I frequently train with runners in their forties and fifties, and by doing so I am often led to reflect how ‘they put me to shame’ – be it through their commitment to athletics, their speed in spite of their advanced years, or their impressive never-say-die endurance. While there is the excitement of watching young…
Author: heightsofmadness
The unpredictable art of running blogging
I have been blogging for some years. I was a writer and journalist first. My original purpose was to support the publication of my first book, Heights of Madness, and my second and third books thereafter. Over time, heightsofmadness.com graduated into a running blog – a blog that last week pleasingly surpassed 50,000 visits. Writing…
Peckham Rye parkrun: introducing Del Boy’s parkrun
Stick a barcode in me pocket. I’ll fetch the trainers from the closet. Cause if you want the best parkrun And you don’t ask questions Then Peckham is your one Where these runners come from Is a mystery. It’s like 9 in the morning, At least it’s free. But here’s the thing that’s driving me…
Running with the horses: Man v Horse 2014
Humans have been running for centuries, devising a variety of odd and generally painful forms of leg-moving activity to keep us active and amused. When running was no longer a necessity for survival, it became a sport. Cross country evolved. We started to run around tracks. On roads. Up mountains. Over fells. Along trails. We…
Making the top-250: the UK’s real running heroes
It was in January when I overheard two club runners speaking about their seasons’ aims following a Surrey League cross country match. One said his 2014 aspiration was to be ranked among the top-250 runners in the country. ‘What distance?’ his mate asked. The other shrugged. He didn’t mind: as long as he made the…
The Bob Graham Round: as seen from the water-carrier’s corner
High above, the jagged, dark silhouette of Blencathra decorated an oppressive sky. There were no stars. An incessant rain pounded the car roof. We fretted. Marc and Nayth (and their water-carriers) had left Moot Hall at midnight. Time was winning. Blundering off Skiddaw, the fivesome had been bamboozled by what is elemental in daylight. Time…
I would run 1000 miles…
Barring mishap or the unexpected, by around 7.30pm on Tuesday, midway through an undoubtedly frantic 8 x 600m session on the track at Tooting Bec, I will have run 1000 miles in 2014. It has taken four days and nine hours. It doesn’t sound very long, does it? The venue is fitting, for my metamorphosis…
Conti Lightning Run 2014
The premise of the Conti Lightning Run is simple: teams of one, two or five must run as many 10k laps of a course around Catton Park in 12 hours. The individual or pair or quintet who run the furthest are the winners. I was part of a Men’s Running team that won this year’s…
The agony of the mile
Running and racing is rarely as joyful as the smiling, skipping cover models adorning running magazines would have readers believe. I have had bad times running. And I have had some really bad times. Like climbing a wind-blasted Great Whernside some 55 miles into the Fellsman. Like running the London Marathon with plantar fasciitis. Like…
Re-visiting Great Rhos (and an explanation to Summits on the Air)
Day 28 of Heights of Madness was spent on Great Rhos, the 660-metre high point of the mid-Welsh county of Radnorshire. On the summit, I spoke to an aficionado – Tupperware man, I called him – of a group called Summits on the Air. I mention this now as I can see from this discussion that…
Running in circles
I ran track (that sounds very American, doesn’t it?) at school. I had a best of 2.13 over 800m. I was distinctly average. I never came close to winning anything. I recall 800m races being uncompromisingly hard. I continued my mediocrity at university, memorably running the 1500m in 4.29 at a BUSA indoors championship while…
The pain of the 10k
I did a few 10k races during my time living in Peterborough. It seemed the obvious thing to do in a place so painfully flat. I stopped to concentrate on marathons. I now remember why. I’ve run four 10k races since September: Middlesex 10k, RunThrough Brixton 10k, Serpentine New Year’s Day 10k and, on Sunday,…
Heights of Madness 