Off the beaten path

I’ve been finding running the same routes three or four times a week a little repetitive. Don’t get me wrong – I am grateful for both the fact that I can run, and that I live in a beautiful part of the world. But yesterday, I felt the need for a little variety. Besides, my

Not-Marathon Day

Today I should have been running my first marathon. Naturally, in the face of COVID-19, the race didn’t go ahead. It’s been postponed until 25th October. I got up this morning feeling very sorry for myself, and then feeling guilty for feeling upset about it. In the grand scheme of things, a postponed race is

My daily exercise

I haven’t been very active on the blog recently. I find it hard to write about the trivial details of my life (and runs) when all over the world people are losing their lives to COVID-19. But it is important to find joy where we can, and to stay positive. This disease is taking people’s

Happy Birthday Run

A moment of joy amongst the uncertainty and worry of coronavirus. Today is my birthday, and I am fortunate that my birthday fell on a day off. With people being told to avoid social contact, the choice of birthday activities is a little limited. But that’s okay – the main things is to stay safe

Long longer longest runs

Now my marathon training is well underway, the long run distances are getting slightly scary. This weekend I needed to run 17 miles. It looked like a beautiful morning with the bluest sky. Pity about the wind. The wind was fierce; the wind had teeth. Another thing about this marathon training is that – with

January Blue Sky Run

I was itching to get out for a long run, after forfeiting my long run for a trip to London last weekend. A perfect morning – blue sky, cold, but no wind. The run took longer than it needed to. I walked to navigate around some particularly swampy puddles in the twelfth mile – and

Adapting the training plan

There’s no time for my usual long run this weekend, as I’m in the big smoke (London) to see a play. To compensate, I had a longer recovery run – eight miles – earlier in the week. I had worried that it was a bit soon after my long run for an eight miles run,

Long Run Saturday

Today was long run day. I really wasn’t in the mood. Given the choice to do any kind of run I’d have chosen an easy treadmill run, with Forest Gump playing on my tablet. Outside did not look appealing. But I needed a long run, so that was that. When running long runs, I prefer

New Year Running

I’m pleased that I found time to get a run in on both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Both were 5K recovery runs along the same route in grey, gloomy, foggy weather. On both occasions, I felt tired and sluggish, and my times weren’t great. And then I compared with the equivalent run

Fifteen miles fuelled by Christmas

I decided on 27th December to attempt my first fifteen mile run. I should have done this weeks ago. Since I completed my first half marathon back in September, I’ve been telling myself that I’m gradually increasing my mileage, in training for Newport Marathon next April. But, as the year comes to an end, I