Well, this blog post is going to be like tap dancing across a minefield! I’m going to be honest here: in an extremely tense and divisive world, I didn’t have nude images of Sydney Sweeney on the bingo card as fuel for the fire (or someone shitting themselves at Hyrox... but there you go!). Everyone seems to have an opinion on this, and despite the clear irony in what I’m about to write and the message behind it, I do think there is one very concerning sub-narrative to this wh

There’s a moment in every ultra where the world shrinks down to the few feet of trail in front of you. No noise, no drama, no fanfare… just you, your breathing, often a shit tonne of pain, and the stubborn decision to keep moving forward. The Highland Fling gave me plenty of those moments. It’s easy to talk about races in terms of splits, checkpoints, and finish times. It’s harder to talk about what they mean. And completing the Highland Fling — and with it, the full West Hig

They say “it takes a village to raise a child”. If that is true then the ultra running equivalent would be “it takes a village of enabling angels, all with a heart of gold to let a borderline sadist do crazy shit”. In 2026, I am attempting to complete the Triple Crown. An unofficial legendary challenge which means completing three West Highland Way based races in a calendar year. They are The Devil o’ the Highlands, a 42 mile race from Tyndrum to Fort William (April); The Wes

As I sit on a very turbulent plane back from a week in Athens, Springsteen’s Out in the Street ringing through my headphones, I reflect on the great experience of running the streets of THE marathon a couple of days ago. As a kid, I was fascinated with mythology and ancient history — the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians in particular. I was lucky enough to visit Rome for a second time in 2016 for my 30th birthday to see Springsteen play in the historic Circus Maximus. Ten years

So… AI running apps are taking a bit of a battering just now, eh? Not AI fight we were all expecting. I mean, let’s face it, Terminator would’ve been a bit shit if big Arnie turned up just to give all the Sarah Connors a stress fracture. This isn’t so much theory today, but I wanted to throw my 2p worth in. Here’s the key question: as a running/fitness coach, do I think apps like Runna (which seems to be getting the most heat) are terrible and dangerous? Honestly… it’s not th

If you spend any time online, you’ll be told that the secret to better running lies in a detox tea, a colour‑coded meal plan, or a diet named after a caveman, a Scandinavian, or someone’s auntie Barbara who once lost half a stone before a wedding by drinking her own piss twice a day (“It’s sterile and I like the taste”… Patches O'Houlihan, anyone?!). But the truth is far less dramatic. Good nutrition for running isn’t about restriction, rules, or reinventing your entire perso

There’s a moment in every runner’s life when you realise you’ve spent more time staring at your watch than looking at the world around you. I’ve been there. Obsessing over splits, wondering why my “easy pace” feels like a mild cardiac event, and convincing myself that the algorithm knows my body better than I do. Spoiler: it doesn’t. To make it worse, we love to make the language more complicated or like we have this secret knowledge. It also doesn’t help that coaches and run

There’s a moment on the trail—somewhere between the burn in your calves and the rhythm of your breath—when the world goes quiet. Not silent, but still. The kind of stillness that only mountains can offer. That’s where I found myself last week, standing in the shadow of the Three Sisters in Canmore, Alberta, with a heart cracked open by the sheer beauty of it all. Something I hadn’t felt so strongly in decades. This trip to Canada wasn’t planned as a pilgrimage. It was meant t

They say the West Highland Way is a scenic masterpiece. That’s exactly why I couldn’t sit out the Highland Fling race. It’s been on my...

People Are Such Moany Little Bitches I'm not sure if I'm just becoming more acutely aware of it in older age or whether the exposure to negativity and anonymity of social media has made it more obvious but people are such moany little bitches! This whole post is probably going to make me sound like holier than Jesus Christ's post cross palms and that's not the intention. However, when did the human default become tearing someone down rather than building them up?? Even to the

It’s been a while since I wrote some s**t down, and being stuck on a bus for five hours seemed like as good a time as any to pick this...

Alright folks, I hope you're all keeping well. Given the whole "pursuit of happiness" thing I’m going for here, I’ve spent a fair bit of...

Back by popular demand... Ok, not entirely true but 3 people messaged me if I was ok as I hadn't posted a blog in a while. Probably the only 3 people who read it but hey ho! I appreciate the check in. In all honesty, I decided to take a wee break from a couple of things on the lead up to the ultra, just because the time commitment to training was crazy. The blog writing joined the guitar and piano on the sidelines while my life was taken over by double session training days a

A Personal Reflection Over the last few weeks, my mood has dipped — something that tends to happen around my birthday. Whether it’s the thought of getting older or the fuss surrounding it, everything has felt like an effort: getting up, going to work, keeping the house clean, playing guitar, even running. Unlike six months ago, though, I recognise the importance of keeping these things going, and Mental Health Week (MHW) has helped reaffirm that. Why Mental Health Week Matter

Alright folks, I hope you're all well. With the annual wave of post‑London running‑mania sweeping the nation, I thought it would be a good time to complain talk about how the ultra training has gone over the last couple of weeks and a bit of a reflection piece for myself. This is a couple of days later as I wanted to get my long run done this week before writing this. If you had the displeasure of speaking to me… then it would have been about running because a) I'm boring and

Hey folks, I hope you're doing well—and thanks for coming back. And no, I don’t actually have a bag of Colombian marching powder. This...

Welcome back guys, Thanks again for all the support. You'll be happy to know this week's post is a bit more chirpy than 1500‑plus words on death, loss and grief. Although, I did get a couple of kind messages on the back of it (thank you) and it will probably serve as the foundations of My Chemical Romance’s next album… so hey, it couldn't have been that bad right?! In the blog a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that one of the reasons I run is because I want to show others tha

Happy Friday, folks… or at least it was until you started reading this! Once again, thank you for the lovely messages and feedback on the...

Citations are included because the text came from your attached document. Monday the 25th of March 2024, the start of a new training block… only this time, it's for an ultra marathon. Firstly, thanks again for coming back. I'll occasionally chuck in a training update into a blog as I'm going. This isn't my first ultra marathon. In fact, it will be my 3rd ultra in 12 months, 4th in total, with a couple of training runs that have/will hit the “ultra” distance (50km+). I've actu

Welcome back, This one’s going to be a bit deep, folks. So if you came here for a morbid reality check—hi. If you came hoping to see...