A New Home!

Welcome to the Unintentional Ultra Runner’s new home. I have decided that the time has come to start a proper blog.  I am still going to keep posting to my Facebook page but have decided that I need more flexibility to share my thoughts and experiences. Over the coming months my plan is to create some pages on specific themes such as the kit I use for events, details of classic trail runs and general trail tips that I have picked up. I also plan to revise and re-post some trail tales from my past adventures. The first of these will revisit the Spine Challenger. I will also be focusing on my preparation for my Dragon’s Back attempt in May 2019 – an event which is going to be beyond anything I have attempted so far.

For me, trail running and adventure racing has opened up a whole new world of enjoyment and challenge – a world in which I have met many new friends, explored new places and experienced new highs (and lows).  It is a pleasure and a privilege to be able to share these with you.

 

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Shorts (not the running kind)

When you run longer distances little things become BIG things very quickly. In ‘Shorts’ I plan to explore some of the little BIG things!

Rain Dance

The rain starts. I stop, reach in my bag and pull out my jacket.

Some people can put their jacket on when they run. I can’t. I don’t seem to be able to coordinate my limbs. When my arms stop focussing on helping propel me forward, my legs get confused, and it’s game over. If I try to keep going I usually end up on the floor. I’m sure I could learn how to do this, but then again, I’m not convinced the time saving would make all that much difference. I’ve seen others do it. It is beautiful to watch. I bet they can also play the drums. I can’t.

I run on. Five minutes later the rain stops. Do I stop and take off the jacket? Or should I keep going? It’s bound to rain again. It doesn’t. I start to overheat. I stop, take off my jacket, put it in my bag, and run on.

The rain starts…

One from the road

OK – I’ll admit this is a test to see if I can work out how to use this technology on the road. That said, I did want to share this picture from my trail run at the weekend. They do say a picture paints a thousand words, and occasionally as trail runners we get to see nature at its best. I’ll leave it up to the picture to tell the rest of this tale.