Author: admin

This week’s article is about running along the board-walk in Atlantic city. So, pawn your gold, put it all on black and prepare to be shouted at by a crazy guy who just lost everything. It’s everything you need to know about running on creaky wood. Atlantic city, New Jersey, USA.

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This article looks back over a year of running in 2013. It was an eventful year with some good finishes and just a few disappointments. The highlights were taking part in my first big ultra (the Q50 80k) and lifting my first trophy in Mexico. Unfortunately I didn’t get anywhere near to my Boston qualifier time this year, but ran a grand distance and climbed a lot of hills. I was also out for a couple of months with a nasty calf injury and suffered my first DNF in what looked like being a spectacular race. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the year.

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Last Sunday saw the second Carrera Ecologica de San Felipe Del Agua in the city of Oaxaca de Juarez in southern Mexico. Oaxaca de Juarez is an attractive colonial style city of about a quarter of a million people and, at about 3 and a half hours by suburban, the nearest big city to my home-town of Huajuapan de Leon. The race took place in the countryside just outside the suburb of San Felipe to the north of the city. It’s the type of ground I normally train on. Rough stony paths with plenty of dips and climbs. This race would go up 200 meters over 5k then down a fast 2.5k before 1.5k flat then falling to the finish. A good tough 9k cross country race for a Sunday morning. (more…)

This week’s article takes a look at running with music. I never use my walkman during a race or when training with other people. But when you need that extra bit of motivation during those long runs on your own, I find a bit of music can be perfect. Especially in the morning when you really want to be back in bed. For this article, we’ll focus on how to listen to music on the road. What device to use. (more…)

Returning from just over 2 months of injury I decided to start back in style with the Maratón Estrella de Puebla. I only had two months to prepare but, what the hell, there are only really two marathons I can reach easily from my home base in Oaxaca so I’d be darned if I missed this one after such a lengthy hiatus. My comeback to training had been gradual with a lot of what’s known as active rest. This involves non impact exercise to get the blood pumping and accelerate the healing process. For me, this meant a lot of work on the climbing machine and out on the bike. And it seems to have worked. Once I did start back running, the longer distances weren’t so much of a problem as long as I tried not to put any sort of unusual force on my bad leg. By the start of the race my left leg still felt stiff but good to run on.

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This week we have another guest article. This time from Cathy Craig. Cathy is probably best know for her talented children but this week she gives the low-down on the First Saturday of the Month run in Letchworth England.

The First Saturday of the Month 5k is a timed run which takes place at Norton Common Letchworth. The race is run over two laps passing through a partially wooded area over footpaths, trails and grass. It’s organized by North Herts Road Runners with a Trail Running Association (TRA) permit. Registration is open to runners of all abilities with entries taken on the day of the race. We’ve been putting the races on since June 2011 and since then I’ve seen it transform into a well organised run popular with locals and visiting runners alike. The first race had 35 entrants but these days it normally attracts around 80 runners. (more…)

I haven’t written anything in about a month now. I’ve been injured, and when I’m injured I cant run, and when I can’t run I can’t write. You see, I do most of my writing on the mountain. OK, I don’t actually bring my computer up there and sit typing under a tree, but it’s where most of the ideas come. When you’re running you’re full of energy and the ideas come a mile a minute, there’s also a lot of time to think. Time seems to slow down when you’re doing sport. When you’re injured it drags. (more…)

This week we are happy to have a guest article from North Herts Road Runners’ Sue Foot. Sue started to run ultra marathons well into her 50’s and is looking forward to competing in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc next year.

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OK then, so far we’ve looked at shoes and clothes in our equipment 101. This week we move on to accessories, beginning with equipment for hydration. (more…)

Competition is all well and good but the real meat and potatoes of any half-serious runner’s schedule are the training runs. The runs in-between races. Over my years running I’ve have had the pleasure of training in some really nice locations. I can probably single out seven or eight training runs that have been particularly memorable for one reason or another. One of these is Heidelberg, in the south of Germany. (more…)