Challenge Stu

Last weekend was a busy one - there was training to do, litterpicking, running with poles, running without poles, talking to people at the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival, watching films, watching people ride bikes down hills, watching people ride bikes up hills, and talking about rubbish, introducing other people to talk about other things, some cycling, and more litterpicking! In a world first (for me), I'm going to try a two-part blog: Part of it will be on this blog, and part will be over on the Runners Against Rubbish blog. It may or may not work so bear with me, but it's a good way to fit everything in! Here we'll focus on the BIG Running Weekend, whereas over there it's all about ShAFF. So, here goes... BIG Running Weekend. What a fantastic event. Accelerate are so much more than a running shop - there's Accelerate Trail Runners, WoodRun, Running Past 50, Accelerate Events, and some others I've forgotten. Once a year they all come together for a wee...

I've been living here in La Combe, in the Trois Vallees in the French alps, since November. To be honest, in skiing terms, it's been (so far) a horrible season - there has really not been very much snow! Things that should've been white since December are still green, the locals are grumpy, and the Marmots are confused. Amazing for running, crap for skiing However, I've been having a brilliant time! Yes, it's fair to say I haven't become the skier I hoped I might, but I've managed to keep running a lot more than I thought I might, and have started doing some ski touring. Which brings me to the point of this little post... Ski touring is an awesome sport. It reminds me of a combination of running in the high mountains and road biking. For the unfamiliar, ski touring involves the use of skis with "skins" on the bottom, which grip one way and stick the other, allowing you to push them uphill. In combination with lightweight boots with a...

Yesterday I raced the inaugural Open Adventure "Lakes in a Day" ultra, my first race as part of the new Scott-Accelerate team, which I'm very proud to be part of. However some things, it seems, don't change... First of all, lets rewind to Thursday. I met coach Stu and Debs from Accelerate, Colin from APC, Pete from Scott and fellow runners Dot and Chris. It was great to finally meet Pete and thank Scott for their support at the Matterhorn race. We ate some food, talked about plans for the year ahead and officially became Team Accelerate-Scott. After so much support over the years from Accelerate it's great to continue this, and it's also very exciting to have the support of Scott. So, as a sort of sponsored runner, by Saturday it was time to do some running... Me, Dot, Pete, Colin, Debs, Chris (Stu taking photo) After a very busy Friday trying to write and submit a journal paper, I finally left Sheffield at about midnight, heading to Cartmel in the...