I’ve heard a lot about ‘flow’ – the state of running or riding where you are totally at one with your environment that you forget you exist. Up until this trip to the alps, I had never experienced ‘flow’.

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If you’ve been following my tweets recently you will know that I’ve lost my running mojo. After getting super enthusiastic about learning a new running style, I then went out and injured my hip and have been struggling with my running ever since. I let the injury heal and shortened my runs but my hip kept aching after a few minutes. I primarily run because I want to but this niggling ache stopped me from enjoying it and so I fell out of love with running.

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Last Sunday I got up at the early hour of 0700 – well it was early for me – and drove for 2 hours to meet a running coach.  I was a bit worried and sceptical that he’d be able to help me – what if I just couldn’t do what he wanted – after all running is natural and what if I couldn’t change.  When I arrived at his house I was a little scared that I’d been groomed on the internet – I ‘met’ him on twitter but I was met by his friendly wife and a couple of his running friends and soon relaxed.  While waiting to start I found out that they were all excellent runners – including the dog – this bode well! (more…)

As a birthday present I received a wedge load of running and fitness books that I’d asked for.  I’ve just finished one of them ‘Born to Run’ by Christopher McDougall and am re-reading it immediately!  I’m intrigued by the idea of barefoot running – won’t it hurt my knees and hips, won’t my feet get cold, what about stones? (more…)

Continuing my series on my favourite gear, I thought it time to introduce you to my all time top running shoe – the North Face Singletrack. (more…)

One of the main reasons for spending the season out here in Chamonix, France was to indulge my hobby of trail running. I’ve always preferred trail running to road running since starting out about 6 years ago. I guess it’s because I also love mountain biking. The fresh air, traffic free/people free trails, bird song and being in the weather invigorate me – just look at the view below from the top of one of my fave runs…

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After finding myself spending another summer in the Alps, I knew I just had to try the Swiss Alpine K21 race again. I ran it in 2008 with a heavy cold but loved it so much I knew I had to try again – hopefully without the cold!

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