I’ve not had a huge amount to get me writing so far in 2024. So it’s time for a catch-up now that we’re headed out of February already. As you’ll see below I’ve made some changes to the website to align things in a slightly less irrational manner (I mean, who knew!) but the intention is a lot more running-focused content, even if the amount of running I’m able to do is limited. So, in no particular order, here we go…… Running matters The weather has been somewhere between terrible and off-putting and, coupled with a cough that just won’t go, and a gammy foot acting in a similar vein my running ..read more

It’s safe to say that every runner has a very different story. And this is borne out whenever one reads a runner’s “biography”. I’m struggling for the right word here because some of the books focus on a specific event / period whereas others, such as Allie Bailey’s book, follows a much more autobiographical approach. Vertebrate Publishing sent me a copy of the book to review for this website. My review is my own words and haven’t been “approved” by anyone else prior to publishing It is  for a good reason too, as Bailey’s story is very different to many of the other books out there. The o ..read more

It’s the end of another calendar year and the adage is true that each subsequent year seems to pass by faster than the last one. Before long it’ll be a case of blink and you’ll miss it. Anyway, I’ve not done a year wrap-up for a couple of years. Not least because the last few years have been very hit and (mostly) miss from my own running point of view with a (suspected) torn tendon in 2021 and the bursitis in my foot last year and into this one. Not that 2023 has been a stellar year. Rather it’s lurched from one disaster to the next, including multiple trips to hospital (all for different reas ..read more

Over the past few years, the trope “if it’s not on Strava…….” has circled within the running and cycling communities. The fact is that many people use platforms such as Strava, Smashrun, Runkeeper, MapMyRun, Komoot to store their sporting lives. In the same way that Facebook et al is a place where people store all their memories, or at least share every facet of their lives with their online friends…… It got me thinking about this data. I mean it goes straight from your smart device off into the cloud where it sits on one (or more) of the various social sporting platforms in perpetuity. Doesn ..read more

In October I ran the first half of the Fred Perry Way in Stockport. Although the total FPW is less than 14 miles, by the time I’d factored in the 4 mile run from home to the Woodford end, plus the 8 mile commute back home from North Reddish, I decided to tackle the route in two hits. There was a definite benefit from doing it this way, not least due to the lack of long-distance fitness that I’d need to do it in one go. You see, the GPX file I downloaded from the LDWA website was not the most accurate interpretation of the route. Indeed as I passed through Bramhall, the GPX went in a completely ..read more

Back in June, Sabrina Verjee came to do a talk at a bookshop in Stockport. She’s an incredible ultra-runner and adventure racer, so I didn’t waste time getting my tickets. The reason for doing the talk was to promote her first book “Where there’s a hill”, published by Vertebrate Publishing. But rather than just reading excerpts, the talk was conducted as an interview where she detailed a lot more about her life and how she got to this point. The first time I saw Sabrina was on the Winter Spine in 2020. My memory was seeing her descending on the Pennine Way from White Hill on her approach to th ..read more

If you want to just get into the review of the race itself, scroll down to the section “And we’re off“……. It’s preamble time The last time I put a race number on my t-shirt was back in February 2023. And whilst I completed the race, I ended up in A&E shortly afterwards as my body had decided enough was enough. Whilst I was in hospital, various medical staff told me that I should stop running. It wasn’t good for me and the Rhabdo was a warning I shouldn’t ignore. And whilst I shot straight back and told them I wasn’t going to stop, the whole experience had weighed heavily on me. It was true ..read more

Over the past 7.5 years my postings have all really focused on my running exploits, taking in races and experiences along the way. It never used to be this way. A brief history of mine The ‘blog’ started life as an outlet for all the everythings that occurred following Mark’s death in 2012. The postings actually started just a week before he died although at the point I created it and first hit ‘publish’ I genuinely hadn’t known what was about to unfold. For a couple of years I mused over all the stuff that follows a bereavement of one’s soul-mate and partner. Not in a ‘poor me’ attention-grab ..read more

OK, bear with my meandering rambles today. It’s something I’ve had in my head for some time, trying to wrestle some sort of sensible conclusion about our beloved fitness devices. I love numbers. I love data. It’s an opportunity to understand more about what is going on beyond the hand waving and pointing. It’s not just running, my first career out of university involved a lot of figures. And as my degree was Chemistry, there were a lot of numbers in that too. The devices we carry around with us all the time all collect data. Whether this be when we’re exercising, or even when we’re sleeping, w ..read more

In what feels like forever an actual running post. I thought I’d do a quick update on a couple of things I’ve been involved with. A Friday Skive You might be aware that our informal trail group “Peak & Valley Trail Runners” like to go on little adventures. I’ve sadly had to miss lots of these with my wonky foot and, following the issues in February, I’ve not done many runs longer than about 6 miles in 2023. I have been gradually building up though and managed to run my evening jobs a couple of weeks ago, totalling up to about 15 miles. And whilst it wasn’t the most seamless run, it was nic ..read more