I’ve had various brushes with sports therapists over the years – the consequence of bursting the fluid on a knee cap, general knee pain (tight IT band to blame), plantar fasciitis (five weeks before a marathon), scar tissue on the soleus and badly bruising a knee cap (the other one) in a fall on snowy ground. So…
The end of the Isles
With 96 days to go to publication and some eight months after I commenced writing, Isles at the Edge of the Sea is, at long last, completed. I sent the manuscript – all 71,000 words of it – to my publisher, Sandstone Press, today. It has been a labour of love, but not always – at…
In praise of libraries
There has been much recent fuss – with good reason – over the closure of libraries as local authorities seek to cut costs. I’m all for libraries. When in an unfamiliar place, where else is there to go that is dry and free during a rainy interlude? As I waited for ferries to various Hebridean islands last…
Lord Hereford’s Knob
I am currently working through the edited script of The UK’s County Tops: Reaching the Top of 91 Historic Counties. I have got as far as Black Mountain, the highest point of Herefordshire, and for which my editor suggested I compile a ‘fact box’ on Lord Hereford’s Knob, a neighbouring mountain. I was scouring the web…
January – a month of mileage
Marathon training continues apace; the prospect of a comfortable sub-three hour time becoming ever likelier. I covered 235 miles in January, which included weeks of 45, 49, 55 and 59 miles. The pattern was not deliberate. The month culminated with the South of England cross country championships, a nine-mile battle of attrition and mud around…
Box Hill fell race 2011
‘This is a proper fell race,’ a fellow runner declared in the minutes before the Box Hill fell race. ‘Proper’ fell race? In Surrey? On a 224-metre hill? How I scoffed. A scoff of a man who believed he was qualified to scoff, a veteran of Ben Nevis, Jura and Slioch – actual ‘proper’ hill races….
Pain by the Thames
No more dreams. Only the grim reality of a five-mile Surrey League fixture at Ham, a muddy cross-country on the banks of the River Thames. These Surrey League races are fast and frenetic; it is no wonder when runners of the ilk of Phil Wicks – a man who can run a sub-29 minute 10k…
Running in my dreams
As if running 50-odd miles a week wasn’t enough, I’ve now started running in my sleep. I am currently taking part – unwillingly so – in a 5km race series. It started on Wednesday night when I won race one, completing the course in a modest 17 minutes-something. Last night’s events started on the slopes of…
Sub-3 – seventh time lucky?
Having ran four Flora’s, it is time for a Virgin. The London Marathon on April 17 – 14-and-a-half weeks away – will be my seventh attempt at the 26.2-mile distance. The marathon, however, has been my nemesis, a constant bridge too far. I ran 3,40s in my first two races during a period when times concerned me…
Christmas Day running
The Christmas Day run – as traditional as turkey and the trimmings, and the logical precursor to stuffing one’s face. I’m in rural Worcestershire, a world away from south London. The snow here really is deep and crisp and even; the mercury plunged to -13C last night. Today I had one of those this-is-why-I-run moments….
Isles at the Edge of the Sea
Here it is – the front cover of Isles at the Edge of the Sea. The cover went live on the website of my publisher, Sandstone Press, this morning. Publication just six months away.
Bog of Doom
If, as an event organiser, you boldly decide to call part of your race the bog of doom, it had better live up to its billing. The name is given in irony. As far as I know, no-one has actually died in the bog of doom. That would lead to one hell of an insurance bill for…
Heights of Madness 