I took part in a great event today, a 6-hour race, organised by Rasselbock Running, at the Holme Pierrepont rowing lake. The format is straightforward; they mark and marshal a 5.5 km route, and the participants complete laps within the time limit. In my case, I try to do as many laps as possible, and that is true for some of the other runners. However, there are many other ways to participate, and that is what I wan
Last week, I took part in a great event, the Al Andalus Ultimate Trail, a five-day stage race in Andalusia, Spain. I knew it was going to be hard, and it turned out that way. I did not meet my main goal of completing the whole race, but I did run almost a marathon a day for four days, in temperatures that reached between 38 °C and 40 °C each day, climbing an average of 1080 metres, on rugged trails, often on exposed slopes with no shade from the sun.
I am just back from taking part in the 2025 Tojinbo 62km ultra, and it has been a great experience. So, at the risk of boring everybody, here is the story, with pictures.
Here is a short post showing my approach to running races. Basically, I control my effort via hear rate and I let my pace be an outcome – which means running is more enjoyable and I still run quite well.
You have to listen to your body. I nearly typed you sometimes have to listen, but actually you always need to listen to it and I had to do just that, last week.
On Sunday morning at 8am I set off running 431km (268 miles) from Edale in the middle of England to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland, along the Pennine Way, as part of the Spine Race. However, I had to drop out at the first checkpoint, 72km (45 miles). It is clear that I did not meet […]
I tried a new race today. I knew that I would be under pressure to complete the checkpoints within the time limits, and I did it, just. Here is the story and perhaps a lesson or two.
Today, I participated in Rasselbock’s off-road marathon in Sherwood Pines (a nearby forest just south of the more famous Sherwood Forest). I am not training for marathons at the moment; my focus is on the Spine Race in January 2025 (a 268-mile / 440 km race carrying a relatively heavy bag). So, I was not sure how the run would go. At the start of the race, I was in two minds about whether to start with the 4-hour pacer or the 4.5-hour paces. I run road marathons in under 4 hours, but forest tracks are slower than road races.
Today, my run streak (i.e., running every day) reached 2001 days (just under five and a half years). People have different definitions of what running every day means; for me, it means a minimum of 3km (just under two miles).
I have just had a fantastic weekend participating in the Minano 50K Trail Race (a 52km race in the mountains near Chichibu, Japan). Here is my account of the race.
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