All this splashing about in Victoria Dock is all well and good, but the South Coast triathlon doesn't take place in a dock, it takes place in the actual sea. I have never actually swum properly in the sea (splashing about in Crete after a few pina coladas on multiple occasions doesn't count) so it … Continue reading Idiots at the Beach
There has been a lot of weather this week, weather of the cold, wet, grey, wet, windy, wet, wet, wet variety. This has not made me happy. On Wednesday I went down to the Docklands Watersports Centre for a bit of open water swimming. This is the first time I've been completely on my own … Continue reading Weather
Some of my friends are obsessed with The Cure in the same way that I am obsessed with parkrun. They spend thousands of pounds visiting weird and wonderful locations, hours on Facebook discussing the peaks and pitfalls of various sets, and spend time outdoors getting sunburnt or soaked. One friend, Gary, even keeps a spreadsheet … Continue reading Malahide parkrun
Clair - in Haywards Heath - is a parkrun that rarely seems to get much attention from parkrun tourists, perhaps it's because it's so close to Brighton that people think if they've gone all that way, they might as well go to the seaside. Or perhaps it's because it has four and a half laps. … Continue reading Clair parkrun
The Hackney Half is the only half marathon I have run three times. My first outing was in 2015 and it almost didn't happen. I had wanted to enter, but it clashed with my friends' 40th birthday party. But ten days before the party, the friend in question, who had not been well, decided to … Continue reading Hackney Half 2019
In two and a half months I will be a triathlete. So I had better get on with writing some posts about triathlon training. I will take it one discipline at a time. Running You all know how my running is because already because I don't stop talking about it. Swimming Perhaps the biggest surprise … Continue reading Why Be Bad At One Sport When You Can Be Bad at Three?
I am behind on blog posts again; it's the fault of triathlon training. I need to write a long post about how that is going but I don't have time at the moment so here is a little one detailing a rather inauspicious PB. I've beaten my 5k PB three times already this year so … Continue reading The 10k PB
There are four parkruns that I can do on a workday without being late: Mile End, Victoria Dock, Barking and Beckton. I have already done the first three, so finally it was time to tick off Beckton, and so I boarded the Docklands Light Snailway (ha ha ha) on one of the most horrible grey, … Continue reading Beckton parkrun
Continuing the theme of bonkers runs in unglamorous locations, Monday found me taking a trip to the far end of the Metropolitan line for the Watford 10k. This was Rosie's fault as she is vaguely local, and all her children were taking part in the 1k and 3k races (and getting ridiculously fast times - … Continue reading Watford 10k
The highlight of my childhood visits to my grandparents' house in Kettering was always a trip to Wicksteed Park. Sailing down the bumpy slide in the children's playground, losing your lunch on the lurching Pirate Ship and of course the terrifyingly precarious Pinfari rollercoaster. In the interim years, I've visited much bigger and fancier rides, … Continue reading Kettering parkrun
It's all kicked off now. Liz, the 7.5 hour London Marathon pacer, has been on several TV and radio news programme and appeared in the national and international press talking about the appalling treatment of slower participants. I've gathered together a few links if you want to fill yourself in: Liz's blog - Marathon Queen … Continue reading Back of the Pack Fight Back
I'll start this post with a quick parkrun round-up: Saturday was my third visit to Hampstead Heath, this time for the B course which is very similar to the A course but with a slightly harder "tail" section with trailier trails and steeper hills - it also finishes significantly higher than it starts. I was … Continue reading The London Marathon: not for snails
(Or, more posts about the weather.) Friday was the two year anniversary of my first RunThrough race! I started going to RunThrough events around the same time I started going to parkrun and for the same reason - I wanted some races to look forward to, but didn't want to risk spending large amounts of … Continue reading RunThrough Victoria Park and Catford parkrun
Oh dear. I seem to be terribly behind on my blog posts. I must have been far too busy training to have time to write about training. Anyway, I'll pick up where I left off, which is somewhere in the Eastbourne Travelodge after being pelted with hailstones and eating vegan kebabs in Brighton. The first … Continue reading BM10K
It's now becoming an annual tradition for me to head down to Brighton in the middle of April for marathon weekend. Since I no longer have any stupid ideas about actually running said marathon, my head had filled with altogether more pleasant notions about drinking on the beach, swimming in the sea and having a … Continue reading Eastbourne parkrun
This time last year I was nervously packing to head off to Brighton to run the marathon. My last 5k before the marathon was Grovelands parkrun, which I completed in 38:39. Every step was agony and I felt like I was going to throw up at the top of the hill. I remember getting to … Continue reading Chase the Sun Olympic Park
I said I'd never run Victoria Dock parkrun again. I still have a scar on my left shoulder from my last visit there, when I stacked it on the cobblestones and spent a minute flailing on the floor before limping in second from last. I am always quite sardonic when someone opines that Victoria Dock … Continue reading A Return to Victoria Dock
I have had a rude awakening. I have been totally blazé about the swimming section of the triathlon. I can easily swim 750 metres front crawl in the balmy waters of Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre. I'm not very fast (when am I ever fast?) but I manage to prevent the water entering my respiratory … Continue reading My First Cold Water Swim
I guess Barking has inadvertantly become my bogey parkrun. It's a fast, flat, smooth tarmac, uncrowded course with a downhill start and finish and very PB friendly, but despite this, my first run there has remained my fastest, a not-terribly-impressive 36:50. I've not minded too much, because it is such a pleasure to run there, but it's … Continue reading Barking parkrun (part 4)
This cartoon from Webcomic Name came up on my Facebook the other day: and I had to admit that it had rather hit the spot where it comes to my triathlon training, which has so far consisted of the following: Try on wetsuit to make sure it still fits. (It does, just.) Visit bike cupboard … Continue reading Bring back running
Sunday arrived, bringing with it blue sunny skies and my final chance to get a decent half marathon time this season. I went from worrying about hailstones and gales to thinking it might actually be a little too warm. Donning sunglasses and a layer of suncream, I headed off to Trafalgar Square, to find an … Continue reading London Landmarks Half Marathon
It is the night before London Landmarks. I am nervous and am posting too much to Facebook, carb loading with vegan millionnaire shortbread, listening to stompy music and lining my kit up neatly. I have not had a lot of time for training in the last week since work decided to lumber me with six … Continue reading One Day To Go
I wasn't supposed to go to parkrun yesterday, but when the Resource Centre said I could change my shift from a 7am start to an 11am start, it was an opportunity not to be missed, and off to Mile End in the continuing gales I went. It probably wasn't the best of ideas as I … Continue reading Technology Breakdown
Last night was the final Chase the Moon of the season, as the moon will be in retirement for the summer and allowing THE SUN to be chased instead! I am so excited by this, Chase the Sun is the highlight of my summer. I love turning up every week and seeing my running buddies … Continue reading RunThrough Chase the Moon Olympic Park (for the fifty millionth time)
It has been quite windy this weekend. By "quite windy" I actually mean scaffolding-smashing, tree-toppling 70mph gusts of wind that made me quite glad I was saddled with work, dispatching ambulances to people who had been upended by the weather, rather than getting upended by the weather myself. Most of my friends were taking part … Continue reading Blown Away
Two weeks and three days until London Landmarks, so I had better bring you up to date with my latest training. Last Thursday, two days after running 10 miles in the sun and coming home with tan lines, I went to the viewtube track session and got absolutely soaked to death. For some reason the … Continue reading More Half Marathon Training
Now! The writing's on the wall It won't go away It's an omen You just run on automation I've always had mixed feelings about The Prodigy's music. When they first came to fame in the early 90s, I was a devout indie kid, and their brand of smiley acid face cheesy quaver rave pop was … Continue reading Keith Flint 1969-2019
We are in the season known as "Fools' Spring". Daffodils are sprouting, antihistamines are popping, and the dust has been washed off my Ambre Soleil bottle. We had the hottest February day since records began - 21.2c in London! It was, of course, this day on which I had to do my first Long Slow … Continue reading Long Slow Hot Repetitive Run
Non-vegans (#notallnonvegans) are obsessed with hypothetical situations. What if you get a vitamin deficiency, what if you had a pet hen, what if we could grow meat in a lab, etc etc. Their all time favourite hypothetical situation is this: What if you were stranded on a desert island with only a pig for company? … Continue reading The Pig Island Dilemma
You get your money's worth out of races. Do you know how much it costs to enter the Brighton Marathon? Sixty-five quid! Why would you pay so much money for something and want it to be over quickly? And parkrun - okay, you're not paying for parkrun so you can't really get your money's worth, … Continue reading Five Reasons Why It Is Best To Be Slow
After I posted yet another "medal wanker selfie" to Facebook, my non-running friend Alexander asked somewhat incrediously what I did with all those medals. The answer to this question is that I hang them on my door handle for a while and then put them in a big plastic crate which I keep under my … Continue reading Medal Wanker
This weekend parkrun tourism took me all the way to the glamorous suburb of Romford (it's not actually glamorous) to meet my long standing internet crush, the lovely Victoria, and her equally lovely friend Sarah. This is another parkrun that has been hovering near the top of my to-do list for a while. Raphael Park … Continue reading Raphael parkrun
In 2017, a man named Ben Robinson ran a parkrun in twelve minutes and twenty four seconds, thirteen seconds faster than the world record for the equivalent distance on a running track. How did he do it? With the assistance of a dog, of course! Ben Robinson is a canicross champion, which means he competes … Continue reading Canicross
I know I said that after the Greenwich Park palaver I said I wasn't going to go to any TRO events ever again, but I really wanted to do a 10k race today and this was the only sensible/local option. The map looked a lot simpler than Greenwich and I had a discount code. I … Continue reading The Race Organiser Hyde Park 10k
Ally Pally parkrun has been staring me in the face for some time. If I look to my left right now, I can see it from the end of my garden. (Actually I am a bit short so I would have to stand on my chair to do so. But some of my friends can.) … Continue reading Ally Pally parkrun
After the crushing disappointment of my limp performance at the Olympic Park Half marathon, I was somewhat trepidatious about returning to the scene of the crime. In fact, I wasn't terribly keen on the prospect of going to a race at all. I worried that I was back on a downward slope towards the painful, … Continue reading RunThrough Chase The Moon Olympic Park
The fact that it's taken me until Wednesday to write about my half marathon performance has probably tipped you off that it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. It was, in fact, the 2014 League One Play Off Final in the form of a run. (My Livejournal post from said event, if you need … Continue reading Olympic Park Half
It's official. I have made all the way through my half marathon training without sustaining a single injury! (Unless I get hit by a bus on the way to the race.) Other than the time I signed up for the Hackney Half with ten days to go, this is the first time I have ever … Continue reading One Day To Go
Today I am going to post about something which is, bizarrely, rather a contentious topic. Running with headphones. If you ask advice on the best headphones, or the best songs to run to, or how long you should make your half marathon playlist (two hours and fifty-four minutes, for the record), you are GUARANTEED to … Continue reading Running to Music
Before I get started writing about the race, I want to answer the Big Question, which is: should a vegan be entering a race sponsored by Cancer Research, who fund animal testing? I've thought long and hard about this, and as you can see, I did enter. I see it the same as taking part … Continue reading London Winter Run 10k
Unfortunately, with my terrible lurgy at the end of January, RED ended with more of a fizzle than a bang. I did make an effort to do some kind of exercise every day, but for a week I was too ill to do any of the things that I would normally count as a proper … Continue reading The end of RED
I have spent most of the last three days in bed with the full works of temperature, headache, vomiting, not eating, sneezing, coughing etc etc. I went out on an ambulance observation shift on Wednesday and I can only think I caught something from one of the patients. In the last twelve hours I have … Continue reading DID I MENTION THAT I WAS ILL?
What did I tell you? I thought maybe going vegan had made me immune to colds because I hadn't had one since April 2018, but clearly not. I started coughing and sniffing a bit during yesterday's long run, but assumed it was just the cold air irritating my lungs. I felt quite exhausted in the … Continue reading Sick
Hope, in reality, is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man - Nietzsche I completed my last Long Slow Run before the Olympic Park Half today. 19 kilometres in nearly freezing temperatures, to the Olympic Park and back. I remember the days when just running to Stratford and getting a … Continue reading The Last Thing That We Need is Hope
For many years I was a regular attender of the Whitby Goth Weekend, which is an opportunity for goths to convene by the seaside with a huge suitcase full of footwear, drink too much beer, meet people from far away that they only previously knew on the internet and pay little or no attention to … Continue reading National Running Show and Cannon Hill parkrun
My Other Hobby is genealogy, and during a rather bored moment the other week I decided to combine the two and come up with a parkrun Family Tree, that is, a tree comprised of the nearest parkrun to the birthplaces of me, my parents, my grandparents and my great grandparents. It looked like this: The … Continue reading South Norwood parkrun
This weekend's activities have been Things I Would Have Done Anyway - South Norwood parkrun and a RunThrough 10k in Crystal Palace - and finally I find myself without enough time to post some musings on running and mental health, although that may mean I will not have time to post about South Norwood parkrun … Continue reading RED: How Running Saved My Sanity
January 5th: Northala Fields parkrun (see last entry). January 6th: After staying up too late drinking cocktails with chillis in them and discussing the minutiae of running watches, I was in no mood to do anything and would probably have spent the entire day watching TV if it were not for this blasted initiative. Instead, … Continue reading RED: Days 5 to 10
50 today! No, not 50 years old, I just look it. It was my 50th parkrun! The venue I chose for this momentous occasion was Northala Fields, which is somewhere nestled in the outskirts of North West London. I chose this one because a) it always sounds quite nice when people talk about it on … Continue reading Northala Fields parkrun
This is a day on which I would not normally have exercised. A rest day, if you call getting up at 4:30am and doing twelve hours' work rest. I reached my 12,000 minimum daily steps target as I got home just after 8pm, a sizeable chunk of that coming from hunting vegan sausage rolls in Waterloo. (They … Continue reading RED: Day 4
This January, I'm taking part in the Mind (mental health charity) initiative, RED (Run Every Day). The name is a bit misleading, because the rule is that you actually have to exercise every day in January, not necessarily run. Actually running every day is probably a bad idea for a lot of people, especially those prone … Continue reading RED January
Last New Year, I decided to give the New Year's Day parkrun a swerve entirely, figuring that New Year's Eve was a night sacred to drinking and that New Year's Day was a perpetual right-off. I ended up in some shit 80s club standing around with a load of bored, grumpy people and a Star … Continue reading New Year’s doubleparkrun: Grovelands and Oak Hill
The relentless search for a sub 36 parkrun finish to end the year continued this week with a trip to Dulwich. I was going to do something entirely different, but when I found out that the London Vegan Runners were visiting this lovely, off-flat, corner free, immaculately tarmacked and picturesque parkrun I felt my ship … Continue reading PB Chasing: South London Tour
I will start with the good news, which is that on Wednesday I got myself a new overall 10k PB on the running track. I set myself a target of 1:10 (previous PB being 1:10:54) and employed a tactic which was basically running just a little bit off flat out and trying to hold it … Continue reading PB or not PB?
The Christmas Cow Fest (a convention of Cow Cowl clad tourists) took place this weekend at the relatively new Wendover Woods parkrun in Buckinghamshire. As I was at work on Friday, I could only take part in the parkrun section of the festivities and not the drinks the night before, which by the look of … Continue reading Wendover Woods parkrun
This isn't really a blog about running. It's actually a blog about the weather, in which I have to go for a run occasionally to truly experience weather at it's most weathery and come back with material to moan about. I woke this morning to fresh looking skies, a dry garden and a mild weather … Continue reading Long Slow Wet Muddy Hilly Run
This weekend a rare and wondrous thing occurred, in that I asked Work to change my day shifts to late shifts and they actually said yes, which meant I could slip in a sneaky unplanned parkrun before work. I toyed with the idea of trying out Clapham Common but after a stressful week I decided … Continue reading Burgess parkrun (again)
I decided to go with the triathlon in Seaford. The prospect of official race photos with those gorgeous white cliffs in the background was what swung it. Not being crushed to death by a tractor was also a big incentive. Anyway, I thought I'd update as to how triathlon training is going. At the moment … Continue reading Seaford, Here We Come
Today I am going to do a rare and dangerous thing that never ends well: ask people for their opinions. Six months ago I signed up for the Southend Triathlon. I chose this one almost entirely because of the easy cycle part, which was simply laps along the completely pancake flat seafront road. I'm sure … Continue reading Triathlon Dilemma
It is five years now since I started running, and in the whole of that time I have never, ever run a 5k race or parkrun in less than 35 minutes. Until now. It was back to my old friend, Chase The Moon at the Olympic Park. I always run a bit faster at the … Continue reading Over The Moon
"I'm absolutely sick of getting parkrun times that start with thirty-six!" I proclaimed. "I know I can do sub-35!" And to prove this to myself, I stormed off to the running track and bashed out 33:09. "Right, Barking parkrun! Let's be having you!" I said. Armed with my Cow Cowl, new Vegan Runners vest, Samuel … Continue reading Barking parkrun (again)
You may remember that my last attempt at this race didn't go very well. After a wrong turn at 2km, I found myself horribly off course with no sensible way of getting back on course, got the hump, moaned at the person in charge and went home. My moaning earned me the compensation of a … Continue reading The Race Organiser Greenwich 10k
The places you end up supporting a non league football team. Blackpool, for instance. What a place. It reminds me of those video games I used to play before I started spending all my time running, where you roam a town filled with non-playable characters, simulated humans who slowly and purposelessly roam the streets with … Continue reading Fleetwood Promenade parkrun
I thought running two 5kms with a 90 minute break between would be easier than running 10km in one go. I was wrong! Fresh from Mile End parkrun, Linda, Petra and I assembled in Victoria Park where we were met by various RunThrough miscreants. It was SO COLD. Standing round in damp, sweaty parkrun clothes … Continue reading London Poppy Run
Mile End is the tenth closest parkrun from where I live and one I have been saving up for when it gets too cold to be getting on trains to Darkest Essex. That time has definitely come: in fact the average temperature as per my Garmin dropped from 22c to 6c between my last parkrun … Continue reading Mile End parkrun
I was egg-scused (sorry) from parkrun this morning as I had to go to work. Meanwhile, the Unhappy Eggs parkrun drama raged on. Despite over a thousand comments mostly denouncing the partnership on the original post, parkrun HQ had no intention of backing down. They sent an email out to some concerned core team members … Continue reading parkrun egg-gate continues…
It has all kicked off on Facebook. parkrun have announced their new sponsor is a mass producer of eggs (I will not give them the publicity by linking them) who, like all mass producers of eggs, are well known for doing horrendous things to chickens (warning - link contains descriptions of animal cruelty - no pictures). … Continue reading The new parkrun sponsor
One thing has been missing from my training routine ever since the marathon: the Long Slow Run, the solitary plod down the banks of the Lea Canal, with change jangling in my pockets, puddle water in my socks, and occasionally a Yellow Belly hanging from my mouth. When I started running, these jaunts were what … Continue reading The Return of the Long Slow Run
35:43! That was my official time at Chase The Moon last night and I'm absolutely delighted. It is only 24 seconds slower than my (not including track runs) 5km PB set at Dulwich parkrun in January. I'm definitely running faster than I was this time last year and I feel that if I take on … Continue reading RunThrough Chase The Moon Olympic Park
Today I was in Southend for the second time in two weeks. It's not just the beaches that draw me to my nearest seaside town. When I'm not running, I like to do a bit of genealogy. I am also better at genealogy than I am at running. A bunch of my ancestors lived in … Continue reading Southend Classic 10k
The unprecedented heatwave of 2018 (ie. 47 consecutive days where I didn't have to use a hot water bottle) is now officially over and we are sliding into winter. This means the "I'll just Jeff it, I don't want to get too hot and get heatstroke and die" excuse is firmly in the bin and … Continue reading Winter Training
You know what I'm like with a hill. As soon as my favourite running events company, RunThrough, announced they were putting on a race on the infamous zigzag road loved by cyclists in lycra on fancy bikes and featured in the Olympic cycle route, I was there. Box Hill, near Dorking, is a "site of … Continue reading Beat Box Hill 5km
Southend parkrun comes under the heading of "parkruns I have been meaning to go to for ages but keep getting thwarted by engineering works on the Gospel Oak to Barking line". This weekend was my last real opportunity to do it before it gets too cold for this nonsense, so I was relieved to see … Continue reading Southend parkrun
I am now a multinational parkrun tourist! Last weekend I was in Berlin to see my favourite band, mesh. You will recall that this is the same band that I followed to Bradford, so at least they've upped their game on the glamorous locations. Berlin is home to the new-ish parkrun of Hasenheide, in the … Continue reading Hasenheide parkrun
Yesterday, Facebook Memories reminded me that it was the nine year anniversary of my first ten kilometre race. I wasn't A Runner back then, of course. I led a much less healthy lifestyle which mainly revolved around watching repeats of Airline with my idiot ex-boyfriend whilst getting legless on supermarket real ale, then ordering Domino's. … Continue reading My First 10k Race
Yesterday, I headed to Potters Fields near London Bridge for an emotional reunion with my RunThrough buddies, whom I have not seen for a whole six days. Now the Chase The Sun events are over, we are all feeling a bit bereft, so it was nice to have an alternative evening run to attend. I … Continue reading Run the River
Last year I took part in the Kew Gardens 10k, which is part of the Richmond Running Festival and really enjoyed it, so in 2018 it was back for round two. There had been a couple of improvements from last year, in that the route stayed within the gardens the whole way instead of taking an … Continue reading Kew Gardens 10k
(For the 59 billionth time) This week's excuse for not doing 10k was the fact that I'd been up since the crack of dawn getting the Eurostar home from France and endured a very stressful journey in the same carriage as a family who seemed to think the aisle was a children's playground and who … Continue reading Chase the Sun Olympic Park
I have spent the last week on holiday in France. Last Thursday I did my hilliest 5k ever in the mountains of the Cantal region of France where my uncle lives. My route consisted of 2km of rocky trail and 3km of roads. The first 2km were extremely wet and uneven - it rained heavily … Continue reading parkrun du Bois de Boulogne
I woke up the day after my million mile bike ride with a whole new set of aches and pains to content with. Normally I would find my lower legs and hips were giving me bother. Today it was my upper legs, my knees and my upper back. I had lost all bendiness and was … Continue reading The Race Organiser Regents Park 10k
This time five years ago, I was in a park in Walthamstow holding a granny bike with the pedals removed, trying again and again to coast down a small slope without falling over, and invariably landing in a heap at the bottom. I was covered from head to toe in bruises and convinced that bicycles … Continue reading Bike Ride to Broxbourne (and Gunpowder parkrun)
When I heard my favourite band, mesh, were playing the Infest festival in Bradford, my first thought was "I wonder if I can combine this with a parkrun?" Bradford, you see, hosts a rather infamous parkrun with a "Teeny Tiny Hill", complete with sign, that you have to run up three times. I have never … Continue reading Bradford parkrun
The summer is almost over. I know this because for me, the weekly Wednesday night excursions to London parks to earn sun-shaped medals are over. There's one I can't get to next week, then the Wednesday nights go back to once a month in the Olympic Park until April. I actually feel quite bereft as … Continue reading RunThrough Chase The Sun Brixton
I try to stay quiet on the animal welfare side of veganism, not because it isn't important, but because I find pictures and stories of animal cruelty mainly just upset animal lovers and put non-vegans on the defensive. I'd rather people did their own research and keep my posts to "here is a vegan thing … Continue reading Veganuary: Day 113
Last time I went to Hampstead Heath parkrun, I spotted on their page that the nearest alternative parkrun was one I'd never heard of, Gladstone parkrun. The parkrun website informed me that this park is situated in Dollis Hill, a part of London that I have never set foot in, despite it being only ten … Continue reading Gladstone parkrun
Yesterday was the fourth time I have run the RunThrough Hyde Park 5k. My times from the previous four outings went like this: 25 April 39:17 23 May 39:26 6 June 40:10 and this was quite depressing because one is supposed to get faster and not slower! Anyway, I am delighted to say I have … Continue reading RunThrough Chase The Sun Hyde Park
I was less than halfway into this morning's workout yet I had already mentally composed most of today's joyously positive post. Since cutting down on sugar I've lost 2.3kg in 10 days and my resting pulse has gone down to 52 (from 55-60). Even better still, today I followed advice from cycling friends and cycled … Continue reading Cycling Calamities That Could Only Happen To Me, part 59
Regular readers of this blog (both of you) will notice that I have been fartarsing around with my running ever since the marathon with statements such as "Look I chose a parkrun with really big hills so I am perfectly justified in walking half of it" "It's a bit hot, I think I'll Jeff it, … Continue reading RunThrough Chase The Sun Olympic Park
On Tuesday I was at the Olympic Park for a run with a bit of a difference. Instead of running horizontally, I was running vertically - up the Orbit, that is, the peculiar helter-skelter-like structure next to the stadium. It's 114.5 metres tall with 455 spiral stairs. I did this event last year and knew … Continue reading Upslide Down
Eight days ago, I decided to get a grip on my out of control sugar consumption. I already knew I was eating too much sugar, and that this was probably the main reason that I was having trouble losing weight, but I was still shocked when I sat down and counted up how much sugar … Continue reading Sugar Free
I was rather nervous about last night's race, not just because of the hills and uneven terrain of Crystal Palace Park, but because the equivalent fixture in last year's Chase The Sun calendar (exactly a year ago) had ended very badly. The race itself had seemed to go okay, but I had been having a … Continue reading Chase The Sun Crystal Palace
During my running career I've been beaten by a pillar box, all four tellytubbies, the Eiffel Tower, a man with one leg and countless small children, but never a ferry. I therefore decided to join the Viewtube Runners for their race against the ferry. The Woolwich Ferry opened in 1889 and transports 2 million passengers … Continue reading Chase The Ferry
A few weeks ago I made a very bold move and signed up for the Southend Triathlon, which will take place in eleven months' time. In a way this is a bigger challenge for me than running the marathon, because I only learned to cycle five years ago and thus cycle like a five year … Continue reading Triathlete in Training
I woke up this morning - the day after my cobble-related accident at Victoria Dock parkrun - to find that my right leg no longer bent in the middle and that I couldn't lift my left arm above my head. This was a bit of a problem as I was signed up for another race … Continue reading RunThrough Finsbury Park
As I mentioned yesterday, Victoria Dock was my 20th parkrun venue and I am now an official parkrun Tourist. My first parkrun was Finsbury Park on 4th March 2017 and I did it twice before thinking that I might like to try one that was slightly less challenging on the hill front - so off … Continue reading parkrun Tourism parts 1-20
Today was a special milestone in my parkrunning career: my 20th different venue. Doing 20 different venues makes you appear on the Most Events page which in turn entitles you to join the UK parkrun tourists Facebook group where you get the top secret link to purchase a black, white and yellow cow print cowl which … Continue reading Victoria Dock parkrun
Seven months ago, I said: and I must admit that this bold statement was at the forefront of my mind as I struggled around Richmond Desert, sorry, I mean Richmond Park this morning. With the temperature hitting 33 degrees, my body informed me that running was unavailable and walking was the only available substitute. Therefore … Continue reading Richmond parkrun
Running a 5k in 30 minutes is often seen as the holy grail for beginners and talent-deficient runners, and it's my big goal for the rest of the year. My current PB is 32:46, set in November 2017 on the running track, so it seems like something I can achieve if I focus on it … Continue reading A Weighty Issue
I have recently had a change of rota at work, with my nightshifts being replaced with 11am-11pm shifts. This has the very exciting side effect of enabling me to do an extra parkrun every month, so long as it is within 30 minutes travel of work. There are three parkruns that fulfil this criteria, and … Continue reading Burgess parkrun
I have not a lot to say about this week's race as it was pretty much exactly the same as the last month's. It was significantly hotter, but also significantly less mudder so I am hoping those two factors cancelled each other out and my time (40:11, exactly a minute faster than last month) represents … Continue reading RunThrough Chase The Sun Wimbledon Common
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See you on the track or on the cushion
Be Awesome. Inspire People.
Running through life
Base state: on the sofa with the cat
Matt Bodkin... usually running
Better at writing than at running
In which I attempt to demonstrate I am about more than my day job.
Kath's Kith & Kin
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell
PHOTOGRAPHY, FAMILY HISTORY and LIFE IN GENERAL
Where Distant Family Become Close
Fun With Genealogy
Better at writing than at running
Better at writing than at running
Better at writing than at running
7:07 