I’m not sure what the residents of the leafy, chocolate-box-Surrey village of Nutfield thought last Sunday morning, as their rural community was overrun by swarms of semi-clad men and women, who whooped, hollered and puffed up their chests like wild animals ready to fight to the death. This was no normal Sunday…. This was a Spartan Race Sunday. The Spartan Race, originating from America, is an extreme race that covers 5 kilometres of terrain, combined with a range of challenging obstacles. Before I actually read up on the race details, I imagined the ‘obstacles’ would be similar to an ‘It’s a [...]

For those of you who don’t know, a foam roller is basically like a self-massager; it’s a solid cylinder of firm foam and, according to Wikipedia, foam rolling is a "self-myofascial release (SMR) technique that is used by athletes and physical therapists to inhibit overactive muscles. This form of stretching utilizes the concept of autogenic inhibition to improve soft tissue extensibility, thus relaxing the muscle and allowing the activation of the antagonist muscle blah blah blah blah". And breathe. Still with me? Basically, according to me, Liz, foam rolling is a necessary measure to massage my aching and tight muscles [...]

I'm not a big drinker. I used to be able to knock back half a bottle of wine and feel relatively sober. Nowadays, I drink a small glass or two, and struggle to converse without slurring and saying really stupid things. I also can't handle the next day; I feel tired, sluggish and generally spend most of it vowing to quit drinking alcohol altogether. I think the amount of exercise I do has something to do with it. I don't think my body can tolerate being messed with, it needs all its energy for recovery, not dealing with toxins and [...]

Continued from parts 1 and 2. Have you ever experienced the sensation, where you feel that your mind has somehow left your body, and you’re looking down on yourself, watching, and wondering, “what the hell is going on here?”. Yes? At mile 15, that’s what happened to me. It wasn’t that I was delirious, in fact, I felt fully cognizant, but I knew that something weird was going on in my brain, almost like I was floating effortlessly on a wave created by the deafening din of the crowds. I took another PowerBar energy gel shot and hoped it was [...]

Continued from part 1. At the start line, I met a girl called Vicky. Well, I say “at the start line”, there isn’t an actual start line, unless you’re a celebrity or an elite-runner. Everyone else is allotted a ‘starting pen’. Starting pens are a little like European cattle trucks, only with less cows (although I did see a few people dressed as cows, so it kind of added to the effect of live-animal haulage). Vicky helped to calm my nerves, and as we chatted she told me that she was aiming to ‘just get round’, as I was, and [...]

A 5.50am alarm signalled the start of my London Marathon day, rousing me from a sleep in which I dreamt of nothing but horrifying marathon disasters, such as looking down at my feet just as the starting gun was fired, only to realise I was still wearing my slippers, or even worse, arriving at the start line and being told I’d missed the race completely as I’d got my dates mixed up. Let me tell you, I was glad to be awake. After wolfing down a breakfast of wholemeal toast and boiled eggs, I re-checked my bags for the eleventy [...]

I remember the first time I watched the London Marathon on television. I remember the ice-cold rush that swirled at the bottom of my spine as it slowly crawled towards the nape of my neck, fibre by fibre, spilling into my head with a colliding crash. My eyes scoured over the multi-coloured blanket of motion, an ant-like army of bobbing human heads, an incomprehensible mass of people moving in regimented formation with one shared goal in mind: 26.2 miles. I sat quietly, soaking up the soulful emotion that quietly simmered and weaved its way around the ankles of the runners; [...]

Sunday morning arrived all too quickly for my liking, yet I ignored my weariness and desire to turn over and sleep some more, and sprang out of bed and into the shower, before heading downstairs for breakfast. After wolfing down a buffet of crusty bread, cheese and fruit, washed down with two cups of coffee, we set out to the half-marathon starting line, chatting excitedly in an attempt to dissipate our ever-increasing nerves. Our trusty supporters, Kristin and Vicky, rolled their eyes as Priscilla and I discussed an array of race-day-tactics such as the importance of eating bananas and pacing, and other, [...]