London Marathon: Top Tips for an Enjoyable Race London Marathon has long been a special race for me; from watching it on TV as a kid, cheering it for several years and running six marathons before earning a Good For Age spot at London. I've run London twice now, and will be back there next [...]
The message we get in the media is that teenagers aren't doing enough exercise and spending too much time on their phones. That certainly sounds like me as a teenager (minus the phone but - we didn't have mobiles then). But not all teenagers are inactive. In this podcast I speak to Ellen, a 16-year-old [...]
Last week I celebrated my Runniversary - nine years since I went for my first run. Over the weekend I've been thinking about what has changed in the past nine years and how running is a lot different now. Here's what changes I've seen... More runners! There really has been a big growth in the [...]
Today is my Runniversary. It's nine years to the day since I first stepped into a gym and onto a treadmill in a pair of trainers a size too small and a cotton tshirt with "Fight for your right to party" on the front. I was 26 and unfit, and and these clothing errors were [...]
It's marathon season. The longest run is either fast approaching or in the bank and all that's left to do now is panic and obsessively check the long-range weather forecast, right? No, don't do that. In a weird kind of any I'm jealous of all the runners with their tired legs and maranoia. It's the [...]
Last week my beginners' running groups started up again. I have two groups both with 20 beginner runners who I'm sure turned up last week feeling a combination of keen and nervous. I haven't led beginners since last Autumn, and although January saw a lot of emails about when I'd start the 0-5k groups again, [...]
Now that I work for myself, I don't have a set lunch hour. So although my working days can start as early as 6:30am and finish at 8pm, I generally have plenty of time in the middle of the day to head to the gym or for a run. Yesterday was my first day back [...]
It was a coincidence, but a fitting one, that the latest This Girl Can campaign launched the Friday before the National Cross Country Championships. As I took off my warm layers and headed with the rest of my team through the club tents towards the start, a sea of men in coats parted as we [...]
How far is it round the Emirates? And why does it matter? For more than a year now, I've been coaching some of my run group sessions round the outside of the Emirates Stadium. It's a good place to run: well lit, no traffic and a wide, flat loop. Early mornings and late evenings year-round [...]
I'm not great at drawing. I like the idea of being good at it, of drawing portraits that look like the people they're supposed to be, or of setting up an easel in the countryside and painting a landscape that I could then proudly hang on my wall and tell people who came round "Oh [...]
