Ultrarunner, Geomicrobiologist, Writer
NB: It feels important to preface this race report with a note that says I'm not usually this competitive - I used to be, but not any more. Signing up to this race wasn't my idea - credit goes to Ellie for that - but the concept sounded different to anything I'd tried before and… Continue reading Eastnor Castle 12-hr Relay
Not for the faint-hearted, this race was possibly one of my favourites, which makes me think: if I could just work on my fear of exposed ridges, sky-running could be an excellent new endeavour for me. Jokes aside, the race was well within my comfort zone of distance-to-edge-and-therefore-distance-to-large-cliff – I love mountains and coastlines but… Continue reading KVK Race Report
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. - Charles Dickens (Great Expectations) It's late March. Precisely one of those days described so perfectly by Dickens in Great Expectations. In the light, the sun… Continue reading An Unfurling of Spring
Saturday morning, after the initial excitement of waking up to a light dusting of snow, I sat in bed with fresh coffee and read New Statesman essays by Helen MacDonald (like this one). By 11am, the snow was all but gone and I needed to get outside. A quick search for train stations on google… Continue reading A Somewhat Spontaneous Saturday Adventure
Happy New Year! I can't really believe we're halfway through January already... To be honest, I found the first week or so of January an unnatural time to be making big plans, and no matter how hard I tried to think about setting goals for the year ahead, they came out soft and uninspiring. With… Continue reading New Years Thoughts & Plans
After what has felt like months of rain, with a brief cold spell at the end of November/beginning of December, it finally feels like the temperature might be dropping back down again, with potential for the beautiful frosts and snow typically associated with winter. Nonetheless, winter weather in the UK is frequently wet, and rain,… Continue reading What to Pack for Long Runs – Winter Edition
If you look at the data, 2023 was my biggest year of running yet - at almost 2500km (I'll make it before the end of Sunday), I'll have run over 350km further than I ever have before. Feeling particularly nerdy last weekend, I spent Saturday afternoon inputting all my runs for the year into a… Continue reading A Running Year in Review – 2023
After convincing myself for a few years that I was leaving the longer distance races for when I was older, I finally cracked in November 2022 and signed up for two at once - the Brecon to Cardiff 70k and the Lakes Traverse 100k - and so began my fixation with running a continuous 100km… Continue reading TEC Dartmoor Way 100k – Race Review
In 2023, I read more non-fiction than I ever have before, and almost a quarter of everything I read this year could be in some way categorised as nature writing - I guess it makes sense when you consider my life outside reading. I've found these books fascinating and wanted to write a summary of… Continue reading Nature Writing I Read in 2023 (& my 2024 TBR)
Running alone at night has long been a limiting factor in my ability to train over the winter - cue paranoid thoughts of being watched - as long nights close in and daylight hours seem to be swallowed whole while in the office. Weekend long runs become a religion, fitting in the miles for fitness… Continue reading Running in the Dark
Fen & Forest 