World Mental Health Day 2016 My thoughts on the effectiveness of day-specific awareness days flickers like a seismograph machine needle at a time of intense activity. I simply cannot make up my mind, so let me share some thoughts to see if sharing can help. I awoke with a little bit of dread this morning. Today, in…
Bright lights, dark faces, a theatrical stage or an interrogation; which response will this be, paranoia or exhilaration? Tracing my thoughts back to the steep, winding climbs of the Berriedale Braes, the heady heights of the cliffs of Caithness, the storm into the harbour at John O'Groats where even the island of Stroma was hidden in…
Brain Training for going into the Unknown Recently I was asked to come up with some words about how I am training my brain for my challenge to run 1680 miles across the UK and back again, when the furthest I've ever completed is (just) 32 miles in one day. My first thought was: am…
It's like a dream come true. I'm training at the gym, working to strengthen up my core, my glutes, my knees, my arms and my back because weak buttocks can ruin a runner (I read that in a book), and I don't want a weak butt. And while I'm set with my morning and mid-run…
Two words have revealed themselves to mean something very different to me over the past four weeks. I thought I understood adventure. I thought I understood what it meant to be mindful. We often hear that phrase (mostly from our parents or teachers), to be "mindful of that step", or "mindful of the traffic". And…
As much as I have pilfered the title, there'll be no Dickensian quotes here, rest assured. I'm convinced I'm viewed as melodramatic enough. Starting in the middle of a tale just wouldn't be protocol so I'll backtrack a tad and summarise. I used to be a runner. Not to any degree of professionalism, I already had…
