Trail running to explore the unbeaten path
My Hoka One One Speedgoat 5 trail shoes have just passed 600km of use, and so I thought it was time to gather my thoughts on them so far and provide a short review. Updates: (2025, back to 2022) See my notes at the bottom for updates on my thoughts around durability, especially relating to … Read more
The VOGUM is a 40 mile (64 km) ultra marathon taking place in the Vale of Glamorgan. The route hugs the South Wales coastal path, running from Porthcawl to Penarth, just below Cardiff. Having moved to West Wales toward the end of last year, earlier this year I found myself seeking out marathon and ultra … Read more
Last Saturday I ran the 2022 Blacks to the Beacons 50 mile ultra marathon. The race was 52 miles over the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons in Wales, with an elevation of about 11,000 ft (3300 meters). I finished with a chip time of 14:30:56, placing 29th (21st in my age category). It was a … Read more
Recently I upgraded from a Garmin forerunner 245 to the new Garmin fenix 7. Or is that written fēnix? While the forerunner was a perfectly fine GPS multisport watch (with music capability too), lately I’ve found myself wanting for more. With the warmer weather on it’s way, so too is prime running season, and the … Read more
I recently completed the 20km red warrior multi-terrain 2022 race and was very pleased to have placed 2nd overall in the solo series 🥈 I ran the 20km race in a time of 91.05 minutes. The multi-terrain trail race had three variations of trail. Harder packed gravel / wet and muddy patches, sandy woodland, and … Read more
A couple of weekends ago I managed to find some time to explore part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park trail for a bit of coastal path trail running. With the last coastal path trail running route that I ran having been part of the Strumble Head circular, I was keen to try something else … Read more
Global warming is a real issue affecting us now and more so in the coming years. We see the effects to some degree already. From abnormal weather patterns, exceptionally freezing Winters, to flash flooding and prolongued droughts. Global warming is nothing new. In fact scientists from Exxon mobile knew about it 40+ years ago. Yet … Read more
On a cold and rainy December late afternoon, I ran a small section of the Strumble Head Circular coastal trail. I’m always on a mission to explore and catalog various trail running locations that are within close proximity to where I live. To find and decide on Strumble Head, I loaded up my Alltrails app, … Read more
Earlier this year I purchased a pair of Distance Carbon Z Trekking poles to aid me on runs out on the trail that I categorise as ultra distance. Specifically I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to run a self-supported 50 mile ultra along the serpent trail. I was thankful to have made this purchase as this … Read more
After much planning and some complicated logistics, it’s time to start discovering trail running in Wales! Blog post and running frequency has lately taken a bit of a nose dive. For good reason though, as my family and I have been busy with a move we’ve planned for a long time – moving to Pembrokeshire, … Read more