Trail running to explore the unbeaten path
The tag line of Ultra-Trail Snowdonia, part of the UTMB World Series of events, is “Beautiful beyond belief. Savage beyond reason“. And the events certainly live up to that claim. Eryri (Snowdonia) is one of the most beautiful locations in the UK. The terrain, from the mountains, to the bogs between can be cruel and … Read more
Last weekend I got to run the Preseli Beast. A 24 mile fell race with 4652 ft (1418 meters) of elevation, here in my local county of Pembrokeshire. I’ve posted about the Preseli Hills before in this blog post. They can be surprisingly challenging to run, but are a lot of fun. A few weeks … Read more
Running gives us time to think about a lot of stuff. Especially when we’re out on our own. Something I was mulling over recently was about mountain running motivation. Specifically, I thought about how we’re motivated to go running in the mountains for the amazing scenery and experience, but must always work hard to earn … Read more
The TrailFly Ultra G 280 is the first “nitrogen-infused” type shoe I have owned. I was curious to see how these new trail running shoes felt out, and so recently I picked up a pair for myself. I’ve now had the chance to take them out on a few runs with mixed surface trails. This … Read more
The RIDUM 2022 was yet another brilliant ultra marathon by Pegasus Ultra Running. The course itself is roughly 30 miles (50km) and traverses the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway near Caerphilly, Wales. RIDUM 2022 Personal time goal Being 50 km in length, I knew I wanted to run this one faster than a typical 50 miler, but … Read more
Earlier this week my family and I headed up the coast to North Wales. The destination – Snowdonia National Park, where the plan was to explore the area, learn some of the history, and for me personally: mountain running in Snowdonia. We settled in to a small apartment that we rented, just across the road … Read more
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. Moving from the Speedgoat 4 to the Speedgoat 5 A couple of months ago my second pair of Speedgoat 4 trail … 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
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