Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

Another great week has passed by, and running is still going well. I'm still getting a little tightness in the old hamstrings and the glutes, but I am getting better at stretching on a regular basis as well as adhering to the weekly strength sessions that my coach schedules in for me. As per the usual routine, Tuesdays are once again my day for speedwork or faster paced running, and given that we are currently in a melt/freeze/melt/freeze cycle with the lying snow, the pavements are a skating rink when it comes to completing my evening runs. I've mentioned numerous times my reluctance to run "fast" when conditions outside are less than ideal, so on Tuesday evening, I once again found myself doing my session at the local rec centre. This week it was a 10km progression run. I was going to use the indoor track, but sometimes the track can be far too busy for the pace I need to do, and I'm not too keen on swerving around people on a 200m track with very little space f...

On this weekend last year, I had taken part in the Barkakoo 55km Ultra at Chickakoo. It was an extremely snowy day on a tough, hilly, technical course, and I ended up finishing first overall in nine hours 4 minutes. It was a fantastic event and I absolutely loved the tough, challenging course, so much so that I had every intention of going back again this year. The race was this weekend but I hadn't registered this year, simply because I wanted it to be just as tough as it was last year. Up until last weekend, we had had no snow whatsoever, and I didn't want to run the course on clear trails in mild weather. And then it came. On Tuesday this week, we had our first proper dump of snow with around 15cm falling locally. The organisers of Barkakoo shared photos of the course, and it looked just like last year. I now really, really wanted to go back again to do it all over again, but I didn't feel like I was in a racing mood so I grudgingly gave it a miss.  The heavy snow earlie...

It's been another hectic week with barely any time to take a breath at work and then crazy evenings trying to catch up with things when I get home. The good news is that I'm still making time for all the things I enjoy doing - walking the pups, making my videos, and of course my running.  The pups tend to go for at least three walks a day, one of which is early morning before I head into work. I love these early morning walks as they set me up for the day and always put a smile of my face before a busy day in the office. The weather has started to turn much cooler in the mornings, so Tillie tends to stay home snuggled up in her bed rather than wandering around in the dark with me, Wilson and April, but I will admit that I do miss her not joining us on those morning walks. Thankfully though she is always keen for her afternoon visit to the dog park, and I get to spend that special time with all three of them for a good hour or so every evening when I get home.  Dog park fun wit...

It's been another amazing and busy month with more camping trips, more races, and of course, fun times with the pups who never fail to put a smile on my face. It all started when I decided at the last minute to do the River's Edge Ultra again out in Devon. Thanks to Covid, all REU races had been cancelled and I had forgotten that I had a race credit still to use up. With a trail marathon on my training schedule for the same weekend as the race, I decided to register for the 50k with the intention of using things as a good final training run for the Grizzly 50k a couple of weeks later. We decided to make a weekend of it this year, and with free camping provided on-site, we headed over on the Friday evening to pitch the tent and spend a night under the stars. I tend to sleep really well in a tent even the night before a race, and after a really good night's sleep, I was pretty excited to hit the trails the following morning. Race day dawned and after my usual bowl of porridge...