Petite Feet Runaway

About six weeks late with the race report...  My colleague Sarah has been thinking about doing her first race for a while. After she accidentally ran 10km one night last year we were on the lookout for a half marathon. Then winter hit, we stopped looking for race and Sarah stopped running. Six weeks prior to the race on a cake-fuelled Friday afternoon I came across the Great Scottish Run and decided we were entered it. By the close of play that day we had another colleague, Meghan, confirmed in her first 10km and were bombarding anyone who passed our desks with the entry forms. If a workplace entered a team of ten, then we would receive a plaque. Everyone loves a good plaque. Eventually we scrambled together a team. I suspect the the coordinators of the race hate me because we were a bit of a shambles. The folk I managed to threaten until they signed up were: 10km Garry Carr - The baby of the workplace and part-time One Direction member. Travelled through from Stirling o...

My dad had a heart attack in July and as a consequence has not done much running since. Although to be honest, he hadn't done much running in the six months prior to July anyway. Maybe it was because he felt ill with the symptoms of an impending heart attack. Maybe he hadn't been running because he was so busy worrying about crewing for his middle daughter at the World 24 Hour Championships. Or organising her wedding. Or organising the trip to Europe that would accompany the race crewing and wedding attendance. We don't have a clue what caused the heart attack...  Anyway, he's had some spare time on his hands and wrote a wee article for the Ultra Tales e-zine about how much rubbish we carry with us when we run. Scott whipped up a wee picture depicting my father running with some of his essentials but sadly Ultra Tales didn't add this into the article. They obviously don't know how famous Scott's work is up here in Scotland. So below is his artwork. Check o...

My new mother-in-law, Ann, is quite fascinated by my running adventures. Understandable really, I'm quite a fascinating creature. I thought that it would be a good idea to get her involved a bit more and so set out to find a race that was near the in-laws residence in Doncaster. Ideally, I also wanted a race at the end of September or start of October. Eventually I found the High Peak 40; a few weeks earlier than was perhaps comfortable after the Glenmore race and also about 20 miles too short for comfort too. But I was sold on the relaxed reputation it had and the chance to visit the Peak District for the first time. So I boldly entered, only to find out that Ann had a girls' day in Newcastle the same weekend. My new father-in-law, Tony, is more bewildered by my choice of sport. A day or two after the Tooting Bec 24-hour race last year, I arrived in Doncaster for a night of pampering. Unfortunately, I still wasn't looking too good 48 hours after the event and they got a ...

Glenmore throws a good party. Or at least Mike Adams and Bill Heirs throw a good party at the Hayfield in Glenmore. And I've had this bad boy of a party locked in for a while. I thought about packing party poppers, glittery hats and some dancing shoes. Instead a packed my wellies, some beer and every fleece I own. Everyone's party style is different and that's ok folks. People like to dress in lycra at running parties and I have an incredible amount of respect for people that wear lycra. Glenmore party racing is in it's third year now. Each year it gets a little bit bigger and there are a few more rules as the serious runners start taking part. I ran the 12-hour two years ago in it's first year and it was brilliant. My pals Nicole and Hilary came up to support, drink and get intimate with the Highland midgies while Scott learnt that camping wasn't a strong skill of mine. Last year I was meant to go back for the 24-hour. Unfortunately, I got a bit whingey ove...