Helen
Post VLM-TV-Coverage Reflections
Having watched 6 hours of TV coverage, roller-coastering with the struggles and triumphs of ALL the amazing folk who’d committed to 26.2 miles and made it across the VLM line, I ran this morning thinking about all those who didn’t make it either to the start or the finish line. I’ve had a (painful) DNS, a (even more painful) DNF
Jurassic Coast Challenge, July 2021
Gosh it was HOT. AND it was eye-poppingly brutal. “How many Jurassic Roller-Coasters left?” became the question we hardly dare ask, but somehow needed to know. Up. Down. Up. Down. Get lost. Up again. Downs even harder than the ups (which was a new experience for me!). A BIG storm overnight between Days 1 and 2, forcing us to evacuate
XNRG 66 mile Pilgrim Challenge, 1-2 February 2020
Goal: to have fun with my Cape Wrath teamies … oh, and test run kit, run strategy, multi-stage nutrition, overnight kitbag and sleeping arrangements … ”I don’t run to add days to my life; I run to add life to my days.” – Ronald Rook. Questions to answer: Which pack? Which poles? Which gloves? Would the run:walk strategy we’d be rehearsing stand
Coaching: More Speed; Less Effort; Fewer injuries
So what running ‘style’ do I advocate? People often ask what running ‘ethos’ or ‘style’ I advocate, or who I’m sponsored by. ‘Is is the Chi Method?’ they ask, or perhaps the ‘Pose Method?’ Or maybe, because of my love of ‘barefoot’, am I ‘paid by Vibram?’ None of the above! This is not a man-made, developed ‘method’ of running
Nose-Breathing Amsterdam Marathon?
Poor Wendy had to put up with a silent first 10km whilst I hand-signalled a route through the 42000 participants (?!) – then our running paths separated as I didn’t need to bother with water until 35km … even then I wasn’t thirsty … more bored … The beginning of the race was interesting enough, but not the sightseeing tour
Are You Breathing?
No – I mean really breathing. Let’s skip the usual smart-alec comments of ‘yes, I’ve been doing it since I was born’ and head straight for some interesting stuff … like: did you know that we recover around a third of exhaled heat and moisture when exhaling through our nose? did you know that we uptake most of our oxygen during the exhale
Ugly?
Granted they’re not the prettiest feet in the world, but I bet the prettiest feet in the world haven’t been on the adventures mine have. And how can animate objects, so intrinsically influential on everything that happens above them, be considered unattractive enough to need to be hidden? Ugly … by whose standards? TV advertisers? Shoe designers who want to
Pip’s 1st 50 Miler
Rather than one of my stories, I’ve just been gifted the story of another runner – a ‘real runner’, who runs for the sheer joy of running and who loves running just as much as me. I don’t meet these ‘real runners’ often, and it moves me that we’ve created running memories together. Pip’s ‘story’ came as a result of
An Incurable Deformity … ?
Those were the ACTUAL WORDS used by a so-called ‘professional’ to his patient (without the question mark!). Given I knew both the lovely owner of these feet, and the fact he’d been happily wearing Vibram Fivefingers for a while now, I was wondering what kind of ‘incurable deformity’ he’d been secretly hiding. Curled toes. Enough to have started bothering the
Helen’s Insights: Live to Live
A crematorium bursting at the seams, to celebrate a life that some would say was cut short, and others would say continues in peace. As Shelley said: “Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep – He hath awakened from the dream of life.” Beyond tired, still emotional, the train is gently rocking me back home. When Death