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Poet on the Run

Finding sense and making art – one run at a time

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Monarch. Heart. Shakespeare. Today's (longer than originally intended) adventure with this one took in a triangle formed of three major footpaths. Even only sticking to the more established routes, we realised pretty quickly that there's a whole lot more to explore along the Avon Valley. #daterun #churchofthesundaylongrun

Me: "Dirty weekend?" Him: "Boots, mudclaws, or both?" 😂 . Over the years we have tramped up mountains, interrailed round Germany, hiked across Scotland, waded through armpit-deep mud, biked round the New Forest, run 24 and 12 hour relays, run and camped up the Cornish coast, and road tripped our way to and from the northernmost tip of Skye (listening to the Hobbit audio book). Those adventures aren't always pretty at the time. Together we've put up with torrential rain, horizontal hail, burning sun, snow, navigation errors, lack of coffee, lack of sleep, and the inevitable trailside bickering that only seems to happen deep into an epic when you're both tired, and sore, and lost, and have definitely had enough of this shit. I've been there at triathlons and sportives that he's finished feeling ruined. He took a week off to come and crew for me on the coast path when I was basically a shambling zombie who had to be told to eat, sleep and shower. Luckily, he's a dab hand with on-the-fly route changes. I'm good at making quick decisions when plans turn to custard. And even when it's truly, epically shit, we can both still laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. (And I've yet to see a crappy day that a beer and a square meal won't solve.) Because at the heart of it all, you know what? We make one hell of a team. #partnersincrime #teamwork #mush

*Finally* got round to meeting up with trail jedi @banjosaurus for a run, and was treated to a truly lovely day out in chalk cliff country. There were some fab views, we got mud, grass, and some proper slidy pebble beach too, before eventually finishing up at the pub in Deal for proper mac n cheese. Today was a good day. 🌊 🏄‍♀️ 🏄‍♀️ 🍃

Tomorrow. Surf's up! 🏄‍♀️🍃 . First lines from 'Sunday'. #poemsfromthetrail

Well, today was literally the first time I have ever, even in retrospect, genuinely wished I had DNF'd and packed it in after the half marathon. The first half of today, on the 13.1 route, was blooming glorious. The second half was a fucking ice rink. Thick sheet ice over rocky technical trail, going steeply up and worse, going down. Descents which normally would be my idea of a great day out (steep, rocky, narrow and demanding) were covered edge to edge in several inches of sheet ice. It snowed on us between the icy bits, and we got treated to a couple of magic moments in the snow, but overall, it wasn't worth the rest of the suffer fest. By mile 20 the snow had turned to rain, so the remainder of the course was a treacherous game of puddle, slush, or sheet ice... Or all of the above?! I've never felt so genuinely scared out running before. The saving grace for me was the group of three gents from Warrington who adopted me for the day and without whom I honestly would not have made it through that second loop ❤️ #crewlove #grizedalemarathon

Sunset was something else 😍

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Tales from the Trail – Homecoming

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Monarch. Heart. Shakespeare. Today's (longer than originally intended) adventure with this one took in a triangle formed of three major footpaths. Even only sticking to the more established routes, we realised pretty quickly that there's a whole lot more to explore along the Avon Valley. #daterun #churchofthesundaylongrun

Tag: Crew love

Tales from the Trail – Homecoming

Adventures, Hiking, Running, SWCP, Trail Running

Tales from the Trail – Homecoming

And on the fifth day, I was in Devon. My running buddy John had decided to come down and run … Continue reading Tales from the Trail – Homecoming

Adventures, Running, SWCP, Trail Running

Saddle Up

It’s go time. Eighteen months of preparation, of training, worrying, pushing myself to the limits of what I could handle, … Continue reading Saddle Up

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