Always on the go
3:11 at my big spring marathon yesterday (my second-worst ever marathon time) and a massive disappointment for me to process. I think this brutal experience can be aptly summarised under three headings: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The Good My kit worked perfectly! I took the risk of running in brand new socks …
RACE WEEKEND IS FINALLY HERE… the 2022 Marathon de Montpellier is this Sunday! I’m so excited I can hardly sit still. I still have some doubts (mostly about my knee, which has not felt good this week), but I’m giving myself a boost by looking back at ten awesome weeks of training. I’ve run roughly …
Yesterday was a tough one. My dodgy left knee, which has miraculously barely troubled me during this marathon build-up, suddenly started hurting again. It was so sore on Tuesday evening that I had to take a load of painkillers just to get to sleep. Very worrying just a few days out from race day. On …
With just ONE WEEK to go until race day, it’s time for some marathon goal-setting. When I was a twenty-something first-timer, a very wise old owl at my running club told me that, when running a marathon, you should always have three objectives: an ‘A’ goal, which is your die-on-the-spot-of-happiness dream outcome; a ‘B’ goal, …
This weekend it was the 21km de Blagnac. This is my local half and, in my opinion, totally unmissable… except that my husband is on the other side of the world for work, leaving me with a Sunday morning childcare issue. Happily, I found a babysitter (the first time I’ve ever used one… in almost …
Have you been running with a stroller for a while and think you might be ready to try a race? I LOVE racing with the buggy and have notched up a fair bit of experience now, so here are my top tips. Start small Drop down a distance from your usual racing predilection – if …
The last day of February already! Always catches me by surprise this super-short month. 
I’m relieved to say life has more or less returned to normal this month – almost no family illness, fewer disruptions at the kids’ school and a general feeling of things being back under control. Running-wise, I’ve somehow managed to tick …
Today I took the buggy along for a training session that consisted of: 5km gentle warm-up – 4km at half marathon pace – 2km jog down recovery (a short one for marathon training, but I’m on an easy “consolidation” week). I’m pushing a decent weight these days, with the four-year-old and Thule Chariot combined, so …
I can’t say I’m sad to see the back of the first month of 2022… between endless class closures, strikes at school and everyone catching Covid-19, it’s been a really challenging few weeks from a family/organisational perspective. For my training, it’s meant I’ve had to adapt. I’ve certainly done more mileage with the buggy than …
I love to get outdoors with the family on the weekends, but sometimes the weather is so foul you need an indoor alternative. Last Sunday was one such day. It was bitterly cold and the air was so wet it felt like the clouds tumbling down from the sky and the mist crawling up from …