Most people like surprises in one form or another. Well the good kind anyway. That moment when someone turns up at a party that you were not expecting. When a random act of kindness brings a huge smile to your face. Or a running PB comes out of nowhere and you are reduced to tears … Continue reading Time to Recce
On Thursday 9th January at 8.55am I was excitedly sat at my computer at home waiting for the clock to tick up to 9.00am. I was waiting for the UTMB ballot results to be announced. This was my 2nd attempt at getting into the CCC; I had two entries into said ballot and felt pretty … Continue reading PICKING YOUR TRAIL RACES…
It’s the end of the year, well it’s the end of November but in running terms it is for me. December sees me start a new plan with new goals for 2020. I’ve just had 6 weeks off plan, my off season if you will. I’ve been running, been to the gym, partied, chilled out … Continue reading 2019, A YEAR OF LEARNING
Do you ever find yourself singing in the woods? A song just pops into your head and the chorus just goes on a loop and it becomes your mantra, that thing that will carry you to the end, where the pain will stop and a tear will form. Well this happened to me at some … Continue reading IF THE WOODS HAD EARS
As I ran up alongside a fellow competitor I noticed a Lakeland 100 tattoo on his ankle. We got to talking as is traditional on the trails. It turned out he had run this race a couple of years ago and had also done the Lakeland 50, 4 times. For those that don’t know, these … Continue reading I’m not a fell runner
“No, it won’t be gone from your memory, but it will be settled. You will have faced the fear, the anxiety and the trauma”. These were words that came from my therapist’s mouth at the end of a particularly hard session dealing with some childhood PTSD. This sentence came back to my mind this morning … Continue reading TURNING MOUNTAINS INTO MOLEHILLS
Mountain miles are different. This is a phrase that my coach Maggie said to me a while ago, when I was route planning for this trip to the Alps. It’s something that I took in but didn’t really understand. How could I, the only experience I have is some shortish hikes a few years ago … Continue reading TO THE MOUNTAINS!
Prologue “There's this race that starts in Farnham, (where I grew up), and finishes in Knockholt, (about 5 miles from where we live now). I'm going to sign up because it's like I am running home and Poppy and you can come and support me.” That's the gist of the conversation I had with my … Continue reading The North Downs Way 50 – A short story
So Jon, you want to run an ultra? This is the question I asked myself in the summer of 2017. It was an idea but I really had no idea. I had run 1 road marathon, booked my first trail marathon, (Beachyhead), for October and Paris for the following spring and here I was on … Continue reading DISCOVERING ULTRA TRAINING/RACING FROM A NEWBIE!
Racing a trail race is something very, very new to me. Project Hurtwood, was my first attempt and that was a 50km event. Always good to start racing on trails at Ultra distance right? The Maverick Original Hampshire Long was a whole different beast though. Not only is there something very special about the half marathon-ish distance … Continue reading At home with the Mavericks
The Life of Jay Z 