August 2025

            

         August saw Clare and myself heading to Meon Valley for a new-ish Hampshire parkrun and my NENDY. The Meon Valley trail parkrun is an out and back course near Wickham on a disused railway line. CC knows the area very well as it was her old local "stomping ground" as she calls it. It was a nice parkrun where we jogged together at the back of the field. Clare, still working on her fitness, did surprisingly well I think and got a sub 40. We then went for pasties/sausage rolls and coffee at the local pasty shop in Wickham, which was quite busy with other runners. Great Vegan pasties and coffee by the way and very friendly and accommodating staff. Must go back.

 The day after on Sunday 3rd, I had the Sturminster Newton Half Marathon, or the Stur Half as its simply known. This would be my fifth time doing the race. I don’t think I have run any other race Five times. It must be a good race! 

Clare drove and we picked up Joshy on the way. I had a bit of a shit race to be honest. I was hoping to beat my time from the previous year of 86.07. I went out pretty quick but struggled as early as Seven miles into the race. It was hard from then on. I was digging deep and suffering a lot. My pace was slowing too. I finished in 86.51.

Not a bad time at all but I just felt awful throughout. Fitness levels not quite where they were a year ago maybe? It was a lovely event as always though and Joshy did really well and got a SB of 76.39. Beating me by over Ten minutes! As CC said “What were you doing out there?” lol. Thanks for the wonderful support as always CC. Seeing your face out there always helps me to stay strong and push on. Xx

We also saw my mate "Level 10 Kev" from the Vegan Running Club who also ran in the half marathon, which was a lovely surprise. He also runs for Yeovil Road Runners. I had won 1st V50 at his local race at Easter. We didn't stick around to collect my prize though and he kinda felt guilty. It was lovely of him to pop into my works a few weeks later and present me with an engraved medal. Cheers Kev, you're a star :) 

Not long after this, I went a bit mad at work and bought lots of shoes. A pair of Terrex trail shoes, some Boston 13’s, some more Pro 4’s and Two pairs of Evo SL’s. Obviously I had to get CC some new shoes too :D 

I may need to get another job, so that I can actually earn some money one day!

I am still in love with the new climbing gym, The Climbing Hangar. I have been going most Wednesdays and some Fridays at 6.30am! I am getting stronger and even managed a handstand PB of around Twelve seconds, which doesn’t seem like a lot but when you are in the handstand, it feels like ages.

On Wednesday the 13^th, I decided to jog to the track after climbing to attempt a sub 18 minute 5k. I worked out that I needed to run each mile at 5.50 pace. My maths were slightly out though. I had the track to myself and decided to run without music so that I could keep my breathing as relaxed as possible. 5.49 for the first mile and 5.49 for the 2^nd mile. It was going pretty well. 

My last mile went by in 5.42. Good pacing indeed and I thought I would go under 18 minutes with ease but not when I glanced at my watch. I basically sprinted that 0.12 of a mile at 5.12 pace. I got 17.58 on my watch and Strava and my Coros watch both gave me a new 5k PB of 17.50. I had done it, just. Average pace was 5.45, so I must remember to run at 5.45 pace and not 5.50 pace if ever attempted again.

Where CC and myself live a good 10k apart, and I don’t drive, and the traffic is terrible at rush hour, and we don’t see each other as much as we would like… we decided to introduce “Date Night” on a Wednesday evening where possible. Sometimes I will run and meet her somewhere, or we’d both get the bus to meet somewhere or she’ll drive us. A great idea as we both love eating and seeing each other :D

16.08.2025 saw me and CC both volunteering at Itchen Valley again. The people are so nice and I love catching up with the crew in the cafe afterwards while enjoying a Coronation Chickpea toastie with lots of Coffee.

I only ran one parkrun this month and am sat here now writing this on a Saturday morning while CC is getting another volunteering credit. Well done CC. 

I have a hamstring injury at the moment which not ideal ahead of the start of the new Hampshire League season. I am also supposed to be marathon training for Abingdon. In fact, I had a really nice 18 mile run to Stockbridge the other week which felt really good. Hopefully I can get back on track and run the marathon but tomorrow will be a cautious jog around Totton 10k, so I won’t be competitive in the league unfortunately.

I have a few plans for September. It’s my birthday, so I’ll be off to Wales with CC.

I have a bodyweight training plan which I have set up for myself to get stronger, so I’m looking forward to seeing the progress in that.

My eating habits have been terrible. I plan to work on that too and cut out the crisps and chocolate. I’ll be allowed birthday cake of course ;) but the focus will be on more cooked meals and vegetables.

It’ll be good to lose a couple of kgs and get my body fat percentage down, which currently stands at 15%

            Anyways, thanks for reading. Getting older, wiser and stronger hopefully. Stay rad people. xx

July 2025

        On the first Saturday of July, CC and I decided to have a lie-in and skip parkrun. It was a rainy day and we got soaked walking to Totton via the Lower Testway boardwalks which we discovered were in need of some repair. We had coffee and decided to walk back as well. 7.5 miles each, not bad at all.

The next day was the Lordshill 10k. I was given a late place by my club. If I’d known sooner I had a place I would have trained for it better and not run a marathon the previous week! Anyways, I was very grateful for the place. Sadly, it was the last race in the HRRL series and I would only complete 6 out of the 7 races needed to qualify for my name on a mug. If they still do that? Maybe next season I will focus on the HRRL more and complete at least 7. I have already signed up for Totton 10k in August, Overton 5 in September and Gosport half in November. I do have Abingdon marathon in October though if I can be bothered with it. More on that topic next month…

It was so lovely to see everyone at my local race and my name was getting called out a lot on the course. I felt like a local celebrity! Thank you everyone, it really means a lot to me. I didn’t quite get my target time and was disappointed not to run under 38 minutes. 38.24 was my time. After looking at the results though, it turns out that quite a few runners didn’t do so great either. Humidity maybe? Anyways, I was 2^nd V50 which was a shock in the Hampshire League. I didn’t realise they did prizes for top 3 in age categories. Sadly I didn’t hang around to see what I had won and have heard no more about it since. Probably another bottle of wine..lol

A week later I ran a 10k to Itchen Valley Country Park to run and volunteer. I was so nervous about volunteering. I mean, I always am but this time I would be doing something new to me. Barcode scanning! The plan was to run a quick 5k and get my high vis on and start scanning barcodes from my phone. I was worried that my phone battery wouldn’t last as well.

Anyway, I ran a course pb of 20.28 and was P2. A guy named Phil who got P1 was also barcode scanning so that was good. I was still sweating a hell of a lot and it was a very sunny day. All my efforts went into NOT sweating over my phone. The last thing I wanted to do was mess up the scanning and the results. It went well and I got to chat to lots of lovely people and they were very appreciative. It was a lovely thing to do and I’m glad I did it. It would also complete my 10^th different volunteering role at parkrun. I must say that CC has been a wonderful influence on me for the volunteering :)

On the Sunday, CC drove us to Lyndhurst where we bumped into my mate Jimbo who was off on the Woods Cyclery bike ride. We hopped on an open-top tour bus like a couple of holiday-makers. The plan was to get off at Brockenhurst and walk back to Lyndhurst and on the way we would look for Fritillaries. Which are large butterflies, if you didn’t know. We got off the bus at the train station and walked to the Hollands wood campsite and followed the bike route to the gravel paths. It didn’t take me long to get us lost. I always get lost on these bike routes despite going through them a dozen times on previous runs. I was trying to get us to Frohawk Inclosure where the Fritillaries could often be seen in July. We managed to see some before we even got to the inclosure. Pearl bordered are the most common ones seen here. Sometimes, Silver washed fritillaries are present too.

We got to the inclosure and saw another one and then we saw more. Such lovely butterflies to see. I was so happy that I had shown them to CC and shared the experience. I hope she enjoyed them as much as me too..lol. We eventually found our way to Lyndhurst and the Greenwood Tree cafe for food and drinks. We had covered 9 miles. Our legs sure were aching and it was a very hot day too. I sure slept well that night.

 
       On Wednesday the 16^th of July, it was time to run the Lakeside 5k series. These have been going on as long as I can remember, but I had never run one. I was talked into it by Kev Willsher. Toni and Josh were also supposed to be doing it but Joshy was a no show for some reason.

The course didn’t seem as fast as I was hoping with a few twists and turns and a gravel track going around the lake which we ran on twice. The atmosphere was good though and I only have a 5k PB on Runbritain of 19.59, so it should be an easy PB to break if it appears on Runbritain at some point.

I ran a time of 18.34. I told Kev that I thought I was in about 18.30 shape, so couldn’t be too disappointed with the time due to lack of speedwork. It was also quite humid again. A lot of humidity this month!

On the Saturday I caught the bus to Romsey for a meet up with my mate Darren for a coffee before parkrun at Ganger Farm. Mike Harper and John Pelligrini were also present. I was hoping for a sub 19 but got a disappointing 19.15 and a P4. Can I blame the humidity again? Darren and I did a nice walk around Stockbridge followed by breakfast.

  The next day, CC drove us to Salisbury where we sat in the carpark waiting for the rain to die down a bit. Another wet rainy walk for the pair of us and we always seem to dress ineptly. We followed the River Avon and found a nice walk onto the Avon Valley Nature Reserve. We were soaked, so headed back to town for food at the Boston Tea Party, which I had liked previously but found a bit rubbish this time around. Are there better Vegan places to eat in Salisbury? We did 5.5 miles that day. We seem to be enjoying our walks lately :)

 

That evening I decided to go to our new climbing gym. The Climbing Hangar. It is based on Third avenue, just off Millbrook road. I went to what I thought was going to be an induction, but they just said “Go ahead, get climbing!”. I fell in love with the place straight away. I used to climb the one in Exeter and I loved it. It was my favourite climbing gym, so I was very excitied to have this new one on my doorstep. The setting, holds and routes are so good and it is only £35 a month. The cheapest around. I am actually here right now while I am typing up the rough draft of my blog.

On Wednesday the 23rd, I went back to the climbing hangar and then to the track for a rare speedwork session.

The plan was to run 1k fast (sub 6) 1k slower (sub7) for 10k. So, 10 reps around the track or roughly 25 laps. It felt good and was surprised to run the 10k in 39.06! It was my dream to run a 10k under 40 minutes and it took me nearly a decade to do so. And to think I just did that in a training session blew my mind. I was so amazed at myself for that.

    Three days later I would turn up at Southampton parkrun for David Baker’s 200^th parkrun. If you don’t know David or haven’t heard of him, where have you been? Davis has been dealing with MND for 2 years now and is an incredibly inspiring Vegan runner. I’ll add a link to his blog at the end for you to read.

I did see him at the start but he was busy with all his fans surrounding him, so I thought I’d let him get on with it and he sees me quite a bit anyway. Lovely to see speedy VR Matt DeCros too. The ED told a lovely story about David’s journey and I actually found myself crying with real tears on the startline of the parkrun for some reason. It made me quite emotional. This ones for you David, I thought…

Off we went on the newest course. I hadn’t done it before so it was lovely of Nathann and Helen to fill me in with all the details including the first tight turn which really helped. I started right at the front and went off quick for fear of being tripped. I cautiously keep my stride short to begin with and look over my shoulder a lot. I got to the first corner and about 20 runners overtook me! I had obviously started too close to the front. I enjoyed the new course though and the uphill didn’t seem that bad for some reason. I got passed by LRR James Clarke on the downhill pushing a double buggy. His daughter was blowing bubbles and they were going everywhere. It made me laugh and I told James at the end that he’d ruined my chances of a PB (Not true).

On the last K, it felt like I was struggling, despite it being my quickest mile, it felt like the tank was empty. I dug deep while CC cheered me on and took photos. I managed to catch up with James and could see my old buddy Andy Costello in front with his lovely dog Ripley. I didn’t quite catch them but was only a second behind for P21 and a time of 18.06. My second quickest parkrun. Just another 7 seconds needed for a PB and sub 18. I think I might get around to it one day but time is not on my side I guess! 81% age grading though. One happy runner :)

The day after CC drove us again. This time to West Walk near Wickham where we completed a couple of loops running. It was a lovely place and not too busy. We had both run here before but couldn’t remember how we had got there!

That’s about it for July. I have been upping my mileage a bit in the form of both running and walking lately. The start of August sees me doing a half marathon. It’s been a while so we’ll see how that goes.

Thanks for reading.

David’s very inspiring blog:

https://mndcangetinthesea.blogspot.com/

Thanks to everyone who took the photos. I took the Pearl bordered photo on my proper camera about 7 years ago. Clare is my main photographer <3. 

Daniel Parker-Hales from Hardley Runners took my awesome pics from Lakeside.

 Alice Baker took the finish line pic at Lordshill 10k. 

The other Lordshill photo was from Nick Kasper. 

Toni took the selfie at Lakeside too. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anyone! 

June 2025

 

       It was an exciting start to June as Clare and myself woke up in a hotel in Yeovil. My mate Kev from the Vegan running club came and collected us along with his mate Richard and off we headed to Crewkerne, for the Crewkerne 10k.

After my success of first V50 at the Yeovilton 10k, I was hopeful of another first V50 finish. It was quite a warm day but I was ready and keen to get started. The race started at the bottom of a hill in a dip. So a big uphill start and when I say big, I mean BIG! It sure was a big climb out. I didn’t rush off, just paced well and kept my breathing as relaxed as I could. It was all on country lanes and away from civilisation as I knew it. There were some nice downhills too but when I got to 5k, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of this course. It was proper brutal. And heading back, I knew there were some tough climbs to come as well, due to its “Out and Back” nature.

As always though I had the wonderful support of Clare and there were also 5k runners to pass and I would shout encouraging comments and their support was very much welcome as well.

No sub 40 on this course for me but I was very happy with my efforts of 40.40 on this course and it was enough to get me a trophy for the first V50 today and 13^th place overall.

 Unlike last time, we stayed around for the ceremony and I collected my trophy as the crowd cheered. We went for a coffee and then Kev made us lunch before we got the train back to Southampton. What a great start to June.

   The Saturday after, Clare and I went to Bartley parkrun where we knew there would be some other Vegan running buddies. It was also John P’s birthday and there would be some yummy food! It was a disappointing run for me with a P6 and a time of 20.11. The body wwas telling me that it was tired.

It was great to see Clare return to running though after her tough time out. It was lovely to catch up with everyone including the Bakers, Matt S, Andy Mc, Mike H, Anja, Louise etc..

The food was so good but it didn’t stop us from going for more at Lemon and Jinja on the Belbins estate near Romsey.

On the 15^th of June, another 10k soon came around. It was the Alresford 10k. Now, this race had been in the Hampshire Road Race League for many years but I had never done it. Everyone always describes it as “Hot and Hilly”, which I guess, puts some runners off.

Anyway, it was busy and sold out. It was definitely hot that day. When I looked at the elevation though, it had about 200ft less climbing than Crewkerne 10k, so I felt well prepared and was hoping for a sub 40 today at least. I knew I wouldn’t achieve first V50 in a Hampshire league race but I was hopeful of third V50. Surely the faster runners only do flat courses right?

From the off, I was struggling. My breathing felt shallow in the heat. I got to 5k and I knew I was starting to slow but decided to try and hang on. I would be a long time in the hurt locker today. Even Clare said I looked F*^ked. It was nice to see her and that 9k marker though.

I finished in a time of 39.40. It was a tough day and was fifth V50, so not quite there but happy enough with the sub 40 on a challenging course. I was quite excited about the free watercress..lol. It was a great race and a good course. Marshals were very friendly too. I’d probably do it again and feel I could get a much better time… It was a great day all the same and nice to see some familiar faces, although there were very few of them at this race. Think I knew more Hardley runners than Lordshillers! Bit of a weak turnout in the league from our club this season for some reason. Hopefully next year will be better.

 

After all the racing, my body was starting to feel destroyed and abused. I needed some time out. My resting heart rate was as low as 32bpm for a week. Which is dangerously low as a heart specialist once told me. Rather than try and get a doctors appointment, I just took the advice of last time. Less mileage and slower efforts.

I suppose I should explain better.. during Covid I had an enlarged heart and lungs which can affect heartrate and breathing. I had to have a heart MRI and consultations with a heart specialist as my heart rate was as low as 30bpm at which the heart can stop as it thinks it has nothing to do explained the specialist. A bit of a scary moment for me Four years ago. God knows why the low heartrate has returned though.

I met up with my old friend Damo and we caught the train to Swannick to walk around Swannick lakes. Neither of us had been before. It was quite comical as we walked around in circles only finding one lake and struggling to find the other three. We found a couple more eventually. It was a great catch up and a really nice day. We walked to Parkgate for lunch and then decided to walk to Warsash, then to Bursledon along the shoreline and then to the Jolly Sailor pub for a drink and a train home. I had clocked up 17 miles of walking. I was so tired. Walking seems so much harder than running..lol.

I nearly managed a week off running! I think it was 4-5 days and then I only did a slow 5k into work. My resting heart rate had returned to 36-37bpm. Not ideal, but better.

We had a busy weekend ahead of us. Clare would drive me and her Mum to Gloucestershire where we were staying in a lovely lodge.

Clare grew up in Gloucestershire with her Mum as a child. So it would be a lovely trip down memory lane for them both.. and me? I just loved Gloucestershire anyway. It was a long day on the Friday and we were ready for a parkrun meet up with my Vegan Running Club on the 21^st of June at Mallards Pike.

I have done this parkrun before. In fact, it was exactly two years ago and I had about 200 miles of cycling in my legs. I was in between jobs and had cycled from Southampton to Pontypridd. I was originally heading for Pembrokshire but the 30 degree heat at the time was killing me, so decided to head homewards via Gloucester.

So, it should be a easy course pb right? It’s a lovely one lapped course. A circular route but the first 3k is uphill but you get a very fast finish. I was super pleased with P2 and a course pb of 19.07. I barely saw anyone for the parkrun after the first half a mile. P1 with his headphones and backpack on was off like a rocket and I couldn’t even see anyone behind me. It’s a easy course to follow though, so there wasn’t much fear of taking a wrong turn or getting lost.

It was a very hot day, so my main concern was for Clare. I had to check on Clare’s mum first as she was alone by the lake in her wheelchair. She was fine, so I bought some drinks and headed back onto the parkrun course in reverse to cheer on the runners and see Clare. I was expecting her to look tired and knackered but she looked pretty fresh and happy. After a brief few words, I headed back to Clare’s mum via a quick photo for the Vegan running club. My legs were very tired now! Clare’s return to running was going well with a time of 38.41. Well done Clare! :)

  We had a wonderful picnic with the club as I spoke to friends old and new. Some I only knew from Starva, so it was lovely to chat to them. The food was amazing and I gave a load of old books away to share. Another wonderful day with great people.

  It wasn’t over though as we dropped Clare’s mum off at a friend’s while we walked high up to a place called “Blaise Bailey” along some nice forest trails. So much greenery in Gloucestershire. We even talked about possibly moving there one day!

 On the Sunday Clare and I ran up to May Hill from where we were staying. It sure was a hill too, but the views from the top were amazing although a little overcast. Later that day we also did a walk around the beautiful Soudley ponds with Clare’s mum too. What a wonderful weekend. The weather was very kind to us again.

  On my Wednesday off, I had that urge to run a marathon to Salisbury. I get these weird impulses sometimes to run quite far. Despite very little training for endurance, I made it but it sure was an effort. It was quite humid and I felt tired after only 12 miles. I only took a bottle of Lucozade Sport and two gels with me. I definitely got there dehydrated. I managed to run to North Baddesley, Braishfield, Michelmersh, Mottisfont, Dunbridge, Lockerley, Dean, East Grinstead and Alderbury. Nice quiet country lanes. I had to do a loop of the Cathedral grounds to make up my marathon distance. It sure was a challenge and only my third marathon of the year. Then it was off to Boston Tea Party for a massive Vegan breakfast :)

  Lastly I decided to return to Great Salterns parkrun on the 28^th of June. My last visit was in April of 2022. So it was to be an easy course PB as I knew to wear road shoes this time around with the dry weather. It’s 3 laps around a nature reserve. I was hoping for my first P1 at parkrun with 6 P2’s, 3 of them achieved this year. Sometimes the times are quite slow here but on my warm up I spotted Julian Manning who seems to follow me around the East Hampshire parkruns and beat me by about two minutes! Today was no exception. In fact, I didn’t even hold Second place. It was my Eighth time finishing in Third place. Happy enough with my 19.06 on this course though. I went off to Off Beet for amazing food in Portsmouth afterwards and caught the train home.

       It sure has been a busy month for me. Thanks for reading. Hoping for a quiet July ;)   Stay strong and healthy.

  July sees me running the Lordshill 10k, Lakeside 5k series and we have the opening of the new climbing gym, the climbing hangar. 

           We’ve had a few challenges lately. When I say we, I mean mostly poor CC, my other half. Two cataract operations and then a fall on the way to volunteering at parkrun. She twisted her ankle quite badly and was out of action for a little while. Which means she hasn’t run for quite a while now. However, she was determined not to let it get the best of her. We walked Itchen Valley parkrun at the start of the month as we wanted to make sure that she would complete her 50^th parkrun at a special location. It made me realise how long it takes to complete a 5k when not running. It seems like a very long way! It was a lovely day though and great to chat and see the sights in detail.

            

             On the 9^th of May, CC drove us to Haverhill in Suffolk. It’s right on the Essex border if you didn’t know. I had never been to Suffolk before and when I ask people if they’ve been, the majority say they don’t think they have either. It’s very green with lots of motorbikes and flies. It’s a been worrying when you get to the A1307 when the sign mentions the high fatality rate. The road is known as “The road of death” or “Death road”.

Luckily we made it there alive and CC surprised me that evening with a lovely Vegan meal in Sudbury at a place called “Cradle”. I would highly recommend this place. The food was out of this world.

            The next day happened to be very special. It was CC’s birthday and we were in Suffolk to complete Clare castle parkrun. CC would still be walking with the swollen and bruised ankle but it would be her 50^th parkrun nonetheless. Well done CC, I know how hard it was for you.

Last year we did Blaise castle in Bristol for CC’s birthday. I wonder where we’ll end up next year? Another Castle location I guess!

 We had a lovely long weekend in Suffolk with a great walk from Melford to Sudbury where we ended up back to “Cradle” for some delicious pastries and coffee. Of course we got lost a few times and didn’t take the right paths but we got there eventually. The weather was so good! On the way home we stopped off at my favourite Vegan food place too. “The Greenhouse” in Fleet.

     The weekend after would see me running the Netley 10k. There was to be a new course too, which got me excited. I had been running laps around the country park on this race since 2011.

It definitely wasn’t a fast course but very much improved. A couple of nice climbs but some great downhill too. It was great to get the support of the locals and to see them outside of their houses cheering us on. I absolutely loved it. I was also happy with my time of 38.37 on this course. Another A-team placing for me at Lordshill this year. To be fair, the turn out of the faster runners has been pretty lame this year in the league for our club, which is a bit disappointing. Anyway, I won’t go in that one…

 

A week later on the 24^th of May saw me turn up at Whitely parkrun. I hadn’t done it for a few years, so was hopeful of a course PB at least. CC was there to support me as always as I ran 3-4 laps around the course. I was aiming for around 18.30 but finished in a time of 18.40. Happy enough and my first sub 19 there.

  The day before I went skateboarding after work with a fellow workmate. We are now both 50 and neither of us had skated in about a year. We were both pleasantly surprised how well we both performed. And we didn’t do too much damage to ourselves either, which is always a bonus.

     27^th of May marked mine and CC’s 2 year anniversary. We didn’t do much on the actual day but the next day we went climbing together for the first time in ages. I was again surprised how well CC climbed considering her time out. It made me so happy to see. It was such a great session together. I look forward to more of those in the future. I have been climbing most Wednesdays now on my day off. I love it and hope to climb more but marathon training isn't too far off now I guess! 

   That’s almost it for May. On the 31^st we headed to Yeovil via train where I took CC to Ninesprings country park to show her the wonderful sights. We were here because of my up and coming race, the Crewkerne 10k. I won’t write about that now though as it happened in June. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

      More fun times ahead hopefully. We have had some tough times lately. Hopefully things will improve for us. Always staying positive and loving <3 Stay rad people :)