Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

I’m not really the superstitious type and tend to believe that what will be will be, but after a disappointing end to last week, I needed a bit of perking up. As a child, I remember reading a story book by Enid Blyton about a lucky four-leafed clover and wondering whether they really existed. I used to spend hours crawling round in the grass, desperately trying to find this lucky token, only to find endless clover with just the 3 leaves amongst the dandelions and daisies in the summer time. But then one day, I found that four-leafed clover, and have found 3 others over the years since. I suppose I need to explain what on earth clover has got to do with my running. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked if I would be interested in doing a 47 mile trail race, the only problem been that I would have to wear a GB vest. It dawned on me at the time that it meant running for Great Britain in the World Trail Running Championships in Connemara, Ireland and to say I was excited was an understateme...

As runners, I’m sure we’ve all entered races that we’ve really been looking forward to, but then when race day arrives, we wonder what the hell we are doing. For me, I should have taken the hint earlier in the week when I missed a day’s training due to feeling tired and having a lack of motivation. By Friday, I had said to my mum that the excitement and anticipation I normally feel a day or so before a race just wasn’t there and if I hadn’t already entered, I probably wouldn’t be doing it. Even when I started prepping my drinks and everything on Saturday afternoon, I wasn’t focused and my mind was elsewhere. I’d entered the Forest of Dean Ultra Marathon just after London with no intentions of racing it per se but rather using it as a training run in the build up to the World Champs later this year. I also fancied doing something a little different for once, and instead of pounding out the miles on the roads, it would be 31.76 miles made up of 1 small and 5 large laps on the trails aro...

Thursday evening saw the last race of the Spring Treble - a series of 3 trail races of approximately 5 miles that take in some of the beautiful Staffordshire countryside. With focusing more on ultra running on the roads this year, I hadn’t planned to do the whole series, so with the choice of either the Kibblestone Clamber or Clayton 10k the day before, I was expecting Norman to suggest Clayton for my tempo run this week. Whichever he decided on, I knew I was in for a hard time as neither of them are particularly easy races, but on past experience, Kibblestone is the most difficult, not just because it’s off-road, but also with it being 3 laps of the scout camp which means 3 times up those very steep and troublesome steps! I drew the short straw – it was Kibblestone – and whilst I was looking forward to a short faster paced run, I was quite nervous and dreading those steps. The weather has been very dry of late, but on arrival at Kibblestone Scout Camp, it had turned quite muggy and ...

It’s funny how things pan out, and with my focus so far this year being on qualifying for the World 100km Championships in September, I now find myself planning on competing on the trails. I’m not complaining as I do actually enjoy trail running, I just don’t consider myself to be particularly good to do myself justice in competition. On Tuesday I had a call off Norman asking if I would like to do a 47 mile trail race in July to help me prepare for the 100k. I’m up for any challenge, and when he said that it would mean running in a GB vest, it suddenly dawned on me that it would mean competing in the World Trail Running Championships in Connemara, Ireland. Of course I was ecstatic – another opportunity to represent my country – and it would mean running across bog land and open moor, along country tracks and up mountains in the gorgeous Emerald Isles. I’ve ran the trails before, competing in the very first World Trail Running Championships in Texas back in 2007 where I finished 3 rd ...

Being a true runner, I really don’t mind what the weather does, and I’ve ran in conditions ranging from freezing cold temperatures and knee deep snow to temperatures of 30 degrees and 90% humidity. However, there is one type of weather that I absolutely detest, one that saps the energy and makes me swear like a trooper – and that’s the wind. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a side wind, a head wind or a flaming tail wind, it isn’t much fun and makes a mockery of the phrase “are you going for a PB today?” Even without the wind, a PB was never on the cards on Sunday, but I still had a time and pace in mind and was hoping to run around about 2.17-2.18 realistically, but hoping for as close to 2.15 as possible. However, having seen the weather forecast the previous day, I was beginning to think I would be lucky to get anywhere near 2.20 let alone any quicker! I’ve done the South Cheshire 20 a couple of times in the past, and it’s a great race organised by neighbouring South Cheshire Harrie...