I didn't get it from Waterstones What are people looking for when they go to a medium? Is it solace, reassurance, resolution? Or just an affirmation that they’ve picked the right kitchen units? I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read something else by Hilary Mantel. I loved her Wolf Hall trilogy.… Continue reading Hilary Mantel – Beyond Black
Month: July 2024
Ponderosa Fell Race
‘We have hills in Wales, not fells.’ The barman sounded categorical, but I still liked the idea that I was now sitting snuggly by his fire after having completed another fell race, even though I’m none the wiser on the distinction. Before I took them out onto the hills. It was the final midweek race in the… Continue reading Ponderosa Fell Race
Helena Tipping 10K
When it’s a fast flat course and offering a tidy sum of prize money, you’re going to entice some cracking runners. For this race in Wrexham, there was the likes of Marc Scott, a former Olympian (28:27), and Omar Ahmed, who I’d once seen in the Chester 10K, when he and Jonny Mellor were duking… Continue reading Helena Tipping 10K
Race To The Stones – 50K
‘Under no circumstances,’ I stipulated to Vince, as we passed kilometre marker 94, ‘tell me that we’ve only got a Parkrun to go.’ We were on the last section of the Ridgeway, an ancient chalky trail path that runs from Wiltshire to Buckinghamshire for eighty-seven miles, although once upon a time, it had been more… Continue reading Race To The Stones – 50K
Ultra Concerns
This week I have been in a state of slightly raised anxiety. My fingers have been automatically making internet enquiries of the forecast, every day, several times a day, for that area of Berkshire and Wiltshire where I’ll be doing my run this Sunday. The wind speed (quite gentle); the direction (headwind nearly all the… Continue reading Ultra Concerns
Less Than Two Weeks To Go
As much as you know you’re booked in for a race, when that envelope flutters down to the doormat with your bib number it feels more real. I still get butterflies for the big races when my number comes, and this one is the biggest I will probably do. There was a nice symmetry about… Continue reading Less Than Two Weeks To Go