Adam in Runderland

My book club chose The Five by Hallie Rubenhold this month. It is the story of the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the ripper. It certainly isn't a book I would have chosen and that is why I like being in a book club; it helps me be a genre spanner (copyright The Mighty Boosh). The insights into the lives of these five women really brought to life the complexity of the journey we are all on. Often simply referred to as prostitutes only one of the women actually engaged in prostitution. Their lives were marked by incidents that resulted in poverty, injustice, violence and alcoholism. None of that meant that they deserved their fates. The murders of the women all occurred within a small area of East London called Whitechapel. In 1888 when the events took place this was a place of severe poverty with many families crammed together into dirty rooms, with open sewers, disease and all sorts of physical and sexual abuse commonplace. Unemployment, drug and alcohol addiction and pr...

Let me be up front at the beginning. You will notice I have entitled this article part 1. That's not because this is a two part account of my 78 mile run of the Capital Ring. Instead it is a single account of the first leg of my two part journey around the Capital Ring. Let me explain. When I moved to London at the start of lockdown I joined a local online running forum called YPOM (Your Pace Or Mine). Matt Shimwell, one of the leaders of the group, was planning to run around the Capital Ring - a 78 mile walking route linking the green parks and woods of inner London. He asked if anyone wanted to join; I volunteered.  The date soon rolled around - October 17th 2020. In the weeks leading up to the run I was excited and nervous. It would be twice as far as I had previously run in one go. The night before I laid out my clothes, packed and re-packed my bag, ate pasta until I thought I would burst and went to bed early. I was ready. I arrived at Matt's house at 3:45am. Surprisingly ...

Tomorrow Matt and I run the Capital Ring. 78 miles in (hopefully) 17 hours or so. I'm full of anticipation but also nervous excitement. I've slept badly all week. Anxious dreams have filled my head. I've spent time preparing and planning, reading up on the route and eating a lot of whole-wheat pasta. This is standard for any big challenge I undertake. It starts with an idea that won't leave me. I commit to it and spend time getting ready. I'm full of positivity and hope. The day draws closer and the butterflies start to flutter. In the days building up to it I am full of stress and unease. Thoughts run through my head about what could hamper my efforts. Finally the day comes and I'm on the start line. At this point all the worries disappear and there is nothing else I can do to prepare. I'm running and loving it.  The same process applies to every area of my life, not just running. Starting a new job, travelling to a different country, hosting a work meeting...

A bit of a misleading title this one. The sub-title is more helpful; a journey through memory, landscape and history. This is no How to... book. Rather it is a biography of a person and a country.  The author John Connell lives in Longford, Ireland. He is a farmer and a runner. This book is a series of meandering thoughts and reflections on the Irish past prompted by the sights he encounters while running 26.2 miles. Much like running a marathon, the flow of the book is not consistent. At times he slows down and focusses on specific incidents, at other he speeds through centuries of history. Some faces flash past while others come alongside and run beside us for a while before moving on. The path of the book twists and turns. In some places it became a struggle to read, like heading uphill. Other sections felt like freefalling through the pages. I liked the way he weaved the stories of Ireland and his own family into the experience of running a marathon. Occasionally he skips to me...

In six days I will undertake my biggest running challenge yet. I'll be attempting the Capital Ring. Just after I arrived in London I began to follow a couple of local running groups. I was interested to see who the local runners were, and where the good routes took people. In the absence of parkrun and official club nights this was my only way of getting to know people. A couple of months ago I saw a post by two local runners asking for people to join them to run the Capital Ring. I looked it up and discovered this is a walking route that encircles London. Turns out it is 78 miles long and split into 15 sections, however they were planning the run the whole thing in one go. My interest was peaked and I made it known that I was interested. A few weeks ago one of them had to drop out due to lack of training leaving just Matt Shimwell. He contacted me to see if I was still interested in joining him. At the time I was running a marathon every week so my fitness was good. But good enoug...

Katie Lambourne is a Strava friend. This means I came to know her through the running app that is widely used as a fitness/social/bragging/encouragement tool. Another Strava friend Ian Collier had introduced her. I’ve met many great people on there and many of those I have never met face to face. Occasionally I bump into someone at a race and we realise we follow one another online. I love the community it provides for like-minded people. Over time I have followed Katie’s progress and given her Kudos (the Strava thumbs up). I realised she was managing to balance her running with looking after three children and saw how she regularly posted improving times and distances.  It was following a recent Strava post that I decided to get in touch and ask her story. The title of her run was ‘Day 1 of my charity miles.’ This was followed by ’19.79 miles so far for Aarskog syndrome .’ I had never heard of Aarskog syndrome so I Googled it. You should too. I spoke to Katie and asked h...