I can’t remember the last time I went to the mountains to go for a walk. The idea is absurd. Why walk when you can run? As I descended (a running descent!) to the Nan Bield Pass in the Far Eastern Fells of the Lake District, a walker going up remarked: ‘I don’t know how…
Category: England
Ruts stop running: the Southerns are off!
I hear some good excuses in my line of work. I heard a superb one today. And it wasn’t from a child. The South of England Cross Country Championships, due to be held at Parliament Hill on Saturday, have been cancelled. Why? The ‘state of the ground’. Adverse weather strikes again! Athletics Weekly report that…
Overcoming adversity and adverse conditions at the Box Hill Fell Race 2013
The 2013 edition of the Box Hill Fell Race was a treacherous affair, ran in conditions that can only be described as adverse. Snow had fallen the previous day, so much snow that parts of the ground were no longer visible. In some areas, the ground was covered by as much as two inches of snow….
Nocturnal wanderings in Surrey and London
A night run of at least 30 miles from Guildford to London had seemed a good idea earlier this week. Today – at home, in the warm and dry, surrounded by food – it seems a good idea. Crossing the M25 at 11 o’clock last night, having negotiated 15 miles of the North Downs Way…
The obligatory Christmas Day run
The obligatory Christmas Day run seems a long time ago. Meat, vegetables, trifle, chocolate and champagne (and present opening, of course) have filled the gap between then and now. This morning I was healthy, running a slow 9 miles across a grey beach at St Annes-on-the-sea and back via Lytham Moss. It was wonderful to…
Wombles and Christmas puddings: the ignominy of being beaten by a fancy dress runner
‘You do know…’ my mother whispered into my ear, moments after I had finished the race ‘…that you were beaten by a Christmas pudding?’ Yes, dear mother, I was well aware of that fact. Thank you for pointing it out. I had been aware of the Christmas pudding the moment he accelerated away from me…
What is Alan Hinkes up to at the moment? … and other questions
Traffic – is that the right way to describe people? – to this blog arrives via a plethora of web searches. Handily, WordPress lists these terms. Many are questions: some are perfectly logical, others make me question the sanity of the human race. However, according to the web search questions, people do not want much….
The enduring frustration of running…
The enduring frustration of running? Its unpredictability. Some days you feel good and run bad; some days you feel bad and run good; some days you feel bad and run bad. And – on magical, rare days – you feel good and run good. I had a felt-good-ran-bad day yesterday. It was a parkrun, only…
The rough and tumble of the Surrey League
This time last week I was bathing in the glory of being able to say: ‘I actually won something.’ Much can change in a week. It is no disrespect to the Broadway Tower Marathon to say Surrey League cross-country races are running on an utterly different level. They are not as muddy, hilly or long;…
That winning feeling at the Broadway Tower Marathon
I won a race yesterday. A running race. I was the fastest. The victor. On one day, in one place, no-one could beat me. This isn’t gloating; it is savouring a moment that may not happen again. I’ve said it before on this blog, but while there is pleasure to be gained by running, the…
Broadway Tower Marathon – race preview
Mine has been a peculiar running year. Successful (so far), but peculiar nonetheless. Having never run a step beyond 26.2 miles prior to January, I started 2012 by reinventing myself as an ultra-runner. My first 30-miler – the Winter Tanners in Surrey in January – seems an age ago. Since then I have completed the…
Ward’s Stone: the problem of finding the top
I’ve been running in the hills of the Forest of Bowland for about 45 minutes. I’m nearing the highest point of these hills, Ward’s Stone. Mist has swept in. Drizzle has turned to hail. The ground is sodden, sticky, sludgy. I touch the pillar on the western summit of Ward’s Stone, then huddle behind a…
Heights of Madness 