I wasn’t going to write anything but actually my friend Carly was right, this race experience is a good learning point. Reflecting on failure is a strong thing from which we can grow. Making mistakes is a basic human behaviour. Being brave enough to try, is something I actually encourage my daughter, my team at … Continue reading Choose fun…always
3 Peaks of Pirin
Every adventure starts with some kind of random search on the internet, maybe thats just me. This particular tale started in the autumn of 2023. I wanted to run a shorter mountain ultra in September the following year. When I say shorter, ideally the distance would be 50km. It also needed to have some big … Continue reading 3 Peaks of Pirin
Adventures on the TMB
Adventures are ace, fact. Adventures with friends are acer! I think this adventure idea came about some time during the night of the CCC in 2022 when I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool to see what all this looks like in the daytime? Most of the 2nd half of the race was in … Continue reading Adventures on the TMB
It’s a race Jim, but not as you know it
There is something special about the Pennine Way. It draws you in, it brings a sense of adventure. A journey from point to point though a real mixture of terrain, at times really remote and wild. A place I feel comfortably uncomfortable in. After the Spine Challenger DNF, something was missing from my race calendar, … Continue reading It’s a race Jim, but not as you know it
It’s an experiment
How many times have you raced an ultra? What does that even mean? In the purest form, of course it means racing for a podium position, that could be overall or an age group category in both the men’s and women’s race. It can also mean something else, something personal like a time or placing … Continue reading It’s an experiment
When it goes to Sh*T!
I really don’t know where to start on this blog, but I need to write my thoughts down for some closure. My brain needs to move on and refocus on other things. I guess a DNF is always a possibility when you take on any race but it’s not something I had really thought about. … Continue reading When it goes to Sh*T!
Training in the lakes – Tour De Helvellyn style
The plan had been going really well. I had recce’ roughly 2/3 of the Spine Challenger South course. I had completed lots of long, long runs. I had started getting the kit nailed, fitness was improving, and I was excited for the last recce then a training race before Christmas. Annoyingly things took a pause, … Continue reading Training in the lakes – Tour De Helvellyn style
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
I think I can call myself a mountain ultra-runner now. Does that sound funny to say or a bit arbitrary? Many friends, peers and professional runners I talk to have completed quite a few of these types of races but for me, I feel like I have been building up to this for a few … Continue reading The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Training Day, Exmoor style!
In TV land there is saying, don’t work with children or animals, because these are things you can’t control, lols. In running the golden rule is don’t try new things on race day. Well, I have worked with both Children and animals, to varying degrees of success but no harm came to either or me … Continue reading Training Day, Exmoor style!
Moments of Hell, moments of Joy
Life is a series of moments, which combine to be experiences. The same can be said about running, because after all running is life right 😉 There was a moment in the summer of 2020, when the hope that a longer race would happen entered my mind. That moment released thought patterns that formed to … Continue reading Moments of Hell, moments of Joy
The Life of Jay Z 