Sunday 26th November saw my fourth and final marathon of 2023 and my best finishing time in over twelve years. I traveled with the whole family to San Sebastián for a cheeky little weekend over the border. Living in Toulouse, I’ll never get tired of being able to jump in the car on a Friday …
Race Report: Marathon du Médoc 2023
You’ve probably heard of the iconic “Marathon des Châteaux du Médoc”, arguably France’s most-famous footrace. Runners participate in fancy dress to match the year’s theme and most are there to savour the gourmet refreshment stations nestled amongst the picture-perfect châteaux. Dubbed the “longest marathon in the world”, it serves as a showcase for the region’s …
Race Report: Marathon d’Albi 2023
Riding the high of our buggy marathon PB in Montauban at the end of March, we grabbed an unexpected opportunity on Sunday 30th April 2023 to run a fourth full marathon pushing the stroller. It was another early start for our 50-minute drive to beautiful Albi and another rather wet morning. We had a smooth …
Benefits of buggy running
The mental and physical benefits of running are well documented, but in my five years of pushing a running stroller, I’ve discovered the following specific additional advantages: Not to mention the fresh air, vitamin D and change of scenery for your little one and a special moment of parent-child bonding time – I’m very honoured …
Race Report: Marathon de Montauban 2023
Our third buggy marathon together and our best time by over six minutes! 3 hours 17 minutes and 20 seconds to be precise, which gave us 5th overall female and first in my age category. I was terribly nervous in the build-up to this race. I barely slept the night before, knowing the clocks were …
How to prep for a buggy marathon
I suspect it is rather unlikely that many of you out there are planning to run 26.2 miles pushing your kid in a stroller (!), but just in case you are tempted, here’s my packing list for the marathons I have run with my four-to-five-year-old: Voilà! Let me know if I’ve forgotten anything.
A third buggy marathon?!
I am currently ten weeks and five days into an eleven week training programme for a spring marathon, which means that the big race is on Sunday! The Marathon de Montauban is probably the closest thing we have to a local marathon, since the sad demise of the Toulouse event (cancelled due to Covid-19 and …
The mother-runner-juggle-struggle
It’s school holidays again here, which is always the toughest time to balance training with family life. One obvious solution might be to schedule your easy/recovery/cut-back week to coincide with the kids being at home – or even just abandon hope of running altogether – but often it is not as simple as that. For …
Top 10 tips for running with your kids on bikes
Last year I trained for five (yes five!) marathons while juggling family life with three kids. This meant lots of running during the (seemingly endless) school holidays, accompanied by my littlest one in the running buggy and her older brother and sister on their bikes. We even did 30km (18+ miles) together on one memorable …
No.4
A quiet Sunday, February 2023. My eldest announces she wants to buy a comic with her pocket money. The other two (naturally) jump straight on the bandwagon. I spy an opportunity for a run and tell them they can ride their bikes to the good newsagent in the next town that has a decent stock …