In short This was my third attempt at TDS, with one success and one failure under my belt. Having had a crap couple of years with no running success to speak of, this one turned into a big deal. Last chance saloon, the final countdown, whatever melodramatic way I described it in my head it …
Madeira Island Ultra Trail 2021. Two years of waiting for a rescheduled race only to crash out after 5K with a broken ankle
With hindsight I can look back and say that I had the most fantastic adventure.After 2 years of Covid enforced absence, I had made it back to France and the big mountains that I love.
We are a pretty experienced support crew PT Boy, H and I. PT Boy does logistics, H does Tough Love while I do the running “encouragement”. Sitting in a field waiting for your runner is a frustrating experience when they are not having a good day. You feel completely helpless as there is nothing you …
What follows is the tale of an adventure. Others who ran this race will have a different adventure. Theirs will undoubtedly be faster with much less sweating and swearing. This is mine. It may bear no resemblance to what actually happened but it is how I remember it. Cilaos, Cilaos, oh Cilaos I arrived in …
A week has passed and I can almost feel my sausage toes again which prompts me to try to jot down some thoughts on the Madeira Island Ultra Trail, so here goes….. MIUT was one of those races which you don’t remember in order. Random moments jump into your consciousness and these little vignettes invariably …
Eight days until race day and I was sitting at work with a wet trouser leg and a puddle appearing on the carpet under my desk. The casual observer may have questioned whether the excitement of the impending race was getting to me. The more astute observer would also have noticed the bag of rapidly …
I could feel it coming and had to find somewhere quickly. Unfortunately in a hot sweaty tent crammed with runners refuelling after already covering 55 mind blowingly brutal kilometers, the organisers had obviously forgotten to set aside a throwing up corner. I made a dash for the exit with my mouth clenched firmly shut but …
The Great Glen Ultra is a new Scottish Ultramarathon race which starts in Fort William and finishes 72 miles later in Inverness. Pre-Race Both Helen and I were running the race. The unsupported nature of the race meant it was possible for both of us to run. Being unsupported means drop bags – lots of …
The annual race from Milngavie near Glasgow to Fort William in the heart of the Scottish highlands has always seemed to embody such high levels of madness, endurance and athleticism as to be way beyond the grasp of ordinary mortals like me. At the start of this adventure I didn’t know if I would be …