Category: Running
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The road to recovery: The Great Manchester Half Marathon 2022
Those of you who read my last blog will be well aware of my recent struggles. A couple of months on from there though came a chance to see where I was at on my road to recovery as an unexpected discounted entry for the Great Manchester Half Marathon landed…
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Highs and lows
Six months ago I was on top of the world. Running at my absolute peak, I achieved a lifetime ambition after the greatest run of my entire life, the culmination of a decade of planning, trying, failing and trying again. After eighteen months of training, I finally got the sub…
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The Final Countdown
When I mapped out my plan for 2021 I decided a practice race before the Manchester Marathon would be a good idea just to reacquaint myself with the old routine after close to two years away from racing. And very well it all went over at Wilmslow last month, but…
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Tuning up: The Wilmslow Half Marathon 2021
No matter how many virtual challenges I’ve taken part in over the past 18 months, even though some of them were amongst the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, there’s nothing quite like taking part in a real race with real people. The adrenaline on the day just isn’t there…
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Halftime
Last Sunday marked the halfway point of my third round of marathon training in 18 months, ideally this time with an actual race at the end of it. Nine weeks down, nine to go. Over 450 miles in the bank already. So I thought I would be a good opportunity to…
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One last hurrah
I’ve not properly pushed myself at the full marathon distance since my massive 2016 effort, with Londons 2017 & 18 all being about savouring the day, and I was never going to attempt anything mad for my virtual one last October. So now it’s time to see what I’ve still…
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Locked down
After a grim old 2020, I’ve spent most of this year trying to be generally quite optimistic about things. I’ve kept telling myself (and others) that better times hopefully on the way, and so it appeared to be. But then, right at the peak of my optimism as I received…
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A loveletter to the Mizuno Catalyst: a shoe review after 2323.5 miles
Every year since early 2017 I’ve had a pair of Mizuno Catalysts in my rotation as my daily trainer. I’ve bought four pairs over the years, carrying me – to date – 2323.5 miles. As is often the way with the running shoes I grow to love, they’ve been discontinued…
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9 mile
There’s been no races so far in 2021, virtual or otherwise. One little challenge that did materialise though was one of those that came about more by chance than anything, and then as is often my way subsequently became something to obsess over for a bit. That was until I…
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Virtual October
Anyone who’s read more than a couple of my blogs will know that I have a pretty familiar autumn routine, hitting one or two of the same races almost every year going as far back as 2008. This year things were a bit different but I’m still delighted with what…
Runner's Words 