Serpent Trail, Running Festival We travelled down on the Friday evening, with me camping at the event while my family stayed in a nearby hotel. The race village had a fun atmosphere. After putting up my tent, we had pizza before I made one last unsuccessful attempt to persuade Daniel to take part in the kids' race. Once they left for the hotel, I spent some time pottering about and listening to the rangers' talk about the heathlands, before heading back to my tent to get orga

Rat race: Castle to Casle Bamburgh to Edinburgh 100miler I started running in Feb 2023 after getting a Great North Run place and in doing so discovered the mental and physical benefits and most importantly that I really enjoyed it. After completing GNR I entered and completed Manchester, York and Brighton marathons in 24/25. Then I discovered trail running and loved being out in nature so entered the Ultra tour of Arran in 26. I started focussed training for this at the start

If you've entered Marathon des Sables Legendary, chances are you've already spent time thinking about your training plan and figuring out: how many miles should you run, how long should your longest run be, should you be doing hill reps, back-to-back weekends or heat training? Those are all important questions, but they aren't necessarily the ones most likely to determine your success in the Sahara. Having coached runners preparing for MDS and spent countless hours discussing

Heat training When our summers give us a heat wave athletes split into two camps. One group starts avoiding the heat entirely, hiding on treadmills, chasing shade, turning the garage fan into a Category 5 hurricane. The other group leans into it. No fan. Midday runs. It can be argued that both groups are right. Heat stress is very useful stress if applied correctly, but a training road block if not. Training in the heat is no longer viewed as just the domain of runners who a

Whether this is your first half marathon or one of many, good preparation makes all the difference. Once we make it to race day the fundamentals remain the same for every level of runner: fuel your body, trust your training, run your race. Here are my 10 tips to get you get to the start line ready to give it your best shot. Hydrate Early and Consistently Effective hydration starts several days before race day. By the morning itself, you’re simply maintaining what you’ve alrea

If you think you can or you think you can't you are right. Running the 'hardest footrace on earth' the MDS in 2016 Setting Ambitious Goals As I wrote my goals for 2025, the black pen glided over the diary page on January 1st. "Run a 50k ultramarathon." For context, I am 62 years old. I have two replacement hips and I live with Parkinson's disease. But here’s the twist: I have completed two ultramarathons before. I tackled the Race to the Stones in 2015 and the Marathon des Sa