Ian Runs

In a rare turn events, I found myself heading westbound this morning, to run at Perry Hall parkrun, which was hosting the With Me Now podcast's second Pow Wow (the first being at Oaklands parkrun last year)! The area Perry Hall parkrun takes place in Perry Hall Park, Birmingham (not to be confused with neighbouring Perry Park, which was preparing for hosting the 2022 Commonwealth games), which is the remaining grounds of the former Perry Hall estate. Perry Hall itself was demolished when the local council had to make a financial decision to save either Aston Hall, or Perry Hall, leaving the moat as the only remnant of the site's history. Modern Perry Hall Park is primarily a recreation ground, counting 15 cricket pitches amongst its many facilities, although it also doubles as a flood-prevention basin for the wider area, storing excess water during heavy downfalls, and subsequentially releasing it as capacity allows. The course The course is run over 3 laps of fla...

Today, I am breaking my alphabet streak in favour of attending the With Me Now Pow Wow at Oaklands parkrun! I found the With Me Now podcast during the first lockdown, and have thoroughly enjoyed listening to the back catalogue, in addition to the parkrun show 's back catalogue, and I've learnt a lot about parkrun and its history from these two podcasts. While it doesn't contribute towards my East of England goal, being sociable triumphed this week, and it only made sense to meet some other listeners! The area Oaklands parkrun takes place in Oaklands Recreation Ground in Birmingham. Birmingham is the UK's second most largest city by population, and as one would expect, has a long and varied history, but on this occasion, I didn't get the chance to explore it in any detail on this occasion. As one of the conditions of Tesco building a new supermarket as part of the development of the Swan shopping centre adjacent to the field, the local council insisted that...