November 20th 2016. I ran during the torrential downpour of ‘Storm Angus’ before flying to Nepal for an adventure I would never forget. I’d been to Kathmandu, and volunteered and ran a marathon around the mountain village of Kakani and the Shivapuri national park. In the days that followed I’d travelled all over Nepal, and had seen Annapurna from the Australian base camp, and took a flight past Mo …
November 5, 2023
I knew going into this race that what I’d consider a good time these days would be a big ask, and my best chance would be to try and go for a sub-1:30, and not push for better than that. My left shoulder had however been a cause of pain since Llanelli Half last weekend, and was not only at times difficult to move, but had also been keeping me awake at times. So the chances of that sub-1:30 seemed …
October 1, 2023
When I entered this race I thought I'd be doing it for fun, but then I heard that this was a relatively flat race and so would actually be quite a fast one. It could perhaps be a good chance to attempt a sub-90 again for the first time since before the pandemic. However, about a month before race day Carmen let me know they needed a 1:45 pacer, and as she would be pacing 2:15 at this race I figure …
September 24, 2023
I haven't really run many 10Ks lately, but this was one I only added to my race calendar in the last few weeks as part of celebrating Carmen's birthday. Whilst she would be pacing 65 minutes, I’d be free to run this at whatever pace I could manage. Based on recent races, I suspected early on that would be ‘not very fast’ compared to what I used to manage.. The night before this race I’d pulled a …
September 9, 2023
I last did this race just before the global COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, although I'd wanted to do it in 2022 as well I'd had to defer due to it being my Dad's retirement party on the same day. This year I was back, the even was still in September instead of having been moved back to it's normal date, and it would be Sir Mo Farrah's last London race in his career. Today was unfortunately a 05 …
September 3, 2023
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
I had planned on getting in plenty of speedwork after Swansea Half Marathon, so I'd be ready for my first proper 10K race of the year, but this hadn't gone to plan. I was also in London yesterday doing a parkrun at Fulham Palace, but had deliberately kept it slow, but at any rate, I'd not had the best preparation for this 10K I'd been wanting to do for a while. It didn't matter though, this would …
July 9, 2023
I've visited the northern parts of Wales several times in the last 20 years, but haven't been along the south coast since 1991. I have running friends that weren't born last time I was there. It felt safe to assume that it’d have changed a bit in that time. When I saw that Swansea Half is a good race I decided it'd be a good one to enter, and would take a couple of days to look around too. Though …
June 11, 2023
I first heard of KISS when watching Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey which featured their cover of Argent's God Gave Rock and Roll To You. It was a few years until I heard more of their tracks, but liked their Greatest Hits album. When their final world tour was announced I decided that if tickets were a 'reasonable' price then I'd buy a ticket to see them. Sadly this one would be solo as I didn't k …
June 5, 2023
Returning to Guernsey for another go at GU36 - the unique race that covers a complete lap of the island along cliff paths, and all manner of terrain. It was a chance to beat last year's time, and perhaps see if I'd still got faster times in me.
May 14, 2023
I was up at 06:45 for breakfast and got ready for the race day ahead of me. Weather wise it was forecast to be a repeat of yesterday although it didn’t look like it. An hour later I was on the road to Milton Keynes yet again for a journey that takes about an hour so hadn't been worth staying over after the Rocket 5K. This time the parking bays I’d used previously were coned off, except for one, s …
May 1, 2023
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
This country split into two by conflict is one which my trip would also be divided into two due to the pandemic. For my first part of the trip I would be there sightseeing as 2021 approaches it's end, and would be returning there at the start of 2022 for the race that has now been postponed three times. Sightseeing would no be straight forward though. Some places are temporarily closed, and most tours that I attempted to book were cancelled, including one into North Cyprus. It also didn't help that a major storm was on it's way in, just in time for my arrival… If you'd like to see more photographs from this trip, they're available to view on Flickr.
November 16, 2021 to December 11, 2021 | 10 posts
Twelve years ago, before the age of the smart phone, I visited Berlin at the start of my adventure spanning three European countries. I was younger then, and less experienced at travelling, and with a friend in tow, we had a tendency to get lost. Now I was returning to run the Berlin Marathon as the first part of a railway journey around Germany in a time when a global pandemic is at the forefront of everyone's minds. How would it affect this adventure, and what would be different? === The full photo album for this trip can be found on Flickr.
September 14, 2021 to October 8, 2021 | 14 posts
I have to mostly agree with Sir Terry - there are so many bikes in Amsterdam with lanes specifically for them. As long as you're alert it's not a problem. It's so different in some ways from other European cities, yet also strangely similar. It's also incredibly flat (if you ignore the bridges) so it sounded like it could be a good place to go PB chasing for a marathon. There was plenty of training; but poor planning meant this would be a challenge… “My experience in Amsterdam is that cyclists ride where the hell they like and aim in a state of rage at all pedestrians while ringing their bell loudly, the concept of avoiding people being foreign to them.” -- Sir Terry Pratchett If you’ve enjoyed these posts you can also view the full photo album on Flickr.
October 18, 2019 to October 8, 2020 | 7 posts
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” -- J. R. R. Tolkien When I first visited New Zealand it was a very short trip, and a very unsuccessful one. Every sight I was hoping to see was fraught with problems caused by the weather. It was like we'd stumbled into Moria and awoken a Balrog that had followed us all the way to Mordor (or Tongariro rather). Nine years later it was time to make that long-expected return to the country that had doubled as Middle Earth. What would we face this time?
January 5, 2019 to February 17, 2019 | 18 posts
A few days spent in Switzerland as 2019 began. I got to see the sights of Geneva and Zurich, and then experienced delay after delay trying to get home: snow, emergency ascents, baggage collection, and tube trains with technical difficulties… If you've enjoyed these posts you can also view the full photo album on Flickr.
December 30, 2018 to January 5, 2019 | 7 posts
