Wandering the World

I did the Boston (UK) marathon back in April, and that really hadn’t gone to plan with all the wind and rain on the day. It was probably one of the wettest races I’ve ever done (though maybe not the wettest run overall) as I think it may have been worse than Chicago. It was at least colder anyway, as I remembered Chicago still being warm despite it raining throughout. After Boston, I’d gotten so c …

November 17, 2024

This weekend should really have been my longest run before tapering for the Larnaca Marathon, but instead I was back at Northala Fields for the Northolt 10K for the second year in a row. Yesterday had been an easy parkrun followed by the rest of the day in Tunbridge Wells for a wedding with very little sleep; so maybe not the best race day preparation. We headed to Northala Fields early, and volu …

October 27, 2024

Another week, another half marathon. Could I edge closer to being a sub-90 runner again, and beat Copenhagen and Cardiff? I certainly wasn't sure, but I was going to give it a go.

October 13, 2024

The second of the Super Half series, and one as close to home as we'd get. Though maybe races being closer to home don't always mean they're going to be easier to get to...

October 6, 2024

My fastest half marathon this year, so far, was at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. It wasn’t the flattest of courses, but it was the closest I’ve been to a sub-90 time for a while. It really has been one thing after another since the start of the pandemic back in 2020, and my race times have been severely impacted as a result. Now I’m in my 40s I realise it’s going to be more difficult …

September 15, 2024

After last year, I decided I wasn’t going to do this race again unless they moved it back to March - a time of the year when it’s usually cooler. It hadn’t been fun last year doing it in such warm weather, and I didn’t want to risk a repeat of that. However, Carmen’s had done a workshop with some young people from work to design the medal and t-shirt for this year’s race, so I then thought I shoul …

September 1, 2024

Having had so few short races since 2019, I really needed to find more to do - something to keep me practicing at speed work at a time when it’s not been that fast. Rutland is a place I’ve been interested in running at before, mostly for parkrun, but wanting a fairly local 10K I felt this one would be a good choice. Since GU36, I've not really done any speed work. I've done two parkruns, which ar …

June 22, 2024

The last time we went to Guernsey it hadn’t gone to plan for Carmen due to the eye infection leading to events that required her to pull out of the race early. I can’t imagine it had been an easy decision, but it had been a sensible one. It did however leave her with unfinished business, and the need to return again. I’d taken about twenty minutes off my time, and I was close to a sub-7 hour race. …

May 19, 2024

The entire point of me entering this race again was to force me to run a half marathon between Boston Marathon and Guernsey Ultra 36. So in a way, this was like the first of two tapering runs from my long run at Boston, before my actual target race. With this in mind I didn't really have a target other than to finish the race. Ideally though, the time for doing so should be between 1hr30 and 1hr45 …

May 6, 2024

My first marathon of 2024. Would it also be my last one this year, or would I manage to fit a marathon into the autumn? I think this time around I started training far too late as I didn't have a good base to be working from after having had an easy summer following quite a few months of reduced training from other non-running issues. My half marathon at the end of December was so bad, I knew I'd …

April 28, 2024

Two weeks out from the Boston Marathon (in Lincolnshire), and I should really be doing a marathon-paced half marathon as part of tapering. Instead, having not done a 10K race this year, and this race being one I often do, I decided I may as well do a 10K with about 80% effort. With a decent warm-up and cool-down alongside it; maybe it'd be similar effort to a slower half. At least, that was my rea …

April 14, 2024

After running this race last year, I thought: "never again". Hilly by name, hilly by nature, and 20 miles of it was just more than I felt was needed. However, after deciding to do GU36 one more time, it turned out this would be the perfect training run for it. So that "never again" became "one more time".

March 24, 2024

For today’s race I would be a the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for a RunThrough event, and that meant travelling across London from the west, and an outrageously early start to get there. When we got to Liverpool Street we found the Elizabeth line wasn’t running very well, so was then a 14 minute wait for a train to get us to Stratford. We thought the toilet queue in Westfields would be better a …

March 3, 2024

Usually my first race of the year would be 10K, but I had a lot of work needed to get back up to longer distance running, and so I sacrificed that for getting in more long runs. I’d need to rely on mid-week speed work, and getting in fast park runs when I could in order to build up speed. Endurance needed to come first when the end goal is actually Guernsey Ultra 36, rather than a decent time at t …

February 11, 2024

The Winter Half in Milton Keynes is quite often my final race of the year these days. I’d hoped I’d have done my 50th parkrun yesterday, and would be going to MK on the way home from London, but due to circumstances outside of our control that was not to be. I didn’t really feel like racing, but this one is one that I do like to do every year, so wasn’t going to miss it. I was up at 06:15 for br …

December 10, 2023

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

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 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

Another year, another rocket. This time though there was another difference. Since the pandemic there have been changes in the route, and again this year there was another change - it was completely different! No longer would it be a net downhill race, but instead it'd be one that goes downhill steadily for the first half and then back up in the second half with what they say is around 30 metres o …

April 30, 2023

Manchester Marathon in 2022 was supposed to be my first spring marathon since I'd messed up there in 2019. I'd got my training in, it was feeling promising, but there were other issues going on behind-the-scenes in the last few weeks before the race. At first it seemed like I may not get to run it, then it was 'definite', but then ultimately on the Saturday I was due to travel to Manchester, I had …

April 16, 2023

This year the MK 20 wasn’t quite timed right for me to be doing it, so I needed an alternative. The best time one, and the easiest one for me to get to was the Hillingdon 20 (formerly the Finchley 20). It’s not an area I know that well so I’d be going into this one not really knowing what to expect. My previous 20 milers hadn’t been brilliant this training cycle, but I figured if I could get aroun …

March 26, 2023

My alarm went at 05:15 and I took my time getting up. As I had breakfast I watched the sunrise, and thought not just about last night but the day ahead. The forecast looked promising for the race, but hopefully it wouldn’t then prove to be too warm. Eventually, it was time to make my way to the race start. It was a very short walk from where I was, and I once again bumped into Jonathan and Liz, a …

March 19, 2023

This was the penultimate race I needed to do from 2020, with only the Limassol Half still to go after this. I did consider running to the race and back afterwards, but if I did that then this wouldn't really be much of a tempo session. It would have been an eighteen mile run though which would have helped. It was coplder than it would have been if it'd been at the scheduled date in September 2020, …

January 29, 2023

It took me most of yesterday to decide whether or not I was going to bother going to Milton Keynes to run this half marathon. I wouldn’t be racing it so soon after the marathon, but I would still run it - I’d have been running 8 or 10 miles today in the cold anyway, so I may as well do the race I paid for, even if it means spending out on fuel and parking for it too. I was up at 06:00, and then af …

December 11, 2022

After a RunThrough race in Leicestershire was cancelled, I transfered my place to the only other race that really fit in with my calendar for this year, and that was a half marathon in Battersea Park, London. I'd visited there earlier this year for a 10K and had decided I'd want to run there again in daylight sometime as I felt it was a good route for a 10K PB attempt. That never happened, but I w …

November 12, 2022

This is a race I like doing as it's fairly local, and usually means a relaxed start to the day. It's also around the time of year where it can easily be cold, or wet, or both, so it can be very difficult to predict what the conditions will be like on the day. For the week leading up to this day we had a lot of rain, but we also had days where there was also sun that was uncharacteristically warm f …

October 30, 2022

I didn't really feel like racing today, but decided I may as well try, to see how things went.

October 16, 2022

Since that first time doing London Marathon in 2015 I've been wanting to do it again. After missing out on doing a spring marathon, I'd planned on booking a road marathon for the autumn so I would at least get to do one this year. My thoughts had been Chester, but before I could book that I got incredibly lucky and won a club place through the #ukrunchat Running Club. This time my training cycle w …

October 2, 2022

This is one of those races I entered for fun, with very little thought going into it. I knew it'd be a three hour drive to Denbies for this one, but what I hadn't thought about was the start time. I'd thought it'd be 09:00, or even 10:00 which would mean I wouldn't need to be up too early. However, the race start would need to be no later than 08:30, and even then, that'd mean leaving home no late …

August 29, 2022

The first of two races for this August bank holiday weekend. They'd be my last races before the London marathon, so would hopefully be a good indicator of where I am.

August 27, 2022

Having done Race to the King and Race to the Stones, when Race to the Tower started it was one I wanted to try as well to complete the set (although ...Castle has started and finished since then too) although it took a few years to get there at first due to it clashing with Endure24, and then due to the global pandemic. At last though, I was ready to reach the start line for my last ultra marathon of 2022.

June 25, 2022

My last 10K didn't go that well, but fortunately I knew I'd got a few more still booked in for the year. The downside to this next one was that it's an evening race which makes fuelling harder, but on the positive side it's one that would be in daylight, and I've PB'd on this course before so I knew it well enough. Of course there was absolutely no chance of getting a PB tonight, no matter how har …

June 9, 2022

Today was a (mostly) downhill run in Milton Keynes - the Rocket 5K. I wasn't really sure what to expect going into it after how the last two years have gone, but felt it would be a good indicator of whether what I'm doing now is working.

May 1, 2022

Repeating races I've done before always feels like a way to benchmark where I currently am. It's been a long time since I first did this race, and have done it a few times over the years. It was one of my first races back after the start of the pandemic, when they started up again. For that race I did it in 39:20 - not my fastest 10K, but the fastest I'd done this course. So for this race my goal …

April 24, 2022

This was a bit of a last minute race entry for the Easter weekend. I did parkrun yesterday, my fastest since the start of the pandemic, and today was for getting some miles in. With shorter races for the next two weeks it'd be my last chance to get some decent miles in before Guernsey, and how better to do that than with a friend. I perhaps hadn't had the best night of sleep, and was having breakf …

April 17, 2022

My last big long run before Manchester Marathon. Last time I did this was just before lockdown in 2020, so would be a good marker for where I now am

March 13, 2022

My first night race in a few years, and one I'd travelled a long way for.

February 23, 2022

My first race of 2022 was the Watford Half Marathon. Could it be a return to form, or would those days now be behind me?

February 6, 2022

Not my best half marathon, but not my worst either. Somehow I finished 92nd out of 1,471 runners with a time of 1:28:53. The best bit was getting to see friends again though.

December 12, 2021

With two more marathons now behind me, was there any chance that a half marathon could be anywhere near what I'd done before the pandemic?

October 31, 2021

Last time I did a marathon in Manchester, it was the Greater Manchester Marathon. Now it's got a new name, a new route, new title sponsors, and it's been over 2 years since the last one in which I failed to get a new PB. Now I was going back there again, hoping my legs had recovered enough to complete this…

October 10, 2021

One last race before Berlin Marathon, this was a 10K on the Welbeck Estate near Worksop. It certainly didn't go the way I thought it would…

September 11, 2021

My first 10K in over two years - a belated 10K in Leicester that should have taken place in 2020.

August 22, 2021

A multi-stage race around the outskirts of Sheffield, meaning a very hilly course and a very different experience.

June 27, 2021

Six months into the year, and 416 days into my run streak, it was time to return to racing once more.

June 26, 2021

My first time racing again since March, it was never going to be pretty; but seeing people would be nice…

October 18, 2020

One last big training run before Manchester Marathon... at least that was the plan

March 15, 2020

Time for another go at running a fast half marathon… hopefully

March 1, 2020

The fourth and final race in a 4 race series over the winter. It was one I really didn't want to go outside for; but eventually forced myself out. Hopefully I wouldn't regret it…

February 6, 2020

The third race in a 4 race series over the winter. Maybe times don't change, but results can.

January 9, 2020

This would be the third time doing this eace in the space of two years. With my half marathon goal achieved in March, and another PB attempt scheduled for March 2020; I decided that this race would be just for fun. I'd raced on Thursday and had put around 80-85% effort into that. As it was only a 5K my legs had mostly recovered; but I knew I couldn't go fast for the entire race. When I got to Wil …

December 8, 2019

The second race in a 4 race series over the winter. The last race was a bit slow, would this be any better?

December 5, 2019

It's been a while since I last ran 5K, and I could tell from how it felt and from my time. However I finished 6th out of 112 runners with a time of 19:10.

November 7, 2019

Another year of doing this event, though this year treating it as a training run for Amsterdam marathon

September 29, 2019

Starting to feel a little better from my cough and cold, I had another 10K to run for the second week in a row. Maybe this one would go better...

June 9, 2019

This was one of those races I'd entered just for fun, and was only doing it because friends were. I've not raced in Clumber Park before; but I've seen plenty of it from trips there over various summers. It's the sort of place that is good for a picnic and to relax a little. My only expectation for this race was that it'd be a little slower than other 10Ks I've done recently as I figured it'd be a …

June 2, 2019

The wettest of my races this year (so far), and potentially my only chance to get a 10K PB in 2019… if I could be bothered to try.

May 9, 2019

My annual 5K PB attempt in Milton Keynes. After some bad performances from me lately, would this go the same way?

May 5, 2019

My second 10K of the month being used mostly as a training run ahead of next week\'s more serious 5K race. The first outing of the year for my racing shoes (didn't feel like using them for the previous ones this year).

April 28, 2019

Six days after the Greater Manchester Marathon it was time to race again... even if I was treating it as a tempo training run.

April 13, 2019

Five months of hard training, PBs, and positive results had finally led to this - an attempt at a sub-3:00 marathon so I could have another shot at the London Marathon as a BQ race. It was certainly a race of two halves.

April 7, 2019

My first half marathon in the year in conditions that were forecast to be bad. Perhaps I'd get lucky anyway.

March 9, 2019

My first race of the year. The best I've done on this course, finishing 5th overall and 1st in my age category.

March 3, 2019

One last race for 2018, and one last chance for a second half marathon PB of the year.

December 9, 2018

One final race at the Rockignham speedway before it's closure.

November 4, 2018

A 10K race I did for fun with friends, on a nice sunny day. It wasn't a bad day out, and one I'd recommend.

October 21, 2018

I've done this race four times, well, I've done the half twice and the full marathon twice. So when entries opened for 2018 I automatically entered it without thinking. Then I got into Chicago Marathon which would take place just one week after this. So this went from a PB chasing attempt like it was in 2017 to "should I even be running this?" as the time drew closer. Even on the day of the race …

September 30, 2018

Another go at what was my PB race last year. I entered this year hoping I could do better, but between illness and reduced training whilst on vacation, this seemed unlikely.

September 9, 2018

A four lap race in Prestwold around a driving circuit (formerly an airfield) with 1 mile, 5K, and 10K options available. It was a race I expected to be slow, but sometimes races can be surprising.

August 9, 2018

A half marathon in Cambridgeshire, and another chance to chase that sub-90 time. How much would the UK heatwave affect the result?

July 1, 2018

A return to Wasing Park for another go at Endure 24 with no fixed plan, just a vague idea that it'd be nice to do more miles than before. Could I run that far so soon after Malawi?

June 10, 2018

My third time doing this 5K. The first time had been a PB, but the second time it seemed I'd plateaued - I was no longer improving my times. So what would doing it a third time be like? Could I finally get that elusive sub-19 time?

May 6, 2018

My third time doing this 10K, but the first time I've done it without overheating or injury. It was a cold day for April, and quite wet, but fortunately the rain eased off for most of the race.

April 29, 2018

My first trail half marathon, but in difficult conditions. It seemed the weather was making people run about 10% slower than normal, but despite this and a bad knee, I finished it!

April 22, 2018

A return to one of my favourite marathon courses, this time underprepared and completely unsure of what the end result might look like. Sometimes, just sometimes, the conditions on the day can surprise you and allow you to more than beat your goals.

April 8, 2018

A 10K race along the Tissington Trail from Ashbourne. This was my second time doing this race, but was one I wasn't ready for.

March 24, 2018

Read my race review for Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon, starting and finishing at Willen Lake. It was a fast course, and I found myself unintentionally coming out of it with a new PB, and being depressingly close to that elusive sub-90 as things didn't go entirely to plan

February 18, 2018

My plan for the start of 2018 was a simple one. I’d start with the Ashbourne 10K, the Reading Half, and then finish off with my third attempt at the Greater Manchester Marathon. Like everything, plans change. I’d planned to be in London on Saturday 3rd February to visit the British Library, but had no plans on staying for anything else. When the Winter Run was advertised it reminded me that it’s …

February 4, 2018

Of my five goals for 2017 I’ve so far achieved two of them. This left me with three I’d not yet managed, and one of those was to get a sub-19 5K. I’ve been close to it, in fact I’ve been close to it a number of times now: twice at Milton Keynes for their Rocket 5K, and once at parkrun. I’ve always been just a few seconds from dipping under that milestone though. As the year sailed by I found my c …

December 3, 2017

Having a race the weekend after two weekends of marathons may not be the greatest of ideas. To make matters worse I decided to increase the distance for this race from the 10K option, to the 10 mile option. Excellent. At least after this I’d have a few weeks without races. When booking the Thoresby 10 I pictured an off-road trail that’d be muddy, and slow. I thought it’d be nice to give it a go, …

October 22, 2017

One week after the Yorkshire marathon it was time already to run another: the inaugural Birmingham International Marathon. It’s not the first time the city of Birmingham have had a marathon. From 1980 to 1985 the city played host to the People’s Marathon. The return of a marathon to England’s second city meant it was a race I had to do, even if it only gave me a week of recovery time after the las …

October 15, 2017

I’m not really sure what led me to enter this marathon. I like to make sure I have an autumn marathon to do, even though I don’t like speed training in the heat of summer. This time I was training through the summer for big ultra marathons so I had the added incentive to find a marathon to do to see if training for ultras made any difference this time. Training was going well to start with. I gra …

October 8, 2017

If you’ve read my previous blog posts then you might know that I’d got a few ambitious goals for 2017: sub-19 5K, sub-40 10K, sub-89 Half Marathon, 3:15 marathon, and to complete my first 100K event. My first attempt at breaking the half marathon goal was off the back of a minor niggle that had resulted in reduced training at the start of the year, which then led into a marathon PB – but missi …

September 24, 2017

Just one week before this race I ran the Leicester 10K during my last few weeks of training for the Yorkshire Marathon. I’d had a slow year, mostly in the build-up to the longest races I’ve ever done, but marathon training wasn’t going too badly – even though it was greatly condensed from what I’d normally do. Even though I knew my training was so far exhausting, I wanted to try and PB at 10K. Fo …

September 10, 2017

So far this year the only goal for 2017 that I’ve been able to accomplish is to complete a 100km race. That is something I did at Race to the Stones once more than half the year had passed by. I still had goals to improve my 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon times. I came close to reaching sub-40 minutes at Leeds last year, so I decided if I booked a couple of 10Ks during the lead-up to my aut …

September 3, 2017

Of all my races for this year, this was the one race I most had my doubts about. For a while I’ve been keen on one day doing the Marathon des Sables, and I thought doing some longer races would help see if I could cope with that. My original intention had been to enter Race to the King and Race to the Stones, both as two day events. When it came to booking I decided to book Race to the King first, …

July 15, 2017

I hadn’t planned on racing in between Race to the King and Race to the Stones. I didn’t know what recovery would be like so I didn’t want to commit to anything. When I was told about an early morning race on a Friday between them I was a little unsure at first – I’d need to get into town, park, get to the start, race, get back to my car, get home, and then get ready for work as normal. Even with a …

July 7, 2017

Race to the King and Race to the Stones are two events I’ve heard a lot about and from what I’d seen they appeared to be quite scenic. It was fairly early on I started considering doing at least one of these events, though I’d been in awe of those I’d seen complete Race to the Stones in 2015. Both of these events have a number of options: the full distance in one go, the full distance split into …

June 25, 2017

I’d heard of the 'Endure 24' race before, though I knew absolutely nothing about it other than the obvious – that it was a 24 hour race. In my mind it was like the running equivalent of Le Mans – the famous endurance car racing event which is coming up to it’s 100th year. After I’d already signed up for both Race to the King and Race to the Stones I was asked by Charly to join her team – “Team Ha …

June 11, 2017

Two races. Two days. On the Sunday for this bank holiday weekend I did the Rocket 5K in Milton Keynes as part of their Marathon Weekend event. It didn’t quite go according to plan as I’d hoped to achieve one of my running goals through it, but missed completely. Then, the day after this was the Milton Keynes marathon – my second marathon for 2017, and my ninth in the past three years (okay so it’s …

May 1, 2017

Marathons and 5Ks are very different events with very different strategies. With a marathon you hold back for most of the race in the knowledge that later in the race it will benefit you. I find when I run this distance that I plan different paces throughout the race as I know I’ll tire too much towards the end – it’s all about discipline. With a 5K it’s very different – you put everything you’ve …

April 30, 2017

Another go at running Manchester, and another go at getting a marathon PB. Could I do it again?

April 2, 2017

I’ve not had a brilliant track record with attempting this race. In 2015 I wanted to do this, but it clashed with another race I was doing. In 2016 I actually entered the race, but couldn’t train at the time the race happened due to flu which was at it’s worse around the day of the race. It then looked like this race wasn’t going to be going ahead in 2017 after there was talk of the race organiser …

March 19, 2017

I hadn’t raced since the Nepal Marathon during the previous year, and my hope was that I could have a winter of training that would help me get to the point where I could set new personal bests for each of the distances I run. The first of the races I hoped to PB at was the Ashbourne 10, though sadly I missed a lot of runs in January and February as training didn’t go to plan for one reason or ano …

March 5, 2017

I’ve not had much luck with the couple of 10K races I’ve had this year. One of my goals for 2016 had been to go sub-40 at 10K distance – but so far I’d not achieved this. For the first of these attempts I just couldn’t keep going in the heat and for the last 5K I completely lost the pace and walked frequently. On the second of these 10K attempts I was injured and found hobbling around the course j …

November 6, 2016

At the start of the year training had been going that well that I’d got a shinny new 10K PB during a training run and had been doing 10 mile runs on consecutive weeks in a little over an hour. It felt good, and I was confident of finally getting a sub-90 half marathon time so entered the Coventry Half. However, this is where my attempts at half marathons took a wrong turn. I never got to try the C …

October 23, 2016

My attempt at this marathon last year did not go well, mostly due to lack of training over the summer, too many races, and my inability to train well in the warmer weather. This year I wanted it to be different, I wanted to beat last year’s time at the very least and if possible run much more of it. Things didn’t go to plan though, and as I’ve mentioned in a few previous blog posts (okay, maybe se …

September 25, 2016

I’ve seen the Great North Run a few times on the television, and a friend has raved about the atmosphere but others have also been cautionary about how crowded it can be and how unlikely I’d be to get a PB there. For me this race wasn’t about trying to PB, it was one I just wanted to enjoy. I’ve known about the Great North Run for a very long time, seeing it for the first time when at school (at t …

September 11, 2016

From the start I wasn’t sure whether or not to enter this one – not only would it be my second ever 5 mile race it would also be the afternoon before a 20 mile training run ready for my next marathon. Racing in the afternoon isn’t something I’ve done often either as I don’t really run that well in the afternoons. By this time two months had passed since my ankle injury in Moscow and it had improv …

August 20, 2016

My original plan upon returning from my trans-Siberian adventure was to run a 10K and then do the Shrewsbury Half Marathon. I didn’t really know what to expect from this race; but after missing Coventry Half due to illness, and barely having recovered enough to run the Milton Keynes Half,  this one would be my first proper Half Marathon of the year. However, whilst in Moscow I managed to slip on …

June 19, 2016

One of my goals for 2016 was to manage a sub-40 minute 10K, and ideally I wanted that to be in a race. For the first (almost) half of the year I’d been training for marathons and an ultra marathon so couldn’t really do much with speedwork, but early on I did manage to get my 10K time down to 41 minutes so that’d I’d only need to find another minute or so to meet this goal. My first real chance to …

May 15, 2016

My year started off working on improving my long distance running and for a while I considered entering the Milton Keynes Marathon for May. Eventually though I decided that many marathons in so short a space of time would be ridiculous and instead it’d be a good time to do some shorter, faster races again (I did change my mind and realise I should do it, but it was too late by this point). Due to …

May 1, 2016

The Brighton Marathon was the first race I entered for 2016 and at the time I wasn’t sure if I’d do it just for fun, or if I’d attempt a PB there. I hadn’t even run the London Marathon at this point. Though months later I entered the ballot again for the London Marathon having enjoyed that one so much. I then started to question whether two marathons in two weekends for 2016 would be a stupid idea …

April 17, 2016

Up until this point I’d done three marathons as races. My first was almost a year to the day after I started running and I wasn’t overly pleased with it, even though it was a sub-4 hour one. Despite training to 21 miles I found that when I got to 18 miles, I struggled to continue running after having stopped for water. My second was the London Marathon, and everything seemed to go well. To start …

April 10, 2016

After doing the London Marathon I’d started to think that doing an ultra marathon at the end of 2016 might be a good idea, eventually though I decided to go for one a little sooner – the 50K route of Canalathon in March 2016. Once my races for 2015 were over I started my training for the ultra marathon by going for another run streak for Advent Running. This time I managed just over 150 miles in 2 …

March 27, 2016

I had planned to start the year with Coventry’s Half Marathon, but due to having the flu I didn’t manage to run it. It had been that proper, can barely move type of flu that isn't just a bad cold. Instead, at short notice I decided to run the MK Half Marathon a week later even though I could barely run yet. I knew it wouldn’t be a PB, and it’d be a case of just trying to get around as I still wasn …

March 6, 2016

I booked this one to be my last attempt at a 10K PB in 2015 – my 16th and final race of the year. I had no idea at the time though that this one would be almost entirely off road – I’d made the silly assumption it would be on paths. I started to wonder if a PB was possible, but I decided that as long as I beat my time from Rockingham I’d be happy. On the night before the race it was cold – so col …

November 22, 2015

When I first entered this race my plan had been to attempt a new 10K PB as after setting my current one in Lincoln earlier in the year. I did at the time think I could do better as I wasn’t running flat out at the end. Over the summer I’d had a lot of bad runs, but I still didn’t think it was out of the question as the majority of my training runs were still not that much slower than my PB. Howeve …

November 15, 2015

Two half marathons in two consecutive weekends felt crazy. Sure enough though it was the sort of crazy that’d I’d be up for attempting. In some ways it would be like a practice run for my Spring 2016 plan, but with shorter distances. Although after the Great Birmingham Run my cough and cold lingered on – threatening to make this another struggle. Fortunately by race day though it wasn’t bothering …

October 25, 2015

Racing hadn’t been going great recently, and neither had training. After what I perceived as a failure at the Robin Hood Marathon I wanted to start getting back to where I was with running back in March. For October my plans included two back to back weekends of half marathons, the first of which would be this hilly one in Birmingham for the Great Birmingham Run. I had some idea of what I was get …

October 18, 2015

After my last two marathons I’d hoped that I would be able to improve on my time once again. Having improved my time by around 30 minutes between the last two I’d hoped I’d be able to shave another 10 minutes off my time. Following the last marathon though I had about a month off from training and then struggled to get back to it as I started to get ready for this marathon. My hope went from setti …

September 27, 2015

I had wanted to do this race last year, but it’s timing wasn’t too good to fit in with my first marathon – and I didn’t really have the confidence that I could do another race too close to marathon day. This year though I decided that this race would form the first 10 miles of my 22 mile run – my last LSR before beginning to taper. As it got closer to race day my doubts grew over whether it was a …

September 6, 2015

Marathon training had not been going brilliantly – in each of my races since the London Marathon I had walked at some point during it, despite knowing I’d been able to get up to 22 miles without walking during training for that. My goal this time was to make sure I would not walk. It was only 5 miles after all and managing to run this race without walking would hopefully set me back on track for t …

August 2, 2015

I felt incredibly under prepared for this half marathon – since the London Marathon the farthest I’d run was 11 miles, twice, but both times at a far slower pace than what I’d been running around London at. I knew a personal best was out of the question for this race so my goal was to just get around it. After all, it’d be nice to increase the distance again and would hopefully help with the marat …

July 12, 2015

I’ve never done a trail run before, so when I came across the Beacon Solstice Run it interested me. At the point I entered this though I had no other races planned for June – it was much later I decided to do the Two Castles Run and the Rothley 10K in the same week. For the Two Castles Run it had been a warm morning and I’d twisted my ankle just over half way into the race. I’d been fortunate and …

June 19, 2015

A year ago I did the Rothley 10K for the first time, and it was one of my first 10K races. It was however one which took place at a time when I was having issues with my knees and this race played havoc on them. I decided to enter it again this year, but again knew I wouldn’t be racing at full speed due to it only having a day’s rest since my last race. On the day of the race I prepared my race k …

June 16, 2015

This was a race I’d wanted to do the year before, but by the time I’d decided I wanted to do it there were no available places. So, when the the entries opened for 2015 I made sure I didn’t miss out. A friend had done this race a few years previous so it was one I wanted to do also, in part so we could compare times afterwards. However, after 3 weeks of almost zero runs, and going straight into th …

June 14, 2015

Before I’d even run the London Marathon I decided I’d do the inaugural Great Birmingham 10K the week after it. It didn’t seem the best of ideas at the time. As it got closer to race day I attempted to book a train so I could take it easy before the 12noon start. The problem though was the start time changed, and I'd now need a train at a time when there weren’t any trains stopping at the local sta …

May 3, 2015

The London Marathon is one of the most popular events you could ever hope to enter. By some miracle I was lucky enough to be one of the ones that got a ballot place for this years event, and got the confirmation of this just weeks before I was due to run the Leicester Marathon – my first ever marathon. This meant I was fortunate as I could run just for the fun of it, or decide what charity I wante …

April 26, 2015

In 2014 the Lincoln 10K was my first proper race so I knew I had to try doing this race again this year to see if I'd improved at all. The downside to this though was that it's timing was the week after the Silverstone Half Marathon, another race I'd wanted to do well with. On the day of this race I should have been doing an 18 mile run for London Marathon so running a 10K race didn't really fit i …

March 22, 2015

After the Donington Park HM I'd planned to have a break from running for a few weeks before starting on training for the London Marathon. This didn't quite happen and instead I found myself working on an Advent running streak instead - this streak consisted of 24 runs in 24 days with none of them less than 4 miles, but some being around 13 miles. I then took about a week off from running over Chri …

March 15, 2015

This was a bit of a last minute decision, and it didn’t really fit in with my training, but when I saw this one was nearby I decided this would be a good way to start racing for 2015. This actually became the last run of my third week of training for the London Marathon (out of a total of 16 weeks training). The weeks of 2015 had so far been cold and was showing signs of getting colder as we got c …

January 25, 2015

This is a race I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to enter or not. It was one month since I did a marathon, and only a week since I last did a 10K race so I wasn’t that sure if it was a good idea or not. Since the marathon I’ve barely run, and my longest distance since then was only 10K – so I felt a little underprepared to do my second Half Marathon. When I did the Robin Hood Half Marathon it …

November 23, 2014

Following the Leicester Marathon I had barely run for three weeks. With the exception of setting a new PB of 20:29 for running 5K most of my runs had seemed like hard work, from both the point of view of motivating myself, and the effort required. I think my loss of motivation was a combination of having just done the marathon, the sudden change in temperature outside, and the changing of the cloc …

November 16, 2014

In around February 2013 I started a “bucket list” of things to do, and I wanted to try and do as many of them as I could as soon as possible. One of those things I added was to run a marathon. At this time I never thought I’d actually do it – I hadn’t even been doing any running. At the end of September 2013 I started the “Couch to 5K” program and continued up to 10K by Christmas. If you’re not i …

October 26, 2014

Although I still hadn’t run a race at the time I entered for this Half Marathon in March 2013, I thought it would be a good idea to have what seemed like an ambitious goal to aim for. I also thought that if I wanted to try a full marathon then this would be good training for that. So on the lead up to the 6 mile run for Sport Relief, my first event, I started to plan a programme of training for th …

September 28, 2014

In July I started my marathon training and by the time of this race had already got passed 10K once more, but the program I was following recommended having a 10K race at around the halfway mark for the 16 weeks of training. Fortunately the Atherstone 10K which is hosted by the Badgers running club fit in with this timing almost perfectly, and it being in Warwickshire meant it wasn’t that far to …

August 31, 2014

This run was in support of Rainbows, a charity that provides hospice care for children and young people that have life-shortening, or life-threatening illnesses. This year the charity is celebrating it’s 20th birthday, and on the lead up to the event I was able to raise £75.00 in sponsorship for them. It being about a month after my previous race I was pretty hopeful that I would have managed to …

May 18, 2014

My first ever "proper" race, the Lincoln 10K

April 6, 2014

Having only been running 8 weeks at the time, and never having done 10K or a race, at the suggestion of a friend I signed up for the 6 mile “Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile” race at Leicester Forest RFC, Leicester on March 23rd 2014. Whilst 6 miles is not a 10K race, it is close enough as a 10K is 6.22 miles. By the time I completed what was basically the “Couch to 5K” training I was already runnin …

March 23, 2014