Oh hi, remember me? The one with the dodgy hip? As people keep asking me how it’s doing I thought I’d post a quick update. Thanks to everyone who’s enquired by the way! I can’t quite believe it’s now nearly eight months since I took part in a running event. In that time I’ve done a bit of running, quite a bit of cycling (mostly boring turbo training) and have been trying to fix my ‘injury’ with all kinds of physio-prescribed strength work. I won’t bore you with all the details! Anyway, as the hip still wasn’t feeling any better I recently went back to my GP for help. After waiting four weeks ..read more

As the end of 2022 approaches, I realise I haven’t written many blog posts this year. There are various reasons for this, but I guess it’s mainly because I haven’t done a huge number of events to review and am ending the year slightly crocked so haven’t been up to much lately. My last post was at the end of September, just after I’d completed the OCC. Six weeks later I took part in the Endurancelife North York Moors Marathon; in retrospect possibly not the best idea I’ve ever had, as I probably wasn’t fully recovered from the OCC, but I couldn’t resist as it’s one of my favourite events. I ha ..read more

Many would say the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) festival in Chamonix is the holy grail of trail running. Races of varying distance and difficulty take place throughout the last week of August, contested by some of the best athletes in the field. In addition, there are thousands of other runners who (like me) have qualified to be there by gaining UTMB points at other races and then entering a ballot for places. It’s proper bucket list stuff. After five years, including three attempts in the ballot followed by a Covid-induced delay, I was finally here for the OCC (Orsières – Champex – Chamon ..read more

As I write this it’s ten days until the UTMB OCC and I can’t quite believe it’s actually happening! It’s been a long journey to get here. After three attempts in the ballot I finally got a place for 2020; then all the UTMB races were cancelled due to Covid. I could have done it last year, but as foreign travel was still tricky and the event was much reduced, I decided to defer my place to 2022 so I could have the full-on big race experience. After the Highland Fling I took a bit of recovery time, then at the beginning of May I had a catch-up with coach Kim Cavill, who came up with a 16 week OC ..read more

Hardmoors Goathland was an event I’d really been looking forward to, mostly because it was the only Hardmoors marathon I hadn’t yet run. I was supposed to do it last year, but like many events it was postponed due to Covid. At that time I ran a virtual Goathlands half marathon with my friend Jason, which was a great taster for the real thing. Goathland is a beautiful village near Whitby on the North York Moors, and will be familiar to those of a certain age as the setting for the TV series Heartbeat. It seems very remote, and I was surprised it only took me an hour to get there from home near ..read more

I couldn’t wait to run Hardmoors Fryupdale. Postponed from last year due to Covid, it was one of the few Hardmoors marathons I’d never done. It has a smaller capacity than the other events, so I was delighted when I eventually managed to get a place. Driving over the moors to the tiny hamlet of Fryup on the day the sunrise looked amazing and the weather forecast was perfect. It’s one of the longer Hardmoors ‘marathons’ at 31 miles, so I was set for a great day out! The race starts and finishes at the Yorkshire Cycle Hub; a perfect venue with loads of parking, showers and a great café. There w ..read more

The Yorkshire Wolds are often described as a ‘hidden gem’, and it’s true that they’re not as well-known outside Yorkshire as the Dales and the North York Moors; but for those of us who live nearby they are well-known and well-loved, providing a great hilly training ground with some fantastic trails. So when the Hardmoors folk announced a brand new event in the Wolds I couldn’t resist entering! The first thing to say about the Hardwolds 40 is that it isn’t 40 miles long. Hardmoors events always offer great ‘value’ so the route was originally planned to be about 46 miles long. It starts in Beve ..read more

Well hello! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. The reason I haven’t posted much since last autumn is that I haven’t actually done much! But what I have done is learned to manage my dodgy hip, which had been bugging me for ages. I won’t bore you with all the details of how I’ve got to this point, but luckily I’ve never actually had to stop running, which is great. I cut down my mileage and increased my strength work over the winter and then felt able to take part in the Temple Newsam Ten and the Snake Lane 10 – both great local ten mile events which helped to restore my enjoyment of running ..read more

The Hardmoors 30 traditionally takes place on New Year’s Day, but was postponed this year for obvious reasons. The event usually starts and finishes at Fylingdale Village Hall, near Robin Hood’s Bay, but due to Covid regulations it started and finished on this occasion in the car park at Whitby Abbey. The route forms a kind of skinny figure of eight through Ravenscar, down to Cloughton then back to Whitby, following parts of the Cleveland Way and a disused railway line trail known as the Cinder Track. It’s 33 miles long rather than 30, but that’s Hardmoors value for you! There’s also a 15 mile ..read more

January. It’s a bit ‘meh’, isn’t it? We all deserve a little treat to get us through the greyness. So I was delighted to be asked to attend a Run and Brunch event last week in beautiful Nidderdale. It was organised by With M, a new company owned by private chef Michaela Hanna, who you may have seen on Masterchef: The Professionals a couple of years ago. Experiences With M offers getaways where people can immerse themselves in their passion for running, cycling or walking whilst also enjoying the fabulous food that is Michaela’s own passion. Trail running and amazing food, what’s not to like? I ..read more