One week to go to the Centurion Running Autumn 100 race, and what better way to keep things peppy but relaxed than a local 10K race :) We've entered a couple of race series across the winter and through next year.  A grand slam of 4x 50 mile races, interspersed with 6x 10K races. I ran the last of last winter's 10K race series organised by Mornington Chasers and I really enjoyed it, so when the entries popped up recently for the whole 2018/19 series we got a full series pass each. The first race of which was today. The mission was "1 hour very very easy" from my training plan, so tha ..read more

The short version - I timed out at CP1 on day 3 after learning a lot about my lack of experience on technical trails. The longer version... The Cape Wrath Ultra is an 8 day expedition race, starting near Fort William and ending at the lighthouse at Cape Wrath after approximately 250 miles and 33k feet of ascent. Having run for 10ish days consecutively in the Scottish Highlands last year, covering about the same distance and the same elevation, I had a romantic idea that this race would be the same thing again but just with less weight on my back and slightly longer days to cover it all in ..read more

First race of 2018; woohoo! Mornington Chasers run a 10K race series through the winter season and I wanted an early race for this year to kick things off, see where I'm at with my speed work and just have a bit of fun really. At £19 for non-affiliated runners (£17 for affiliated) - chip timed and free bag drop - the February one seemed like a bit of a no-brainer really. Regents Park is so close to where I work and I know the park pretty well so it was easy to get to from where I live and a familiar set of paths and scenery. Registration and facilities (free toilets, and changing and showe ..read more

2017 was a difficult year for running. At the start of the year, I ran Country to Capital for a 3rd time and it was an utter death march to get to the end of it. My slowest showing on that route, despite the pretty good conditions. I needed to grit through it despite having nothing to prove, I did need to use the experience to feel the discomfort of finishing in pain when I just wanted to stop. It wasn't going to cause lingering injury, so it was fine to push through it for 24 miles of unpleasant slog to learn how to do it for when there is actually something to prove. Then I was persuaded ..read more

The Second "Half",  uncut, from Facebook posts as they were published... Day twenty-two, part two. The disused railway from Innerleithen to Peebles is great for most of its length. Flat, even surface, vegetation trimmed back and a couple of lovely new bridges across the Tweed. Annoyingly it runs out short of Peebles and dumps you onto the main road, or you can choose to take a grassy path beside the river (which I did). This was never supposed to be part of my overall route, but having cut short early and headed to Innerleithen to get medical attention, I needed to restart from ..read more

The first 22 days, uncut, from Facebook posts as they were published... Day one done!  More adventure than expected for "the easy introduction" day. Three detours, two electric fences, a million bunnies, a slow worm, lots of furry caterpillars, two barbed wire fences, five locked gates on footpaths/byways, one herd of over-affectionate cows, five miles of stunning South West Coast path, a peregrine falcon less than 2m from my head, one unavoidable quagmire of mud and cowshit, one quick coffee on the hoof, 20m of chest height brambles and gorse that took half an hour to get through, a ..read more

What a lovely race! Set up on a grassy clearing on Wimbledon Common, the start/finish/registration area was like a mini festival! With a gorgeous gazebo containing a live music act, a couple of sponsor stands (one by Suunto, the headline sponsor, who were lending out running watches to try out for the race), a beach-style area with deck with deck chairs and bean bags, the registration and bag tents, as well as a coffee/snacks wagon (which also had a fridge full of beers for afterwards :) ) The race start time threw me a bit. 2pm is a tricky start time. What to do about eating for the day? C ..read more

Mr TOTKat and I discovered a while ago that it's really great fun to enter a local race when we go on holiday. And with the total lack of expectation on the day, we often pull out our best times - double win!  Since starting a job which involves a reasonable amount of travel, I've had to find reliable ways of minimising/avoiding jet lag so I'm not a zombie all the time. Running is a fantastic way to combat jet lag! Going West; I stay up as late as I can and try to get a run in just before sunset. Then get up and out for a run as soon as it starts getting light in the morning. Getting da ..read more

  While I'm still decompressing from LEJoG, I'm starting to think about what's next. I still need to write up the run but that's going to take time. In the mean time... I've got a trail marathon coming up and I've entered the Rome marathon in April next year with the target of getting a "good for age" qualifying time for London (though I don't intend to use it). There's a plan forming for what comes after. Currently I want to build up to The Spine race. And I wanted to do Ring o' Fire then Cape Wrath as preparation, and that works for Ring o' Fire but 2018 is a Dragon's Back y ..read more

This time next week I will be on a train up to Edinburgh to change to a train to Galashiels, then a bus to Innerleithen before getting on my feet to John o'Groats. Yes! I'm finishing the job! The little line on this map will get all the way to the top corner of Scotland! I'm going to be running straight through for 16 days in a row, but given the days are less demanding than in the first 3 weeks this is very approachable and achievable. There are only 2 days over 30 miles, 6 days under 25 miles of which 2 are 20 miles and 1 is 13.5 miles. The elevation is pretty gentle too. I'll camp 2 ..read more