Doing the best that I can, at writing, running and living
Buds … little tiny buds reaching out through the cold winter earth. I’m not talking daffodils or irises, but the beginnings of a flowering of my strength. The very beginnings mind, but in today’s race there were moments where I actually felt pretty good. So, it seems that consistency does pay off eventually. The Borders… Continue reading Borders Race – Pensby As Hosts
So … that actually went better than I thought it would. Okay, so I was last Pensby in, and I was twelve minutes slower than last year, and I got pipped at the final post by a guy who evidently had more than jelly in his legs. But … the weather wasn’t too bad at… Continue reading Helsby Half 2024
'Thwack ... pffft.' The metal flap of our letterbox slammed back as the thin, white envelope dropped on the door mat. I was having a quietly crunchy five minutes with a cheese and salted crisp sandwich when the delivery woke me from my reverie. Inside the envelope was my Four Villages (Helsby Half) race number.… Continue reading How’s That Training Going?
You know that you have really let yourself go when you see a thin layer of dust on the top of your running shoes, and have a sports kit drawer that’s bulging because there are zero clothes in the washing basket, or drying on the line. There are twenty one days, including today, until the… Continue reading Running … again
The moon is full tonight. By rights, if I am in concert with the supposed characteristics of its phases, I should be at the zenith of my activity, yet the last couple of weeks has seen a distinctive waning in my activities. I had wanted to make November my kick-starting month, because of NaNoWriMo, to… Continue reading Waning Energies
It’s a misty autumn morning and I’m getting out for my first long run since the Yorkshire Marathon, just under two weeks ago. There’s hardly any wind and I’ve picked a route that isn’t too hilly, which is good because I’m attempting to keep my heart beating at around the 135 mark. Ever since I… Continue reading Zone 2 Training
My number for Yorkshire came through in the post yesterday morning. Nervous much? Absolutely. I just have to remember; to repeat the mantra: ‘trust the process’. I may or may not have a good race in less than two weeks’ time but I have had a fairly consistent twelve-week block of training, and am now… Continue reading Yorkshire MT – Week 13
Forgive me Father. It’s been weeks, something like three in total, since my last blog. I’ve barely got time to squeeze this one in, never mind saying any Hail Marys or what have you. It seems to be scarecrow season in the neighbourhood. My Creative Writing MA with the Open University has finally come to… Continue reading Yorkshire Marathon – Weeks 10/11/12
Ferns against a stone wall in the foreground, with an open field and then trees and further fields beyond. Above a blue sky streaked with white plane lines, and the occasional wispy cloud.
Is it normal to go back and replay a traumatic experience, just to check if it really is as bad as you thought it was the first time? Jo likened it to childbirth, and why we haven’t extinguished ourselves as a species. So it was, with me and fell running. Having attempted my very first… Continue reading Cilcain Mountain Race – Another Fell
theleadlesspencil 