Half-Marathon; challenge completed! (for now…)

On Sunday I achieved a challenge I set myself around 18 months ago – to complete a half-marathon.  I took part in the Coventry 2009 Half Marathon which was a ride of pure hell and utter exhaultation, comedy moments and aggressive self-doubt, blisters and jelly babies. I picked up running most recently again around July [...]

Vango Tempest 200 tent – Gear Review

The porch was also a deciding factor in buying this tent – it’s large enough to cook in when the weather is atrocious and the door is arranged so that a gap can be left for ventilation.  At night it’s perfectly roomy enough to stash 4 panniers, although I prefer to keep them inside the [...]

A Change of Plan..?

I may have just completely changed my mind about something. I set this website up mostly because I wanted to record and publish my preparations for cycling Lejog (Land’s End – John O’Groats) in spring 2010. Ever since I started trying to work out my route, I’ve found that I really have no interest in [...]

Nathan 4490 Elite 1 Plus Hydration/Gel Waistpack

As soon as I started running for longer than 45 minutes I knew I needed to drink whilst on the move, so I had to get me some sorta drinks holder thangy. I don’t like having to hold anything in my hands whilst running, so those grasp bottles were right out of the question. I [...]

An account of Cycling through Norway

Just had to share this cycle-touring report from Tim Moss, owner of The Next Challenge blog. It’s a well detailed and recorded account of his solo cycle down through Norway earlier this year.  Good photos, maps, charts, stats and tweets! Makes me even more certain that I will do something similar one day. Scandinavia seems [...]

Gelert Xtreme Lite 3/4 (self-inflating camp mat)

Height: 120 cm Width: 50 cm Thickness: 4 cm Weight: 520 g £18 -20 (2009) When I was preparing for my first camping cycle-tour, I took with me a foam roll-out sleeping mat, the sort you can pick up for £3 at Millets. OK it was bulky, but it weighed next to nothing and I [...]

A change of name

I’ve changed to name of this blog due to realising that most of my posts thus far have relayed to running and not ( as I initially intended ) preparation for LEJOG 2010. Sure, the running’s part of the prep work but the blog title “Land’s End – John O’Groats 2010″ was a little restrictive [...]

The Things People Say

…when I’m out running. Due to being laid up with my now delightfully infected blister (a medic told me she’d only seen bigger blisters on house-fire victims…) I thought I’d list a few of the things I’ve had said/shouted to me recently, whilst I’ve been out running…purely for entertainment reasons. * Why have you got [...]

Blisters and Boinking (not bonking).

What I had planned for Sunday and what I actually acheived are very different. I was scheduled to run a 10-miler (my first), in hopefully around 1 hour 40. The weather was cool and dry and the route fairly forgiving. What actually happened was I couldn’t mentally get “in the zone”, I “boinked” after 4.5 [...]

Cycling proficiency

I never sat my “cycling proficiency test” at school (I think I was off that week), but even if I had I doubt it would have made much difference to how I cycle nowadays. Unfortunately, I find cycling on roads to be a real dilemma when it comes to rules and regs, overwhelmingly because I [...]