Over The Contours

Chester is a special place and I have many fond memories of my 'home' city; countless visits with my mum and dad when I was a kid, trips with my mates as a teenager, driving there when I'd first passed my driving test and visits with my wife, Abigail. So, it was quite apt that on Sunday 7th October 2018 I was able to make another happy memory in the city. As the town crier sounded the race start klaxon, a few thousand runners made their way off the Roodee Racecourse. I was one of them. I'd managed to get fairly close to the front pen, just behind the 3 hour pacers. As we left the racecourse and headed onto the city's streets, I broke into a comfortable stride and pace. I started to move a little quicker than the 3 hour pacers; I wasn't too concerned about this as I'd probably slow down at some point and end up behind them. We passed under the Eastgate Clock; I smiled as I reminded myself how much training I'd put in for this. I was hoping to finish...

I suppose I am now a fully-fledged parkrun tourist as this morning I completed my first parkrun outside of the UK and somehow managed to finish first! We're staying at my sister's house in northern France and the nearest parkrun is Parkrun de Rouen. Rouen is a lovely city on the River Seine and the parkrun takes place on the southern stretch of the river. A 70-mile drive meant an early start through the beautiful rolling French countryside. It was only when I entered Rouen itself that I realised it's a far bigger city than I realised; the city centre rises up the hillsides away from the river with multiple bridges criss-crossing over the Seine. I was aiming for Quai (dock) 106; a former dockyard area that's been gentrified and is now a very smart and welcoming area. The start of the parkrun is relatively easy to find, even with the roadworks currently in place. There's a large free carpark right next to the start. So, on a warm June morning, around thirty pe...

I've been very lucky in the last couple of weeks; a short break to stay at my sister's house in northern France, followed by a conference in Edinburgh. Of course, whenever I go somewhere new I see it as an excellent opportunity to squeeze in as many runs as I can. I generally subscribe to the view that a change is as good as a rest and so France and Edinburgh in the space of two weeks seemed ideal. This was my first visit to my sister's place in Frohen-sur-Authie; a small village in the Somme region. I'd eagerly plotted a couple of runs, including an 18-miler, only to be told by my brother-in-law (who is a keen cyclist) that the routes I had plotted were either very hilly or on busy roads. With Steve's input, I went back to the drawing board and re-plotted a decent long route which included a long stint on the disused La Gare railway route from Bernatre to Auxi-le-Chateau; this would be my 'long Tuesday' run. You are now entering... On arrival in Fr...

Sunday 8th April 2018… my second crack at the Greater Manchester Marathon. Abigail and I had spent the week in the Lake District, so my preparation and discipline went well out of the window in the week before the event. However, I’d trained harder than I’d ever done before and covered far more miles than I had done with the London and Bournemouth Marathons, and indeed last year’s Greater Manchester Marathon. A nice easy drive into Trafford from Northwich set the day up nicely. Me being me, I’d arrived stupidly early, so once I’d located the car parks at Old Trafford, I had about 90 minutes to wait for the athlete’s village to open. By the time I reached the athlete’s village it was already very busy and I was shivering (more with nerves than actual cold). A crowded bag-drop didn’t help, but I was soon out on Bridgewater Way and picking my way over to Start Point B. There was an acceptance this time around; I’d put in the hard miles and knew that I was capable of 24 miles, on a...