Nick is Beacon’s marathon man
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Nick is Beacon’s marathon man
Seventeen-times marathon runner, including London in 2015 and two memorable visits to Snowdonia. Sub-4 is mine at last!
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After having pretty much decided to wrap up this blog at the end of 2020, I feel the need to add an extra chapter or two.
In a strange twist of fate things seem to have come almost full circle in terms of my running.
The blog was started to document a...
This time 12 months ago all my thoughts were about running further in 2020 and I’d booked my place on the start line for a 50k ultra.
Priorities were to get comfortable running on trails, get better at fuelling and build up my core strength in the hope...
While everyone who towed the start line of the 2020 Beachy Head Marathon had to work incredibly hard to reach the finish, I think most would concede that the biggest achievers of the day were the organisers and volunteers.
With so many events postponed...
Ever since my trip to Alpha Sports over the summer to get gait analysis done for the first time in years, I’ve been like a hungry child loitering around a sweet shop.
They confirmed I was no longer over-pronating to any meaningful degree. In fact, on ...
Do something for charity, they said. Do it by yourself or with your family. And do it on the weekend of the cancelled London Marathon.
Just incorporate a two and a six and away you go!
So that’s what we did, Izzy and me. We devised a whole load of...
The use of the word ‘unprecedented’ in describing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has in itself been nothing short of, well, unprecedented.
Similarly words such as furlough, PPE, lockdown, shielding, peak and curve have embedded themselves into our ve...
I haven't updated the blog for a while because I knew my next post would be my 100th. I wanted to make sure I had something memorable to write about. Yeah, great one Nick. Be careful what you wish for...
At first it was going to be a race report on the...
That's the mantra for 2020 as I shift my focus away from time chasing and take on my first ultra.
Yes, the unticked box from last year will get addressed, although I'll have to wait until July and the start of the Serpent Trail Race before I can grab m...
I was starting to wonder if I'd perhaps left my laptop somewhere up mount Snowdon seeing as that weekend was the last time I managed to get the blog updated. But no, instead it's been gathering dust in the cupboard, save for a few boot-ups to get some o...
My first visit to the marathon in the mountains was most definitely my running highlight of 2018.
A course I wasn't sure I was strong enough to conquer was duly completed and in a time I'm still very proud of today, comfortably beating the initial targ...
This year’s Chester Marathon didn’t go according to plan. Not for the first time, the course bit me. Not for the first time, it left me floored (literally) at the finish line. Not for the first time, it forced me to seek help from another runner and, in...
Two days, two 5k runs, two very different agendas, two great outcomes.
The first of these runs wasn’t planned. I enjoyed a rare night out on Friday, although with the Chester Marathon being only a week away I made the sensible decision to drive and st...
Our regular Sunday morning trips to junior parkrun have been continuing throughout the summer and it was shortly before the start of the school holidays that Izzy was awarded her half marathon wristband.
These are issued as an incentive to the junior r...
'It’s a tough one!'. That was the tweet that greeted me as I checked my phone for the final time before heading to the start line of the Leek Half Marathon.
The fact that those words came from a seasoned marathon runner who I have huge respect and admi...
It's been months since my last post, but I'm pretty sure those four words capture the main developments since May and indeed the rough order in which they happened.
I'll be honest, keeping the blog up to date was becoming an effort. My running, althoug...
If you're a distance runner, particularly one like me who is prone to crashing in the latter stages of a marathon, then the Race Angel concept is (with apologies for the pun) something of a godsend.
It epitomises everything that is great about the runn...
It’s funny the things that go through your mind when you’re running, especially long distance. Four and a bit miles into the 26.2 that made up the Brighton Marathon and I’m having a debate with myself.
Is it good luck or bad luck when a bird poos on ...
This week I’ll be packing my bag and heading to the coast to take on my next marathon at Brighton.
The journey down south definitely feels like the easy part compared with the rollercoaster ride of winter training. I’ve had it all – bad weather, myst...
I accept that my credentials as a ‘kid’ are somewhat flimsy, however there’s no denying the change in my performance – and mindset – from one week to the next does constitute a very satisfying return to form.
Before we get into the detail, firstly I wa...
When you cross the finishing line of a half marathon feeling pretty much as battered as the last time you completed a full, then it’s a good indication that something is amiss.
And while I still can’t quite fathom exactly what’s put a sizeable dent in ...
Something isn’t right with my marathon training at the moment. To slightly misquote the late, great Eric Morecambe (and with a nod to the recently departed André Previn): I’m doing all the right runs, but not necessarily in the right order.
Things cam...
It may only have been a couple of kilometres long and twice as slow as my usual pace, but I had one of my most satisfying runs in months on Sunday.
This was my first outing with Izzy to junior parkrun, a version of the weekly event we all know and love...
Just over a week ago, the last thing on my mind was having a crack at my half marathon PB. Winter training had been going OK, but a little sluggish, and I was still nursing a sore hamstring.
I did take a few rest days to try and heal and then resumed m...
And it had been going so well… But after Saturday’s outing to cold and frosty parkun at Walsall Arboretum, I’ve been left nursing a sore hamstring.
Nothing happened during the run itself. In fact at just over 21 minutes it was a pretty solid performa...
