Running for CALM

Tomorrow I am doing a 20 mile race. Which, even though I’ve done 5 marathons, still seems like a REALLY stupidly long way, and I’m quite nervous about it. Especially since I had a horrendous half marathon experience a couple of weeks ago. I’m doing Draycote 20 as a training race for Manchester Marathon, and…

When it’s not your first marathon

What a cliche - new year, new DECADE even, and I decide to resurrect my blog... But one of my aims for this year is to just DO stuff. Just get on with things, not think and procrastinate too much (because I am the very QUEEN of procrastination - I am that person who's house…

Space

I was listening to an interview with Ian McEwan this morning, and he was talking about the differences between when he started writing and now. And one of the biggest changes for this seventy-year-old novelist was his addiction to his iPhone. How you don't get any space, there's no room to breathe or think because…

Your first marathon and why you need to do some positive visualization even if you feel silly

There is much to be said about running your first marathon. But if you're heading for a spring marathon (and most of the group I help to train are doing Manchester in ooooooh 2 and a bit weeks! EEEK!) you will have pretty much completed your training and will be in the taper now, having…

Rest Days

Yeah, thanks mate, I know I LOOK tired. I AM tired. To be honest, no one really wants to be told they look tired do they? Even if it’s coming from a place of total love and concern. Because when you tell someone they look tired, what they hear is: “you look like sh*t love.…

Operation Superbuff and what I learned from Teen Titans Go

I watch quite a lot of Teen Titans Go – it’s about the only TV programme that me, my 8 year old daughter and my 4 year old son can actually all get on board with. Beast Boy is my favorite OBVS. He just IS. Anyway, there’s an episode where Kid Flash wants to join…

Further adventures running with my daughter.

The last time I wrote about doing junior parkrun with my 8 year old daughter Evie, we were going through something of a trying time (you can read about it here). She just didn’t seem to be enjoying it, and I was pretty much thinking, OK, that’s the end of that, then. I tried and…

Abingdon Marathon 2018 – Trust the Training!

You might want to settle down, grab a cuppa and a caramel wafer (I swear this blog is not actually sponsored by Tunnocks, but we all have dreams, if I mention them enough just maybe….) and get comfy because my marathon write-ups are usually pretty long and my fourth one is proving no different. I…

Marathon proof make-up

Yes, I KNOW this one isn't going to have universal appeal. I could shoehorn something in for my male running friends, but I REALLY don't know which plasters are best for stopping horrendous nip bleed. And I'm just going to recommend Vaseline for like, EVERYthing else, because I don't want to think about specific male…

Expectations – a tale of two half marathons

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about expectations: the pressure we put on ourselves to run ‘for a time’ and what this means to us, and how this affects us whether we do or don’t achieve that time.  Also how our expectations of ourselves change over time. Whether that’s being really affected by not getting…