The Thames from Richmond HillIt's one of life's hilariously cruel ironies that the times when you need to run most are always the times when you want to do it the least. Hangovers often see me clawing at the carpet as Lazy Boy or some other good-intentioned person tries to shuv me out the door [...]
I've never run the London Marathon but for the past few years I've stood enthusiastically at the side of the road cheering from the first elites until the stragglers plod on home. It's always an emotional thing to watch up close and personal. I once went to watch a World Championship boxing match and had [...]
Not running a spring marathon this year? Make a fellow runner smile by going down to support. Take a sign with you and cheer them up. I'll never forget the sign I saw during Brighton marathon that said "Run! Zombies are chasing you!" Be encouraging or be funny. Either way don't go for the old [...]
"Would you like to take part in a 6km race for charity?" It was an innocent enough question that the woman outside the Tate Modern asked me this lunchtime but one that demanded a more complex answer than simply yes or no. She'd already foiled my plan to avoiding her talking to me by pretending to [...]
We interupt your scheduled reading about my blisters and sore back to bring you this announcement about Playfair. As you know, I'm very excited about the Olympics coming to London - but let's make sure everyone is excited about the Olympics...Exploitation and denial of basic workers’ rights are rife in the sportswear, garment and merchandise [...]
Plan A for any runner is to make it to the start of their race well trained and at the peak of their fitness. Sometimes we have to settle for Plan B: make it to the start fit and well. Today was a Plan C kind of race day. Plan C being just make it [...]
by barney nicholls We all want different things from a race: PB hunters, medal collectors and those that just want to run alongside others because misery loves company. But one thing we all want from a race is value for money. I can run 10 miles on my own and time it on my Garmin, [...]
Until today, there were three things I knew about running-induced calf cramp. These are, in no particular order:1) It feels like your leg is about to explode, possibly with an alien life-form bursting through the skin to attack you. On a couple of occasions I've willed this alien to hurry up and put me out [...]
Today I had a day off and the sun was shining so I decided to go for a run at a fairly slow pace, take my time and explore. As Blogger Stats tells me that a lot of my readers live outside the UK, I thought I'd take some pictures along the way so you [...]
Kate Bush was on to something. She knew the impact hill training could have on running performance, so much so that she wrote a song about it. In all honesty I hoped that she and the thousands of other hill training devotees were wrong and that it wouldn't work. Unfortunately it does. I say unfortunately [...]