ENDURANCE LIFE SUSSEX - HALF MARATHON - 2185 FEET ELV. The drive to Eastbourne was ponderous. I avoided the Dartford crossing, at my peril. It would have been worth the measly £2.50 to not get stuck in traffic, which is bleeding obvious in reflection. Things were looking up when I realised there was a Leon… Continue reading A Pink Moon
A Nice Spot
With the price of everything on the up, and the planet burning, freezing, and falling over, I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of travelling I do for my running. I have everything I need within foot-powered travelling distance of my bed. And sure, there aren’t exactly mountains in my back garden but I do… Continue reading A Nice Spot
Talking tunes again
The idea of running with music has always been more appealing to me than the reality of it. In reality I find the music detracts from my ability to focus on the run, and I tend to not really be able concentrate on either thing, meaning I’m not really having fun running, or listening to… Continue reading Talking tunes again
A Change of Pace
Why walk when you can run? Running covers more ground, quicker, so more miles can be put in the bank, and miles in the bank is what we like. Usually. I went for a good long walk in place of a run for the first time because I was horribly hungover and the slower motion… Continue reading A Change of Pace
Backwards, Forwards.
And so, slightly belatedly, I find myself reflecting on last year. Because of this wonderful thing called recency bias we tend to pick songs, films, tv shows, games, races, from the latter part of the year as our favourite thing of the year. This is how I find myself, as I reflect, thinking of the… Continue reading Backwards, Forwards.
Running the Coast of My Youth
Hunstanton and Heacham are the coastal towns of my youth. Would I recommend them as a holiday destination to some strapping young couple, looking for adventure and sensual excitement? No, absolutely not. But both towns, like so many British coastal towns, serve up a very specific kind of laid back leisure. My family had rented… Continue reading Running the Coast of My Youth
MUD
Image by Matt Seymour, from Unsplash.com The North Midlands Cross Country league is sort of the premier event for endurance runners at my athletics club, but I’ve never actually been involved before. The combination of recurring lockdowns and my previous job consistently eating up my Saturdays has prevented me from ever being able to turn… Continue reading MUD
The Debut
Fresh from my trip to the Peak District, I had a feeling that I would enjoy my first half marathon. The word enjoy, as always with running, is relative. In running terms it means a type II kind of pleasure - that ‘oh that was fun’ kind of feeling, not a ‘oh this is fun’… Continue reading The Debut
Not 10 Miles
The first sign that not all was right was when the first mile arrived before the first mile should have arrived. GPS is an unreliable friend at best however, so I disregarded this and trundled on. When the 4 mile sign drifted past as the watch stuck 3.25 miles I thought perhaps, yes, something has… Continue reading Not 10 Miles
Alone on Parkhouse Hill
It is a relatively small, but notably unique and remarkably challenging, rise in the Peak District, just outside the sleepy village of East Sterndale. The clouds were low, but they didn’t obscure the view so much as to make it all the more dramatic; crowning every hill top, farmhouse, and tumulus, in eerie grey wreaths.… Continue reading Alone on Parkhouse Hill









