Why would someone get up earlier on a day off than they would for work? To indulge in a spot of parkrun tourism of course! Arthur Grant from Arbroath Footers has kindly organised a program of 12 tourist parkruns – one per month for a year – and the first one was Lochore Meadows, The …
On the benefits of a sabbatical Back in December I published my Depth Year 2019 post, which set out my goals and hopes for the year. As a reminder, here are the goals: Limit my social media time to 20 minutes per day, except if I’m involved in an important group chat about something: no mindless scrolling. …
Although the first few races I did all the way back in the mid 2000s as a casual runner were 10ks, this is not my favourite distance. It usually takes me a few kilometres to get properly warmed up, and I’m more confident in my stamina than in my ability to run fast for a …
I did my 50th parkrun on Saturday 20th July 2019, and I wanted to reflect on the impact parkrun has had on my life. This isn’t a run report. Or even all that much about running. It’s a bit of an incoherent ramble about my transition from a reluctant runner and exercise class aficionado to …
The Dundee Half DRAM 2018 was the first half marathon distance race I had done since 2005, and I ran it over 28 minutes faster than my previous one and only half marathon. However, I had been tantalisingly close to, but on the wrong side of, 1 hour 40 minutes so I had unfinished business …
On Revisiting Objectives (Again) and Self-Care Back in December I published my Depth Year 2019 post, which set out my goals and hopes for the year. As a reminder, here are the goals: Limit my social media time to 20 minutes per day, except if I’m involved in an important group chat about something: no mindless scrolling. …
Devil’s staircase, Sunday 23nd June, 00:15 A man drops to his hands and knees on the narrow, winding, rocky path. “Just give me a minute. I’ve got nothing left.” A woman stands over him. She is looking at a stopwatch. “You’ve got a minute, but then we need to get going. We have to get …
Skatås parkrun was a lovely introduction to parkruns outside of the UK. I’ve done a bit of parkrun tourism around Scotland – most recently at Hay Lodge – and one in England at Brueton, but never further afield. So when my other half said he needed to go to Gothenburg for a work-related trip, I …
Hay Lodge parkrun started up around 8 months ago, and is the first one in the Borders region. I’d been hoping to visit the 9th event, between Christmas and New Year, but arrived to discover it had been cancelled due to high winds. This time, thankfully, the wind was almost non-existent, and the event went …
This race had gone unexpectedly well for me in 2018. I knew this year wasn’t going to be a repeat of that, as my Footers clubmate Tracy Paterson was signed up, as was Dundee Road Runner Gillian Sangster. I’m well-matched with both of them pace-wise for 10 milers, but both of them are much faster …