Blogs & race reports

A Lyke Wake up call

Yesterdays Lyke Wake Challenge wasn’t the worst run I have had, it certainly wasn’t the best, but it was one of the strangest. If you asked me why, I wouldn’t be able to explain coherently, all I know is it felt….blah. The Lyke Wake challenge/run/walk is well known in North Yorkshire almost as a rite […]

An hour in the life of an ultra runner.

After realising today that I hadn’t written a blog in a while – since last September! – I started wondering when I would next get the chance, for a race one at least. So rather than wander down Self Pity Street, I decided to pen an account of my latest running challenge. Like many running […]

Mountain Leader training

Sitting in the atmospheric Caffi Gwynant in the southern shadows of Snowdon, I was still buzzing after spending a week with 10 other “students of the mountains” outside in amongst the peaks, crags and mountains of Snowdonia. Finishing the week in the café following a group debrief we then waited for our individual feedback on […]

Lessons learnt from My Little Friend.

Curled up in a ball, arms squeezing my stomach, stamping my feet on the floor like a toddler in a supermarket, trying not to shout: this was not the most promising start to my long run. Less than a mile in, and I was all set to turn around and go home. This might sound […]

Chasing rainbows.

After eight and a half hours of running, the end was closing in. Jayson ran next to me, spurring me on as the clock ticked. The shallow, steep steps onto the road slowed me to a tentative walk and I was off again, my other crew running alongside me as I grunted and grimaced my [...]

The Montane Spine race 2019 – A journey started

“If we must fail, let us do so reaching beyond our grasp for a dream that is worth all our striving. Then, even in our failing, even through our tears, we have won”.  Wild trails to Far Horizons Mike Cudahy This past week, I seem to have been stumbling around in a bit of a [...]

Being intentional.

A couple of years ago, I remember watching an interview with Jim Walmsley where he said that he wanted to break the Western States record. This riled me. Here was this young, inexperienced – admittedly very quick – runner, saying something I saw as really arrogant. But, after watching him attempt it, fail, but gut […]