This blog was born in a dark place, when, as I rather dramatically put it in my introductory post, “in my struggles with adversity a draw has come to be quite a good result“. We had recently been through Demi’s second miscarriage, the first of which we think happened the night before the 2015 Manchester Marathon – although we didn’t realise at the time. The next day I spent 20′ waiting for the sweeper van to collect me from the side of the road, before I decided it would be faster to hobble to the end.

Perhaps I saw running as a distraction, or perhaps as a superstitious way of stealing that all-important draw (“I stick to my side of the bargain, you stick to yours” kind of thing). Or perhaps I held an irrational belief that if I could run as strongly as I did in 2012 / 13, I would return to some halcyon age, one that I know never really existed. But then again, neither did such problems.

As it turns out, I did get that draw I was after: fast forward to Manchester 2016 – I got a PB and we soon after found out that Demi was pregnant with Philip!

It sounds stupid associating these two subjects, but in my memory they are: Which is why I took so much pride training for and running London in 2017 in my new capacity of Philip’s dad!

And now? Now I am in a state where I am really enjoying my running. The fundraising and training challenges of London were met, I wasn’t shit on the day, and I can feel all the learning I have been through and the hard work I have put in bearing fruit; I feel myself getting faster again, and I love it! And who knows, but that halcyon age may yet be ahead of us…

In the mean time the blog goes strong: Apart from charting my own running ups and downs, I try to add things that will be useful to other runners, such as reviews of gear, races and training methodologies, my own experiences about what works in training and racing and what doesn’t; and the odd pretty picture!

Stick around, you may find something you like!