After her successful dance competition in February 2025, Carmen had decided to compete at the EuroGames which this year would take place in Lyon. When they’d been in Vienna last year, we’d both gone there so she could support her friends, and we did a little tourism too. This time, as I’d got so little annual leave left to use, I hadn’t planned on going. After Carmen’s plans for her 40th birthday …
June 24, 2025
My fourth Impact Marathons adventure was a trip to Rwanda where we would learn about the work Chance for Childhood do in communities there, the conservation work of the Rwandan Wildlife Conservation Association, and others. Together the projects we visited would build a picture of what problems Rwanda faces, and how people can help them. To round the week off, we'd run a warm marathon, starting around midday, in the land of a thousand hills. It'd be the sort of challenge that would be worth as we took on amazing views of the country along the way. It was certainly a trip that will be memorable… "Rwanda is an example of how a country can rise from the ashes of the Genocide to be a model for social development globally” -- Lamin M. Manneh
May 13, 2025 to June 5, 2025 | 13 posts
Last year I went to a lot of trouble buying a replica of the costume that David Tennant wore as the 14th Doctor in the long-running TV series, Doctor Who. When Carmen found out he was going to be at the ExCeL in London for MCM Comic Con, I think she was quite keen on going, and for me it was chance to use the costume again. I added one small addition this year though: psychic paper. The prop in Do …
May 24, 2025
In all honesty, the result of this race didn’t really bother me. I only booked this one as something to make sure I’d keep my legs going between Manchester and Rwanda marathons. With an 09:30 start it meant I didn’t need to be up that early to get to this relatively local race. I did however make sure I got there an hour before as this one needs you to collect your race number on the day, and I w …
May 11, 2025
I was woken up around 02:00 by the people staying in the room above. It seemed like they’d come in drunk, and were now stomping around and bumping into everything. Eventually I drifted back to sleep until 05:30, when the thunderous sound of snoring from the room above woke me. It would soon be time to prepare for the day ahead… Today would see somewhere around 90,000 people running a marathon wit …
April 27, 2025
In the year that would see the 275th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach's, we would be heading to Berlin for the half marathon. "One can profit there much more than in any other place." Would J.S. Bach's quote about Berlin ring true for us also, in that it would be a productive trip for us? It had the potential to be our fastest Super Half race yet with an incredibly flat course. Familiarity of the city would also help me be tour guide for us over this long weekend.
March 27, 2025 to April 8, 2025 | 6 posts
My third time running this race, even though I wouldn’t be running GU36 this year, and I was determined to do better than the previous two times. This would be a way of confirming that my change in training routine is making a difference. As I’d run about 2.5 laps last year, my goal was to run at least 3 laps this time, and to average around 07:30/mi. My biggest goal I think really was to beat las …
March 23, 2025
I'd heard that this stage play was very well reviewed, so when some more tickets went on sale I thought it might be worth going to see. This time I went with my sister, and parked up at the NCP car park nextdoor to the Curve Theatre. For anyone visiting this theatre by car, that is usually the best place to park, but there can be quite a queue when leaving, so be warned! Whilst we sat and waited …
February 4, 2025
Only two weeks since my most recent half marathon race, I was back with Phoenix Running again: chasing after a medal made from LEGO. That was reason enough to enter this one. As I didn’t have my car with me it meant Carmen would once again have to drive is to Walton-on-Thames for the race. Whilst the conditions were different, the route was the same - the Sunbury Lock route. We’d decided we’d run …
January 26, 2025
For my first race of 2025 I’d be running for doughnuts. On the whole, not a bad thing to be doing really, and Phoenix Running do some nice events. I’ve previously done one of theirs along the Thames path which has turnaround points at either end of a straight, and one at Denbie’s Winery which is an undulating course with twists and turns. This one would be along the Thames path, but I was unsure w …
January 11, 2025
Victor Hugo, the son of a General in Napoleon's army, was a French author best known for The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and Les Misérables. His works have inspired music, and has given life to London's longest running West End musical. Several years ago I'd seen an 8-part adaptation for TV of Les Misérables, and enjoyed it. When visiting Guernsey for the first time I'd seen Hauteville House where he …
December 21, 2024
I didn't expect to be going back to Cyprus for a third time; though the timing of the marathon there, and knowing the conditions for it there would be warmer than in the UK made it a good choice. Carmen would be pacing the half marathon there for the second year running, and I'd be doing my first Cypriot marathon. It'd be my second time seeing Cyprus in a November, and seemed like a good way to finish the year…
November 5, 2024 to November 18, 2024 | 6 posts
When we went to Denmark, we’d both had a day off before the flight so we could visit The Globe theatre for a tour and afternoon tea. Tomorrow we’d be flying to Cyprus for another race, but today we had plans again. During the pandemic I saw many recommendations for watching Taskmaster as a very funny game show. I watched nine seasons of it in a short space of time, and since then have watched eve …
November 13, 2024
At the start of our Super Halfs journey, we set off for Copenhagen to do the first in this six race series that spans Europe. It was a chance for us both to explore a city neither of us had been to before, and to also visit the home of LEGO. Unexpectedly between booking this one, and traveling, we'd had a short holiday to Vienna first so already had a taste of what it'd be like to go on a sightseeing holiday together. This trip felt like it'd be a little more adventurous, and would have considerably more running and sightseeing as we'd be travelling between two cities for this trip, with the potential for a third.
September 3, 2024 to September 22, 2024 | 11 posts
“And I’ll dance with you in Vienna, I’ll be wearing a river’s disguise. The hyacinth wild on my shoulder my mouth on the dew of your thighs. And I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook, with the photographs there and the moss. And I’ll yield to the flood of your beauty, my cheap violin, and my cross.” – Leonard Cohen, musician Vienna, the capital of Austria, and once the heart of the so-called Holy Roman Empire. Its history dates back to at least 500 BC, and was named Vindobona by the Romans in the first century CE. Fast-forward a thousand years, and more settlers later, this area of the Eastern March had become Austria. It was the home of the Babenburg dynasty, and then the Habsburg emperors. "This body which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." - Voltaire It has been the capital of the Austrian empire, then the Austro-Hungarian empire, and during the second world war lost that status as it was absorbed into Nazi Germany. It wasn't until after the war that Vienna regained its status, as the capital of the Republic of Austria. It was however, similar to Berlin, split into four and occupied by the UK, the US, France, and the Soviet Union. The difference with Vienna was that it wasn't divided by walls, and the central area (Innere Stadt) alternated control from month to month. Eventually it was agreed all four powers would leave Austria, and they would agree to remain neutral and not part of NATO. Today, Austria is part of the European Union, and the United Nations, but remains separate from NATO. It being part of the EU, and them having adopted the Euro would make it easier for visiting and reusing currency. It was to be my second city along the Danube in consecutive years, and the first time me and Carmen would visit an International city together that neither of us had been to previously.
July 2, 2024 to July 23, 2024 | 7 posts
Budapest is a city my sister has wanted to visit for several years as she thought "the buildings look cool". Having changed my mind about returning to Greece just yet, I decided this would be a good opportunity to go with her, and see some of Hungary - beyond just Budapest. Neither of us expected a visit to Slovakia though.
August 8, 2023 to August 23, 2023 | 7 posts
My first trip to Cyprus had been for a half marathon race that never took place. It'd been postponed until 2022, but due to timings I decided to defer until the 2023 event as it'd work better that way for me, and it was still unclear what would happen with the pandemic. So once again I was going back, and would not just see the familiar sights of Limassol, but would see the unfamiliar sights of Leftkosia and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus - the occupied part of the country on the other side of the UN green line border.
February 28, 2023 to March 20, 2023 | 7 posts
I've dreamt of visiting Petra since I'd learnt the place I'd seen watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was a real place, and located in Jordan. It wasn't used as Petra in the film, but was the location of the lost Holy Grail, guarded by an ancient Knight of the Temple of Soloman. I knew one day I wanted to return to Egypt to see what I'd missed and thought a few days extra to visit Petra could bolt onto that. So far though, I've not made it back to Egypt, but I did get an opportunity to spend some time in Jordan which would create a completely different adventure to the one I'd imagined.
November 15, 2022 to December 6, 2022 | 14 posts
“In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” -- Orson Welles In 2009 as part of a short trip around Europe, I'd visited Italy and had seen the likes of Naples, Pompeii, Rome, and Venice. Thirteen years later I was now returning, this time with my sister in tow, to see some of the places I'd not seen. My sister's last overseas trip had been Croatia and Slovenia where she'd seen a lot of Venetian influence, now she'd get to see a more modern view of Italy. What had started off as an idea for seeing Milan soon expanded into a week long trip around the Lombardy and Tuscany regions of Italy.
August 30, 2022 to September 24, 2022 | 10 posts
For my first trip of 2022, I was heading to the Bailiwick of Guernsey for a 36 mile ultra marathon around the island. As with any other trip to a new place, of course I'd try to get in as much tourism as I could whilst there as well. Unusually, I'd be flying in the afternoon before the race, and then flying home a few days later. It'd give me chance to spend a day cycling around the island, just so long as my legs were up for it after what was going to be one of the toughest ultra marathons I've done so far. === If you’ve enjoyed these posts you can also view the full photo album on Flickr.
May 3, 2022 to May 17, 2022 | 5 posts
