Liverbird New Year's Eve Marathon, with GB Ultras, 31.12.2023

Last marathon for 2023! 

I've never run a marathon in Liverpool before, which being half-Scouse myself, needed correcting. Being home for Christmas meant it was quite a short drive to the start, at the Mersyside Police Social Club, on the River Mersey, just outside Liverpool.

Andrew and I woke up at 5.30am (which was a relief, as I was having a nightmare about chairing an online meeting, wearing just underwear, with all the Big Wigs at the Whittington, and the microphone on my computer wasn't working, so I switched to my i-pad, but in the process the i-pad slipped so that everyone could see I was just wearing underwear). 

It was a relief to wake up and run a marathon, to be honest.

The course was 4 laps, along the river and back. It was really nice, running along by the sparkling water, looking at all the new views and landmarks. The other runners and the the public were all so friendly, it was really good fun. 

It was very windy, making running in one direction very difficult, and the the other direction quite nice (like all runs of late). The rain mostly held off, which was a nice surprise, given the weather of late. 

I fell over once, on the second lap, and landed very gracefully (if I say so myself) by sort of sitting down (any excuse for a break), and on the third lap ran into a bollard at the exact same place. 

It was great to see lots of familiar faces up north!

It was nice to round off the year with a marathon. 2023 has been a great year of running adventures, I've just been looking at my spreadsheet and thinking back over them all...many with Sarah, and lots with Andrew. And been lucky to spend time with many friends along the way. I ran 54 official events this year, of which 27 were marathons (3 in Spain), and 27 were ultra marathons (including 2 x 100 miles, 1 x 112.3 miles in 24 hours, and 1 x 200km). Plus plenty of "non-offical" running adventures too (am up to almost 80 non-official marathons/ultras now) with Alan and Tara!

Happy New Year to all, and may 2024 be filled with the happiest of times and all good things! 🧡🩷💛💚💜💙🩵❤️

Christmas Jubilee River Run, marathon with Running Miles/Phoenix, 21.12.2023

Just time to squeeze in a last chat-athon with Sarah before Christmas, at the Christmas Jubilee River Run with Running Miles powered by Phoenix. 

It was a new route for me, along the Jubilee River near Slough. 5 laps made a marathon, and I found it a very nice place to run. 

Met Sarah in the front carriage of the Elizabeth Line very very early (thank you Sarah for getting up at a completely unreasonable time of day, so we could be finished by lunch time so I could go to work in the afternoon!). We got off at Slough a bit after 7am, and realised that it was still dark, and we didn't have headtorches. Oh.

Happily, it soon got light. I say light, I mean relative to being in total darkness. The morning was drizzly and murky, and overwhelmingly grey. Storm Pia also seemed to have sent it's winds down south, making running one half of each lap very difficult, and the other half quite nice! Plus screaming into the wind is exceptionally good therapy, and irons out all wrinkles. 

Many animals to spot along the way; cows (moove over), Christmas and non-Christmas horses, a giant flock of parakeets waking up for the day, tiny dog, three legged fluffy dog drinking a puddle, geese, and seagulls. And by the last couple of laps the sun came out, and we could see Windsor Castle!

We had a lap and a bit of tough northern love with James (everyone's either first or second favourite northerner, subject to ongoing debate), which if I was of a more sensitive nature, would have given me a complex about being old, being too bendy, and serious cause for worry about my hair falling out. Fortunately, I am EQUALLY Northern (as proved by the figure below), and thus relatively unaffected by tough love such as this. Much northern love to you James, and thank you for some really fun miles! 

Congratulations to Louise who ran her 100th marathon today, with guide runner Jon. Absolutely amazing!

Thanks Rik and Team Phoenix/Running Miles for an excellent morning. Merry Christmas one and all! ❤️💚❤️💚

Phoenix Running - Christmas Jumper Friday Run, marathon, 08.12.2023

All train journeys are now marathons in themselves. 

I got up at 04.50 so as to be able to catch the 06.50 train, to discover on the way to the station that the 06.50 train was cancelled, due to lack of staff. I assume that was due to the strikes going on for however long they are going on for at the moment. Is a strike that lasts this long actually still a strike, or is it now normal?? Could I drive a train? I can drive a car, can it be that much harder? Could they privatise individual trains? So a group of you could buy a train together, and run your own service for yourselves, then if it was late or cancelled, you would only have youselves to blame? In fairness, I would strike every Monday, given the opportunity. These were my thoughts in all of the copius time I had, waiting for a train that was actually running, whilst wandering around London in the early morning darkness. Saw the Christmas lights. Did some online shopping. Had a coffee. Finally (and feeling quite acomplished with all the tasks I had completed), a train left, and off we went!

A Christmas-y day by the river, to celebrate Sarah's 350th marathon - WOW! The theme was Christmas jumpers, and there were some excellent choices on display. Bizarrely, given it is December, it was far too hot for Christmas jumpers, a balmy 11oC and sunshine. This was all thanks to me, as I had forgotten to bring my sunglasses. 

Many, many dogs out (some love Christmas outfits, some really don't), and all of the swans, but no Dimitri. I expect he is wintering in Spain, and who could blame him.

A chat-athon was completed.

Congratulations Sarah! 

A mint Chocolate Orange for finsihing! Or, is it a Chocolate Mint? Anyway - YUM! 

Thank you Gavin for my amazing surprise gift! 

Thanks Rik and Team Phoenix for an excellent day of festive fun.

The Lanzarote Marathon, 02.12.2023

A Spanish adventure with Andrew, Sarah, and Jon (and Soup and Audrey, Andrew's new sliders).

It was my second time to do the Lanzarote Marathon (first time last year), and again it was great fun! 

Flew out early on Friday, and 4 hours after leaving chilly London, we got off the plane into the warm. Admittedly, it was like a monsoon, but at least the rain was nice and hot (and not unlike a power shower).

Headed off to pick up our numbers for the marathon, and signed up to the Santa 5km, too. Happily, the rain stopped in time for the start of the Santa 5km, and it was the best fun running around Costa Teguise dressed as Santas, and the whole town seemed to be smiling! Ho ho ho!

The marathon the next day was also excellent and good fun. Sarah and I were told more than once by supporters to stop talking (even when we weren't at one point, which seemed a bit harsh). Even after all these years of talking our way around runs, we still learnt new things about each other!

It was hot and windy (especially on the way back). I like the route, it's a bit undulating in parts, which mixes things up, and I love running by the sea, past the palm trees and cacti. The atmosphere was great fun, and the aid stations were very good. Each had little 330ml bottles of water, which are my favourite size to carry along. Plus coke, fruit, and electrolyte drinks were available too. We had brought shrimps and Kendal mint cake, to feel at home!

There were so many people there from back home, it was great fun bumping into everyone during the runs, and during the whole weekend.

After the run finished on Saturday, we had a couple of days to relax, which we mostly spent swimming in the sea, climbing volcanos, drinking sangria, visiting the market in Teguise old town, and magnet shopping (which took longer than usual). 

A fabulous adventure altogether!