John Kelly was one of my favourite athletes there today. He's just come from winning the Spine race. Coincidentally (or maybe not), he was also the last competitor to actually complete the Barkley marathons ..... And that was four years ago. What a dude. Find a hill nearby, run up it lots. Maybe ten to a hundred reps. Apparently the boredom is good for you as well as the physical training.

Lowri Morgan gave an enthusiastic talk discussing her accomplishments - her training techniques alone were an inspiration

A hush went across the crowd when Laz Lake entered the room, the brains behind the infamous and slightly insane Barkley marathons . When he asked who, in the audience, wanted to apply for this crazy event - Well, only three or four people put their hands up, from what I could see (er, that did not include me). The concept is genius and hilarious and marginally weird, some might say. The man himself - brilliant. And obviously much, much revered in this country as well as the U.S.

Spent quite a bit of time at the 'ultra zone', predictably enough. Caught a decent talk by Renee McGregor, a sports nutritionist. (eat early in the race... Potatoes are good!)

National Running Show

Made it down to the National running show at Birmingham Nec. It's an absolute runners dream hmmm... Geeky??? I don't care. Love it

Good reminder, thank you.

I am having mild panic attacks already about kit and whether my training will be enough.

This is huge. What a massive, massive journey.

The Montane Spine race is taking place this week.... After waking up on Sunday morning to heavy winds and rain, I was grateful not to be out there.

I have become completely hooked on dot watching (c'mon Eugeni, you can make it this year!), and am in complete awe of these guys out there in the dark at the moment, keep going, keep going, keep going.....