Slate Quarry Challenge
I need something to focus on. I decide on the Quarry Incline Challenge. A bloody big incline around 240m long and 31% gradient. You can see it from everywhere in town, once a track to pull slate up and down the quarries.
London Loadup – Week 5. National Cross Country
I do not want to run the National Cross Country champs this year. I don’t want to do the 3 and a half hour drive. I don’t want to run around in the mud. I’m tired. I’d rather stay here with my family. But the problem of being an athlete/ coach, is you have to lead by example. I wouldn’t be very happy if one of my athletes said they didn’t do a race that had been in their schedule for months, because they couldn’t be bothered.
London Loadup – Week 1 of 12. Parkrun and Fell Race
Monday morning, I am a daisy that has been crushed under a pile of bricks. Getting out of bed is herculean. I am sneezing and aching and everything hurts. I try to convince myself it’s all in my head. My head tells me to fuck off.
The Best of 2019
If you look at my race results for 2019, it has been a disaster. No legit Personal Bests anywhere, two atrocious road marathons, 2 failures to make the GB team, and even a few DNFs (Did Not Finish) next to my name.
Thankfully, the results aren’t what I remember. Well, of course I remember them, but they are not as important to me as all the adventures I’ve had. It has been an incredible year for adventuring, both in running, in life, and in running life. Silly.
Farah And Salazar, The Definitive Guide
If the coach is busted for drugs, can his star athlete be clean?
I’ve been studying this question for two months, in excess of 120 hours. If you take every piece of press mentioning this issue, there’s a lot missing from each article: they explore a fact or accusation, a whistle-blower detail, then add a defamation safeguard.
Marathon Eryri – Tom Roberts
Firstly I would like to thank Russ for allowing me to gate crash his blog and make a guest appearance. For Christmas, Elliw bought me an entry to Marathon Eryri, being a race I had watched for years, and recently having moved to the area, I knew it was going to be a challenging but enjoyable debut to marathon running…