Adam in Runderland

Marathon running is often used as an allegory for life. While it serves this purpose well I find that another distance is even more appropriate – the ultra marathon. This year I ran my first ultra, in fact I ran three in a month. The first was the 35 mile Shires and Spires followed a few weeks later by the Round the Isle of Wight race which consisted of 39 and 31 miles back to back over a weekend. During the hours I was jogging and the many more hours in ice baths and recovery I reflected on the lessons that could be learnt and applied to my life. The first was  We are not alone. The second was Enjoying the journey. This time I will look at: 3. The goal is to finish. One of the biggest differences between an ultra marathon and any other running distance is the fact that the finishing time  doesn't  matter. Every other race I have taken part in has had the challenge of setting a good time or beating my previous one. The infamous Personal Best is alway...

It's hard to believe that it's only a year since I ran my first half marathon. As I made my way to register for the Northampton Half I remembered that day 12 months ago when I stood in Abington Street and nervously awaited the start not knowing if I would manage to complete the distance. This year I felt more confident and enjoyed seeing a large number of familiar faces from Parklands Jog & Run and Parkrun. The race start had moved to the Guildhall as over 500 people assembled in the sunshine. My injury problems had not resurfaced during the Great North Run and I had rested during the week to ensure my body had time to recover sufficiently. Feeling healthy again I was aiming for under 1:40 with sub 7:30 miles in the back of my mind. At 10 o'clock prompt we were set off but my GPS watch still hadn't managed to locate the satellite. Unfortunately this remained the case throughout the day and so I was left in the dark as to my pace. I went off fast hoping to g...

Finally. After what had seemed like an eternity of not running due to shin splints I was back in my trainers on the start line of a running event. The previous weeks had been spent getting increasingly frustrated at not being able to run and undergoing a number of physio sessions which involved having needles stuck in my legs and a number of daily exercises to undertake. Ouch! But last Sunday I was in Newcastle with 57,000 other runners ready to tackle the 13.1 miles to South Shields. There are two iconic runs in the UK; the London Marathon and The Great North Run, and I was about to do both in the same year. We had traveled up the day before and stayed with a sister of the wife of a friend. They lived quite close to the race. So close in fact that when I opened the bathroom blind in the morning I could see the start line! I was running for Wellchild, a charity that supports sick children and their families. After a breakfast of cereal, a mars bar and coffee I headed to t...