrun than Hayden is. It was with Henry and Hayden in mind that I chose Stretford over one of the other Manchester venues as it has an additional novelty factor - part of the course takes part on an athletics track. Majority of the course takes part arou...

On the 4th April 2026 I ran the Tamworth Castle Grounds parkrun which was the 114th event held at the venue, my 283rd parkrun and 196th different course I'd attended. Being able to combine football with parkrun has been a real blessing and has made supporting the Gills more enjoyable as well as broaden the pool of available parkrun events for me to visit. This week with Easter and games being on Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday I hadn't anticipated a parkrun/football double. Originally the plan was to visit Walsall away in a day, drive up watch the game and come home again as is the typical way. But talking with Steph I suggested we could make a weekend of it. Driving up and down the M1 this season and seeing signs for the National Space Museum had whetted the appetite and I really wanted to visit. So I formed a plan that meant we'd travel up to Walsall the usual way, watch the game and stay overnight somewhere either close to the National Space centre or somewhere in b...

On the 28th March 2026 I ran the Colchester Castle parkrun which was the 600th event held at the venue, my 282nd parkrun and 195th different course I'd attended. Upon arrival at Colchester Castle parkrun my heart sank a little. Our car was parked at a leisure centre at the bottom of the park and my eyes scanned upwards towards the castle in the distance and knew straightaway that I was in for a difficult morning. Hills and me are not compatible. With Mark and Foordy otherwise engaged I had expected to be travelling solo. But Hayden was on a punishment as a result of not doing as he was told. He therefore had to forfeit football training for accompanying me to parkrun. He was free to not join in if he didn't want to and he took that punishment with good spirit. The starting point for the event is three quarters away up the hill towards the castle on the southern end of Castle park. There is a flat thoroughfare with a bandstand and some ornamental gardens which makes for a good ...