Welcome to Running the Parks



Hi. My name is Gavin, and I'm a writer, a runner and a procrastinator. When you put it like that, I pretty much had to start a running blog, didn't I?

I write thrillers under the pseudonym Mason Cross, which you can check out on my website if you so desire. But this blog is nothing to do with books or writing, at least not directly.

In an effort to combat middle-age spread, I started running in 2018, using the excellent BBC Couch to 5k app. I picked Jo Whiley as my coach. She seems to dislike exercise as much as I do, and is therefore perfect. The app does pretty much what it promises - builds you up with incremental short runs, until you're running nonstop for 30 minutes. To my surprise, I managed to complete the program, and I've kept it up (barring injury) ever since.

Something I worked out early on is I'm not a treadmill guy. It's physically easier than running outside, but much harder psychologically, because it's so goddamn monotonous. And you have to deal with the truly awful music they play in gyms. When I'm outside, I can listen to my own music, or, more often, audiobooks.

I'm also not a Parkrun guy. It's a great initiative and if you like it, good for you. Personally, I've never been much of a joiner in general. And specifically, everything I like about running in parks is negated by 300 other people showing up at the same time, not to mention having to get up early on a weekend.

I do love parks, though.

It occurred to me that there are loads of amazing Victorian parks around Glasgow, including some I’ve never set foot in. So I’m going to try to run every park in the city over the course of the year.

I found numerous references online to there being 'more than 90 parks' in Glasgow, but couldn't find a comprehensive list anywhere. Even the Glasgow City Council website only lists 22 on its Parks and Gardens page.

I emailed the council to ask for a list of all of the parks and they responded fairly snappily with the list at the bottom of this post. No addresses or other geographic detail, so finding all of them is going to involve a bit of detective work.

(By the way, I'm using The Real Glasgow, as opposed to the artificially tight city council boundaries imposed in 1996 for gerrymandering purposes. For the purposes of this experiment, Cambuslang, Rutherglen, Giffnock et al are Glasgow. Hell, anywhere with a G postcode or 0141 phone number is fair game.)

Some of the parks on the list are huge, like the 360-acre Pollok Park, and I'll have to run them more than once to properly cover them. Some, like Dowanhill Park or Maxwell Square are tiny urban green spaces, and I can cross off a few in a single run. A few are small parks that I can combine with a run to and from from wherever I happen to be that day. The idea is to run at least 5k in or around each park, or to include multiple smaller parks within a 5k run.

I'm going to post briefly about each of these runs. How I'm feeling after the run, what I thought about the park, a bit of history or some interesting trivia about the park, what I'm listening to, some pics. I'll add links below as I visit each park. I'll probably post about parks in other towns and cities and countries when I'm running on my travels.

I hope you enjoy reading. If I can keep this up, there might even be a book in it. Hell, if it's good enough for Murakami, it's good enough for me.

The Parks

Alexandra Park
Ardmay Park
Ashtree Park
Auchinlea Park
Auldhouse Park
Barlanark Park
Barrachnie Park
Beardmore Park
Bellahouston Park
Binghams Pond
Blairtummock Park
Botanic Gardens
Bridgeton (Dunn Street) Park
Broomfield Park
Broomhouse Park
Buckingham Park
Budhill Park
Cardonald Park
Carmyle New Park
Castlemilk Park
Cathkin Braes
Cathkin Park
Colquhoun Park
Cowlairs Park
Cranhill Park
Croftcroighn Park
Cross Park
Crosshill Park
Cuningar Loop
Darnley Mill (Dams to Darnley)
Dawsholm Park
Dowanhill Park
Drumchapel Park
Duchray Park
Earlybraes Park
Eastfield Park
Elder Park
Festival Park
Garnethill Peoples Park
Garrowhill Park
Garsgadden Burn
Glasgow Green
Glenconner Park
Gorbals Park
Govanhill Park
Greenfield Park
Hayburn Park
Helenslea Park
Hogarth Park
Hogganfield Loch
Hogganfield Park
Holmlea Park
Househill Park
James Lindsay Park
Kelvingrove Park
King George V Park
Knightswood Park
Lauderdale Park
Lochar Park
Mansfield Park
Maryhill Park
Maxwell Park
Maxwell Square
Milton Park
Molendinar Park
Mount Vernon Park
Naseby Park
Newlands Park
Orchard Park
Penilee Park
Petershill Park
Plantation Park
Pollok Country Park
Possil Marsh
Priesthill Park
Queens Park
Riccarton Street Park
Richmond Park
Riddrie Park
Robroyston Park
Rosshall Park
Rouken Glen
Ruchill Park
Sandyhills Park
Sighthill Park
Springburn Park
Springburn Park
Temple Park
Thornwood Community Park
Thornwood Park
Titwood Park
Toryglen Park
Victoria Park
Western Necropolis
Windlaw Country Park
Yoker Recreation Ground (aka Lady Anne Park)


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Botanic Gardens and Bingham Pond

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