Plant-Powered Running Girl - Blog

I can't run. For a while there I could barely even hobble. And it's down to what I read is perhaps the most common sports injury (not that that's any consolation) - the calf strain. I didn't even do it while running! I'd been basking...

Well, I did it. The Bath Half was on Sunday and I came in at 2:24. That's me, on the right - still looking quite fresh but regrettably, captured mid-heel strike (oh! the shame) . It was a really memorable and enjoyable day. So warm and sunny that...

Having run my longest ever distance - 14km - I was feeling very pleased with myself. It was a bright, cold, sunny Sunday morning, out with my local Council's women's half-marathon training group, and good company and great scenery meant that the...

The holidays are over and I've had a month off blogging ... and running. Disconcertingly, dozens of people were running past my window at all hours of the day and night between Xmas and new year, getting a head start on their Bath Half training....

Well, when I say fast... there were several sub-40minute times on Sunday - but I wasn't one of them! However, my finishing time of 65:12 was certainly better than my only other 10k experience, a year ago (c.77 minutes). And the fact I made it round...

Last Sunday, I attended a very professional, very inspiring (and very good value) training day organised by Run England (part of England Athletics) in preparation for the Bath Half in March 2012. Run England organise lots of events as part of the national...

Last week, I bought a shiny little book called Proprioception: Making Sense of Barefoot Running by Lee Saxby, co-produced by Vivo Barefoot (though not advertising the shoes at all). It is a very short production - only 40 pages. More a pamphlet than a...

It may have passed you by, but yesterday was World Vegan Day . Although vegans get to answer questions - endlessly - about their food choices every day of the year, World Vegan Day is an opportunity to celebrate and promote a lifestyle which...

It seems a fairly universal phenomenon. While male runners can run the streets without attracting undue attention, women runners regularly get men (it's always men) shouting at them. "Go on!" , "Keep going!" , " Come on girls...

Perhaps the hardest thing after starting running is keeping going. Particularly as the nights draw in and the sofa and TV beckon. It helps to tap into some ace running buddies, and that's what the Women's Running Network has provided for me...

The Number One challenge is women's shoes. I don't mean running shoes. I mean high heels, kitten heels, wedges, block heels and platforms. They're unnatural. They raise our heels high into the air, shortening our calves, they squeeze our...

I've been lucky. I decided to start my running career - such as it is - running barefoot. I didn't have any habits to unlearn because I'd never actually run before so I was a clean slate, more or less. That doesn't mean it's been easy...

This week has been more about thinking and talking about running, rather than actually doing much myself! Sometimes you just get weeks like that - and I think it doesn't do to beat yourself up about it. After all, you can only change what's...

My running story began almost exactly twelve months ago when I signed up to the Running With The Girls 10-week course, run by the local council. Several of my friends and colleagues had been on it and had all raved about how well-organised, friendly and...

I never thought running was for me. I mean, come on. It doesn't seem like a very sane or healthy pastime to non-runners. I did know some running enthusiasts and they all seemed to have dodgy knees, dodgy hips, dodgy backs, bad feet, bad legs, and...