I thought the Lake District might have breached its banks as we aqua-planed much of our way up the M6. We were heading towards Keswick for the inaugural running of The Great Trail Challenge. This is the Great Run team’s foray into the world of off road trail events and...

Great trail challenge running event

I’m afraid I have become a tragic Zombies, Run! bore. When I enthusiastically recount tales of my successful zombie evasion runs there are audible yawns from the direction of Lynn. We were in the park with friends yesterday, enjoying the unexpected good weather and an array of delightful picnic snacks....

iPhone app Zombies

I’m Runner 5 and I’ve just been dropped into a zombie filled wasteland. It’s 11pm and I am, to put it politely, shitting myself. I’m the sort of girl who curls into a ball at the mere suggestion of being chased. I may even scream a little. So, I was...

gadgets review

I’ve clearly turned into a southern urban Jessie. 12k into today’s run saw me cursing farmers, the countryside and the god damn freezing weather conditions oop north. I even ran with a hat! The weekends long run coincided with a trip to the in-laws in Grantham where I normally opt...

countryside Grantham

It feels as though I’ve done a lot of whingeing over the last 3 months. I’ve gone from chest infection to pulled calves to meniscal tears and it’s beginning to sound like I’m manufacturing my own get out of the London Marathon free card. It was rather convenient then that...

injury knee

Crossing the line at the end of the Great North run I felt elated, 10 mins later I was sick and feverish. Any fitness I had in September disappeared over the next 5 weeks as I feebly battled a chest infection. Now that I’ve more or less cleared my chest...

resources spreadsheets marathon

The RunAmoc shoes from Soft Star arrived just as we were setting off for our weekend adventure in the Peak District. I whipped off my Nike Frees and socks, slung them into the back of the car and slipped on the moccasins instead. Apart from a brief interlude where I...

barefoot

I’ve just finished Chris McDougalls “Born to Run” and feel bereft now it’s all over. I’m in the market of writing about running and so long as I steer clear of treadmills I can usually knock up a paragraph or so on the trials and tribulations of the activity but...

barefoot review Tarahumara

So the big day arrived, not quite the day that every girl dreams of, but as days go it was big enough to require the same sort of dietary preparations. 6 weeks of off and on Stella abstinence brought me to a point where I was prepared to at least...

event swimming

The Great North Swim is now only a matter of weeks away. I’ve been swimming regularly but to be honest, the distance is the least of my worries. I pulled the wetsuit out of the cupboard last month, dusted out the moth balls and then attempted the big squeeze…… Not...

swimming

Call that a bike ride….? At one point I thought we were actually going to be walking all the way to Brighton. Experienced L2B’ers had warned me to start the event early but I’m too lazy to get up for a 6am start. I may have had a leisurely 8:30am...

cycling event L2B

I love this event, it is a complete pain to get to, it costs a fortune, it’s almost impossible to get out of South Shields before night fall, but it still remains the highlight of my year. Grubby street urchins high fiving you, toddlers squirting bottled puddle water at your...

event GNR running

I am such a social cretin before an event and watching the city boys arrive at the coach station in their pin striped suits and titanium s-bar bikes didn’t go anyway towards making me feel at home. I cheered up a bit on arrival at Blenheim when friendly faces appeared...

cycling event

How cold?! I eased myself gently into the lake until I slipped on a hunk of plankton and ended up bobbing some where near my ears with a foul expression on my face. The lake was freezing and I had the pleasure of sitting in it for the bizarrely named...

event swimming

This time last year I came face to face with the world renowned shambles that is the British London 10k. Fortunately, this time round I was invited to join the Surrey Housewives Set in their annual attempt to show Michael O’Reilly how mass participation events should be organised. Under the...

event running