I was in Berlin anyway for New ears Eve with some friends and they had found this race and so wanted to do it in fancy dress. This gave me ideas about running it instead of my tempo run and also join in the fun by seeing what costume I could wear and still be able to run reasonably properly. The onl .. Read More

My coach Nick is keen for me to persist with this ridiculous XC malarkey and so I guested in the Met league this week. The Met league is pretty high quality and I'd had an easy week leading into this, but also had the distractions of turning 30 (!) and a work Christmas party. Celebrations were not o .. Read More

I decided to do this race a few weeks ago when I was running a lot better than I expected to be and so Nick thoguht I could have a chance of troubling the selectors for the Euro Champs. I know cross-country is not my strength and wasn't as confident as Nick but was willing to test myself against the .. Read More

These relays aree 4 x 5km around a wooded park in Mansfield. I've run them a few times in the past and when the conditions are good, have managed about 15.05. As I realised after my 6 stage run, I was fitter than I expected to be and after my best ever river-run session down at Kent A.C this week I .. Read More

This was a great day for AFD, taking both the mens and womens titles. The women always win so that wasn't such big news but it's amazing that Aldershot hadn't won the mens title since 1981. I remember being on last leg in 2009 and having to chase Neil Speaight down to win but wasn't able to and so h .. Read More

This was a 5 mile race down in Brighton, along a road through the middle of Stanmer Park. For those who know Stanmer PArk, it is bloody hilly, but the raod isn't too bad. We did 3.5 'laps' and there's certainly a gradient along it, and it becomes much more noticeable each successive time you run up .. Read More

I've done some good sessions recently and so felt like I was running well, but still I'd not actually laid down a great time in any race since London marathon last year! Granted this was due to marathons in tough conditions and not having the opportunity to do a quality 10k or half-marathon in the b .. Read More

This race is like the Cup Winners Cup of Cross-country running and as AFD won the Nationals last year and then beat the representatives from the rest of the UK at Liverpool, then we were the UK's team. Looking at past winners, it's gone to Spain and Portugal nearly every year and I think the club sy .. Read More

Well I'll keep this race report brief - it was intended as a run to sharpen me up for the European Club Champs next week and it's always easier to run hard in a proper racing environment than a training environment. In my last outing here just before the Commonwealths I ran 15.07, and I hoped to run .. Read More

Today was the day of the Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Match: a race that seems like the most important thing in the world when you're at uni but once you're from the outside looking back in, it seems so inconsequential! I do love the tradition of the event, and that's what gives it its magic. Watchin .. Read More

  This race capped off a great 2010 for me - I would scarcely have believed I would be competing at my 2nd major championship of the year if you'd told me in January! My build-up had been good, although was more of a fitness top-up as I had to balance recovering from the Europeans in Aug .. Read More

This race was to be my last hard effort before the Commonwealths and after my solid run at the 6 stage last week and a strong session on Wednesday I felt I could have a really good run here. Strangely it also attracted a pretty decent field. The lure of £100 cash may have had something to do .. Read More

The keen-eyed amongst you will have noted that I was supposed to be racing the Windsor Half today. Contrary to rumour I did not bail because of Martin McWilliams' presence in the field, and was not scared that the peglegged 'Scot' was going to kick my arse. I simply got stuck in traffic and so misse .. Read More

This race was meant to be a hard blowout. I knew the competition would be minimal, but I've been in marathon mode ALL year and wanted a few short, sharp races to sharpen up before the Commonwealths. I was pretty happy when I discovered that they had started to do some Parkrun races at Finsbury Park .. Read More

There are so many ways I could write about this race: running a marathon at 30 degrees; coping with a frustrating build-up desperate to produce a run worthy of a Great Britain a vest; running a marathon where it's a race and not a big city procession. In so many ways this race was an entirely new ch .. Read More

I used this race as part of a training session as it at least gets Mikey B off my back for not helping the club out and pushes me to do a hardish 5k which should bring me on a bit. To be honest, I'd had a crap week and been feeling knackered so wasn't expecting a lot from this. I ran the entire thin .. Read More

Lee Merrien invited me to do this race and I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a half marathon at marathon pace. I chose not to do it flat out as I wanted a good week of training after it before I went to Font Romeu. I must admit, after all Lee's trash talk in the Guernsey Press: "If I ru .. Read More

Well I came into this race not feeling 100%. I've felt tired in training and had set myself up for a pretty horrific day at the office. In reality, it was 'ok'. Not awful but certainly not what I would hope for if I was firing on all cylinders. I set off and tucked in behind Toby Lambert who wa .. Read More

Well, what can I say? Where do I start? I'm entirely overwhelmed right now. I've been close to tears a few times since 12.01 yesterday and the support I've had since the race ended has been amazing. I'll give a race report now and try and summarise how it all went. You may have noticed I didn't do a .. Read More

I elected to run a short leg here as a sharpener for London Marathon next week. I was pretty confident of running a good leg, even over the short 3 mile distance. I should be fresh by now and had plenty of really solid training behind me. I just wanted to get out there and run! I had been put on 12t .. Read More

Tom Payn and I travelled out to do this race and it was originally my idea as I just want to do a proper 'fast' half marathon. Reading has hills in as does Bristol, and although Wokingham is actually pretty quick, it's often not that well attended. Pete Riley originally recommended this race to me a .. Read More

This race was always intended to be run at marathon 'effort' and I planned to do it off the back of a normal training week, and Nick gave me a big Kenyan hill session yesterday just to ensure I was numbed a bit! The conditions were yet again awful: wet, cold and driving winds. Tunbridge Wells is qui .. Read More

I'd eased down a touch for the this race and was intending to run it hard, but with no target time in mind. It was cold, and raining a bit but not a great deal of wind and when Kev Skinner, Jean Ndayisenga and Paul Marteletti joined me on the start line I knew that there would be some pretty good co .. Read More

Well this was my first race for nearly 3 months and so was just a touch nervous as although I have been feeling fit again, until you get in a race you never really know how well you're going. The course was pretty dry and I could probably have got away with flats again. It had some long inclines, bu .. Read More

2.21.14 and 11th place. A PB so I can't grumble too much I suppose but it's no secret I was hoping for something a lot nearer 2.18. It's been 10 days now and I'm still not sure what to make of this race. I think I just dind't feel that good on the day. My aim was 5.18 miles and 16.24 5ks. A first mi .. Read More

Well, this was a bit of a disaster! Not, injury wise, although I was quite sore the next day, but organisationally wise. My plan was to run this at marathon pace, to try and make up for the marathon paced sessions I'd missed out on during my injury. I knew I was also running on tired legs and so ha .. Read More

I'd eased down coming into this race and was hoping for a top 10 Brit finish, seeing a very strong startlist. Not everyone turned up, but there was still a very strong field and really I wanted a good time out of it also so was grateful for the company. I knew the wind would be strong on my hometown .. Read More

We were confident coming into this that we could pick up a medal and until Andy Vernon pulled out the day before, we thought we could win it, although I thought that with both Mo and Moumin running, that NEB would prove too strong in the end. Losing Andy was a blow, but we have strnegth in depth and .. Read More

This was the opening fixture for the Hampshire league and it's always the strongest and probably the one I've done most times. My coach had penned it in as a hilly tempo for me, Tom Payn and Toby Lambert. Of course, when you put three guys like that in for a hilly tempo, it's going to be a bit more .. Read More

This race was a bit of a last minute decision, but I heard it was happening and I quite like doing a race to break up the Sunday run. Also, the carrot of £200 cash for the winner made it a worthwhile morning, if I could win it. The race started on the track and there was a £20 prize for .. Read More

AFD were pretty confident coming into this race. We had a strong team out, and personally, I thoguht I could edge under 18mins if all went well. Jonny Hay had a good run on leg 1 and we were in touch with the leaders, which was all we needed to be at this stage. After the 2nd leg Ben Lindsay had ea .. Read More

I knew that there were a few Brits with a good chance of getting a GB vest out of this race. There wasn't really anyone that was untouchable as far as I was concerned and I may not have been one of the favourites for the top 2 or 3 but I believed that if I had an excellent run and some things went m .. Read More

I had some choices of races to do this weekend, my coach had informed of the 10,000m that was happening at Birmingham, and Basingstoke were doing the British League at Derby. Both of these provided good sharpening opportunities with the Bristol Half-marathon just 2 weeks away. However, my coach seem .. Read More

I came into this race knowing that competition wouldn't necessarily be brilliant, but I was going to combine it with an easy week, and aim to be fresh and run hard. I ran pretty hard, but not that fast... I think the problem was in me trying to motivate myself to attack the race, with the knowledge .. Read More

I've put this in as it was technically a race, but I was doing it as a good 5k tempo after a pretty tough hills session. It was at Parliament Hill, which was perfect for the hills, and I helped my club out for the first time this year, as I've been running for Basingstoke higher claim for most of th .. Read More