I’m writing this a few days after the National Running Show, once the van’s been returned, the legs have recovered (standing up for hours on end is harder than I thought it would be), and my head’s had a bit of space to catch up with everything that happened. Getting there was… more than expected […]

I nearly didn’t take the TrailKube there at all. It was on the way there that I nearly didn’t take the TrailKube with me at all. At the airport, bags open, people milling about, I’d left it with a couple of friends while I nipped to the loo — and for a brief, heart-stopping moment […]

I’d been watching a few documentaries about some amazing Ultra runners and was feeling distinctly left behind, what with just two months of running remaining before I needed to rest before my challenge. I was basically struck by a kind of panic that I’d left it all far too late and that I was never […]

Last summer saw my return, after a hiatus of what I now know as “too long”, to my running club, Northampton Road Runners. Based at a new venue in the local University, now on the other side of town from me, all the routes would be unfamiliar to me, and that was certainly the case […]

A Calm, Practical Way to Think It Through At some point in their running life, many people quietly ask themselves the same question: “Could I actually run an ultra?” Not race it.Not win it.Not chase a result. Just… do one. For some, the idea passes quickly.For others, it lingers — resurfacing after long runs, in […]

First up, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but have a look at the pros and cons of going solo as well as teaming up with your mates Solitary running can be just as rewarding as heading out with some friends, and many of us need a bit of a mix of […]

Music or no music? I see so many posts online where the topic of running with or without music is discussed, so I thought I drop my own views on that in here. First of all, the whole matter is one of personal choice, there is therefore no right or wrong answer, it’s up to […]

I was trundling along, reasonably happily, 19 or so miles into the 2022 Manchester Marathon. My training hadn’t been anything like perfect but, having done around 20 marathons before, I reckoned I’d be OK. I was wrong. Horribly wrong. My legs started to feel so, so heavy, my breathing started to go all over the […]

That’ll teach me! As I woke on Sunday morning I thought I’d have a lie in, as I was feeling so tired and didn’t fancy getting up. Simply lying there was bliss, and I mulled over having found a new talent, probably honed over three years of working from home – the “what can I […]

I guess at some point during 2023 it was inevitable that times were going to get tough in business, and until the August I thought I was riding out the toughest of years really quite well. I’d managed to pick up few new clients and lost a few others on the way through the first […]