So you didn't get into the 2012 London marathon through the ballot, join me and the thousands of other runners that are feeling a bit miffed at the moment.But it doesn't have to be the end of your marathon dream. Did you know that other marathons in the world actually exist? It's true, I've checked [...]
Hair pulled back, no make-up on, sweat dripping off your chin - you might think that you running is you looking your worst, but I disagree. There's a shelf in my mum's house with four pictures on. Three are wedding pictures of my sister and two brothers on their wedding days and they look nice. The [...]
Setting the alarm to go off on a Sunday morning for earlier than it does on a weekday is something I don't do very often. If the little hand is pointing to a number that doesn't have a one in front of it when I open my eyes on a Sunday, there had better be [...]
There's no collective noun for getting three PBs in a six week period. I've checked and it doesn't exist. If I were a footballer I might say things like "I'm going to score a hat trick this weekend" which you'd rightly interpret as meaning "I'm going to score three goals in one match" or the more [...]
It's within living memory that women were banned from running marathons. Our bodies were deemed not strong enough and we'd hurt ourselves and, God forbid, maybe even mess up our reproductive system. As women always knew and the world has now acknowledged, this is nonsense that served only to segregate men and women and keep [...]
The dominance of Kenyans in long distance running has been the subject of much debate: is it a genetic advantage? Is it a product of their environment? Is there some magical secret to the way they train? If we moved to Kenya and trained with Kenyan runners, could we be as good as them? I [...]
In Christopher McDougall's best seller 'Born to Run' he travells to the depths of Mexico to find "the phantom known as Caballo Blanco - the White Horse". An American man who had lived with the Tarahumara, a 'tribe' of people who can run 50, 100 miles, even more without seeming to get injured, Caballo Blanco was, [...]
They say your shouldn't meet your heros because they'll only disappoint you. Not true. Tonight I met running legend Caballo Blanco (or Micha True) who features in the Holy Grail of running books 'Born to Run'. It didn't disappoint. Hearing the story of 'Born to Run' told in person from Micha's perspective was inspiring and [...]
I'm getting to that age where it's time to face facts: there's a strong possibility that I may not actually ever become a rock star, accept an Oscar or win an Olympic gold medal. But that's OK because I pretty much know how that would feel. I have heard crowds of people applauding me and shouting my [...]
There's a photo on my phone of my toes. I took it last night with the intention of adding it to this post. But I can't do that to you guys. My toes look horrendous enough from up here where my face is, turns out that the resulting picture taken from just a few inches away [...]