Petite Feet Runaway

It's been a few years since I wrote any race reports so I thought I would combine them as one in advance of my Arctic Circle Trail report. Summer 2023 Trying to get more comfortable running marathon distance but struggling with old lady / postpartum mum injuries - hip bursitis and a strained hamstring. September 2023 - Pilgrim's Ultra 50-something km Holy Island to Craster. Beautiful, flat route. Hot day so we dropped like flies. I ended up getting lost on some sand dunes and then vomiting on a fancy golf course. Probably not what they usually pay their fees to clean up. My first ultra since having the children April 2024 - Two Bridges Ultra 40-something miles Longest run since having the children. About ten days previously I had felt an awful pain in my calf as I walked down the stairs in my house. My foot and leg ballooned but I was not sure what was wrong. So I started off the ultra in last place and took it slowly. I needed to stop frequently to loosen my shoe as I kept los...

 Low key. Local. Not too much time away from the kids. Can enter last minute. I'm in.  I wanted a distance that I knew I'd be able to complete without the pressure of having to train. I have enough time away from the kids with work and I really enjoy whatever miles I can do at the moment, I don't need something else on my plate. BUT, I also wanted my legs to hurt afterwards because that's a glorious feeling. It didn't occur to me until I was running on the day that I hadn't actually run more than 15km in two years. See my last post on the Three Landers Marathon.... that was my last run over 15km! Six months after having my son I'd run two marathons. Six months after having my daughter, I've done considerably less. Anyway. The event was in two waves because some guy ate a bat in China back in 2019 and people couldn't handle eating the horrible British Christmas dinner without being surrounded by all their family back in 2020. Why eat overcooked brusse...

      We were a last minute support crew. A ‘caught-up-in-emotion’ during Rock DJ at a Robbie William’s concert kind of support crew. Some people get emotional over Angels but I’m a different type of person. The type of person you would like to run with over the Devil’s Staircase as the sun is going down. And that was Alan Crawford’s thought too. So Scott and I hired a car and with two weeks to go, we didn’t bother with any other preparations. The main success of the weekend was that I drove part of the way from Edinburgh to Tyndrum. I did not drive us into a loch or up the rear of a tour bus. My first attempt at UK driving may have got off to a jerky start but it was successful in the end. Much like Alan’s West Highland Way race this year to be honest.     Alan and Terry were running together and had the combined force of their Susans and the Gang of Giggling Ladies looking after them. When we joined the c...

Abel Tasman Coastal Track New Zealand Great Walk 60km Sunday 22 January 2016 Weather Bomb The plan was to run the 60km Abel Tasman Coastal Track, one of New Zealand's Great Walks. Easy track, doable in a day, and the parents had offered to drop me at one end and then pick me up at the other end. Logistics dreams are made of. On Saturday my father asked me if I had looked at the weather for the next day. I hadn't. He had. He thought the run possibly wasn't a good idea. As I am now Scottish; a bit of rain was not going to put me off. Wind? Well, I don't understand the speeds when they are in wind form. What does gale force even mean? Who's this Gale and how strong is she really? And when describing wind to others why do I always lean to the left? So many questions; none of which will be answered on a solo 60km run.  We drove from Nelson, dodging fallen trees, and arrived in Marahau for a 7am start. A falle...