We finally did it. After picking up our camper van back in January, life seemed determined to keep us off the road. Between a mountain of “house stuff, “ unexpected snow and even a bout of shingles, the van sat waiting – until this past weekend. We finally made our escape to Edale for our long-awaited first night away.

The Great British weather was unexpectedly kind, bathing the landscape in sunshine, as we tackled the climb up to Hollins Cross on Sunday afternoon. It was a classic peaks walk; six hilly kilometres featuring energetic stream jumps and what felt like a gallon of mud across the fields. We finished the day exactly how you should; tucked into the Nag’s Head, celebrating our first successful outing over a couple of creamy pints of Guinness and some well-earned hearty pub grub.

The first night in the van was a resounding success, thanks largely to the new roll-out mattress which proved to be incredibly cosy. Waking up to the quiet of the outdoors with hot coffee and toasted crumpets felt like the height of luxury.

We also had some top-tier entertainment right out our window. We spent the morning watching two men across the field engaged in a desperate battle against the wind, running back and forth in a frantic bid to stop their stove from toppling over. To be fair, they had been our main source of amusement the evening before too; we spent over an hour captivated by the spectacle of them pitching their tents, scratching their heads, and generally grappling with the Great Outdoors. Although as armchair critics we did make some of our own blunders, forgetting cutlery and having to stir our coffees with a penknife.

Our next trek took us up toward Barber Booth and back – a relatively modest six-kilometre loop that was made far more dramatic by a ferocious, unrelenting wind. It was the kind of ‘breeze’ that physically buffets you, threatening to knock you off balance with every gust. As we braced ourselves, we couldn’t help but wonder what the conditions were like up on the exposed plateau of Kinder Scout. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for adverse weather; there is something about battling the elements that makes you feel profoundly, vibrantly alive.

Away from the van, our running training is hitting its stride. We’ve both successfully worked up to 18km of hilly trail, and with that under our belts, we’ve feeling more than ready for the off-road marathon in a few weeks. Looking further ahead, we’ve plotting a major adventure in September, though the specifics are still under wraps. We’ve currently debating whether we’ll both be on foot, or if I’ll take the lead runner role with Chris providing the ultimate mobile support in the camper van. We’ll have a clearer picture in a few months, but for now, we’re just relishing these run-walk outings and enjoying the rare feeling of being injury free.

Late last year Chris and I decided to plan an adventure for September 2026. Since my legs are holding up – or at least not flaring up when I run – we’ve put together a training plan to build our endurance up to moving 30km a day carrying full backpack/tent etc.

Our planned route should take about two and a half weeks, but I’m keeping the specifics under wraps for now.

I don’t want to overpromise only to be sidelined by tripping over a log – or knowing my luck over our very skittish cat.

We are just getting started again with our current long run sitting at 13km. A long way for some of course but still short in Ultra training terms. Over the next months we will be building that mileage up alongside other short runs, dragging our willing bodies to the gym, cycling and hiking. I’m craving those bigger miles, a chance for a long-run mini adventure, exploring hilly trails on foot, finding new cafes and rewarding ourselves with a tasty hit of latte and cake.

I’m hesitant to say my gluteal tendinopathy is resolved but there has been significant improvement. I walk and run pain-free but I still experience some soreness if I’ve done too much sitting and with certain gym exercises.

My latest physio session was a total eye-opener. She identified some key areas for me to strengthen – specifically my psoas (yes, I had to Google it too!}. We also did a deep-dive running analysis; we’d touched on it before, but this was the full, ‘official version’.

She asked me to run slightly faster than my normal comfy pace. After videoing me from every conceivable angle, we sat down together to watch the footage. She paused the video and drew a line on the screen from my hip to the floor to show me two issues: I was overstriding; landing with my leading foot way out in front of me as well as striking hard with the heel of my foot. These habits don’t just increase injury risk but also slow you down as you are essentially braking with every step.

She got me to run again and put a metronome on paced at 180bpm. She told me to run to the beat. This is apparently the optimal cadence. My natural one is more like 160. I wasn’t allowed to speed up the treadmill to reach this cadence. Instead I needed to turn my legs over faster to achieve this. She took more videos and once again we regrouped to watch them back. I was surprised that with only 5 minutes of advice my landing foot was now directly under my hip (as it should be). I was now landing flat on my foot rather than on my heel.

She asked me to resume running and this time asked me to imagine I was bounding through long grass. The goal was to fix my ‘flight’ – or lack there of. Normally I’m a shuffler; my feet barely leave the ground, making it a miracle I generate any forward momentum.

Imagining the grass I felt like I was skipping with exaggerated high knees. Whilst this is how it’s felt, the reality was more modest: I was finally adding a little lift to my stride.

Videos were taken and we sat down to look them over. It was amazing. As well as the added flight, I now had a clean toe-landing and improved rear foot kick.

Literally only 10 minutes training and my form was improved immensely.

She noticed I still looked a bit stiff, but reassured me its natural since the new form takes time to stick. and that this was natural. For the next 5 weeks, I’m to do some of my running to a metronome and visualise that long grass. I’ll then head back for part 2 – tackling my narrow gait. But one thing at a time.

In other news I spent a lovely day yesterday with a friend. We went to the Portico Library in Manchester to do a relaxing yoga session with a new teacher. Today I had my usual Thursday yoga lesson, so I’m feeling very relaxed and stretched now.

Last week hubs and I went to see ‘to kill a mockingbird’ at the Lowry. It was utterly superb and made me want to read the book. I thought this t-shirt was appropriate for a play about rebellion as an imperative against hatred and inequalities. It also reflects how I’m feeling about the world right now when I see the news (Note that the picture of me wearing the t-shirt has been deleted by wordpress/Facebook – presumably because it includes a picture of a woman giving a certain signal with her middle finger -hey ho).

Tonight hubs and I are off to see my brother play in his band. Looking forward to some good music and a few beers.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Gosh it’s a whole month since I last wrote. I don’t know how that time disappeared. A few times I’ve wanted to put pen to paper or rather finger to keyboard. Somehow, something always got in the way. Excuses, excuses.

After the incident with ‘Ant’ I got back to running and lifting weights and was feeling pretty good. It felt like full steam ahead. We have even discussed a possible adventure later in 2026. A run from point A to point B. Together. With backpacks. I’ll update in due course if this does seem likely to go ahead.

In the last two weeks I had a few incidents of ‘that’ dull ache at the top of my thigh. Sigh. It had pretty much disappeared previously and I was being so careful. I’m not 100 percent sure what antagonised ‘it’. I think I may have sat around too much during the ‘not allowed to run phase’ and then maybe gone a bit too mental in the gym with squats and weights. However, we are in the land of guesswork here.

None the less, all is not lost. I had a definite ache yesterday for example but today it’s gone. I have read extensively on this matter and for some people you have to ‘manage’ it. I hope that isn’t me and I can get back to where I was a few weeks ago but we will see. I try to keep my glass half full.

I also saw the physio a few weeks ago for a follow up. She gave me the latest rehab exercises I can now do (I’m not yet doing them all – until I’m without this ache for at least a week).

These exercises involve jumping off boxes, doing a lunge and hopping on the front foot. Sitting on a bench and taking a long jump from a sitting position. All of these plyometric exercises are designed to get your body stronger by mimicking the impact of running but in a safer more controlled way. One thing I find tricky is making sure the landing sticks. She showed me the most important element of the long jump is ensuring you stay on two feet solidly as you finish. No wobbles. This sticking strengthens the legs. The reason it works is because you cause micro damage to the muscles (bones too) and then when you take a day or two to rest, the muscles and bones repair and become more resilient. If you are interested in the ‘rough’ science (summarised without data here apologies); they’ve sawn through the legs of dead (obviously) runners versus people who are not doing impactful sport of a similar/older age and found the bone density stronger in the runners. I imagine hiking, dancing, tennis etc etc would have similar benefits. I use this example only to illustrate the purpose of box jumping.

Apart from running, hiking and jumping off chairs into gym oblivion, we’ve been settling more into our new house and area. I’m making some friends and we frequently find ourselves stopping to chat to the locals who are incredibly friendly.

Have any of you got some 2026 goals? I love new year and nearly always have a resolution. It feels like a chance to have a go at something new or another go at something previously tried.

For me I’ve got a few this year.

• I intend to finally finish editing my book. It’s got 49 mini chapters so I aim to edit one a week. Give or take, that takes me to the end of the year.
• Hubs and I are doing dry January. Ah not that you sigh. I know. It’s so predictable. But hey, I was busy cutting down anyway so we figured why not.
• Since I’ve retired I’ve had this bad habit of watching tv in the morning with a cup of coffee. It came about because my husband doesn’t share my love for detective dramas or reality tv shows. He has a tendency to say things like ‘wow who watches that cxxx’ or ‘this is really really bad’ or he doesn’t say anything but sits there rolling his eyes. Finally I found that if I watched my favourite shows in the morning (whilst he is at work) I could avoid the running commentary. However, I realise that this early tv watching is stopping me from getting on with my day and was extending into a bad habit. Thus my third resolution is to only switch the tv on after 7pm in the evening. As for hubs I’ll have to find another solution. Hmm. 🤔 Any ideas?
• Last of all I am going to actually start taking all the supplements I’ve bought that sit around in bottles gathering dust. Vitamin D, Magnesium and Collagen.

Right thats me until next time. Let me know if you have any resolutions.

And now for some pictures of various lovely walks and outings.

Lovely colours on canal boats spotted during a walk

The last month has been very up and down. I started to make some small progress in my running, getting my long run up to 7km (woohoo lol). The rehab work has been coming along nicely and I’ve been maintaining the constant movement and walking.

That’s the ‘up’ parts. The down parts this month were mostly getting this or that virus and having to bunk down, each time for a few days in front of Netflix wearing my sheep slippers. I’ve no idea why I seem to get so many of these things that are going around but a friend of mine has said the same thing. So at least I have company.

Nonetheless, I’ve been bouncing back to fitness in between each bout of Netflix boredom and getting back to sporty like things.

Recently I feel a lot better (touch wood) but now I have a new friend, who is going to stop me running for the new few weeks. I’ve named my mate ‘Ant’ because it looks like an ant crawled across my right eyeball then died there or else went into permanent hibernation.

Unbeknownst to me a permanent floater whilst generally harmless can be extremely serious. I’d had Ant for a few weeks and did nothing about it as I really didn’t know this. Thankfully I finally stopped off at the opticians on Thursday and asked to see someone. When I told them what was up they said I needed to see someone with 24 hours as it can potentially cause retinal detachment. What now??

An appointment was set up at another place the next day. Needless to say my sleep was not great that night. The next morning I went along to get my eyeballs looked at. It was the first time for me getting the dilation drops. They are kind of fun aren’t they.

He said at the beginning that this is a sign of getting older and it’s called PVD (posterior vitreous detachment) and is mostly nothing to worry about. However, in 15% of cases it causes a tear in the retina and in a small number of people it causes full retina detachment. In those cases you need to get it fixed right away.

How come I never heard of this before? The PVD bit on its own happens to most of us eventually. I think its something like 75% of people over the age of 70 and a lot over the age of 50.

I found myself getting irritated by how long it was taking him to stare into his little machine turning a dial this way and that way; simply waiting to hear the words….. ‘yes its just PVD, you can go home now’. Instead at the end of the review, he said ‘hmmm’.

What does he mean, hmmm?.

That isn’t what I wanted to hear.

‘What’s up – is everything ok?”.

“I’m not sure” he says.

He went on to explain that I had some spots of blood at the back of my eye from a small haemorrhage and that he couldn’t rule out a tear because he couldn’t see all of my eye with his equipment.

So this was on the Friday and he referred me to the hospital to get it fully checked out on the Monday. This meant a less fun weekend of waiting to find out. I realise that even a tear is not a disaster. They simply laser it, maybe you get a cool eyepatch (I’m not sure – but I wanted one) and off you go. But its none the less not nice to be in limbo not knowing.

Thankfully on Monday after I went for a very cool test in which he stuck a small magnifying glass thing (with a small suction pad) on my eye, it was confirmed no tear. Hurrah. The mediocre bad news was that I shouldn’t lift weights or run for another 2 weeks as apparently in the early stages you are more prone to a tear. So fair enough then.

I got up on Tuesday morning and went to the gym to walk 4km on the treadmill and do all my rehab exercises; just without weights. It’s all good and I was in a great mood now I know what is going on. So thats when I named him. Ant, that is. Now he is harmless, he is allowed to be my friend.

Ant will not actually disappear but apparently my brain will eventually stop seeing him. For now he is keeping me company.

I’ve put my physio visit back two weeks and I’ve cancelled my big race for 2026 (because seriously that is just not happening now) but other than that life is good and I’m getting stronger and better at my single leg balancing exercises all the time. Maybe eventually I will be able to stand on the wobble board with one leg and juggle! I might have to learn to juggle first though.

In a few weeks I’ll be back running and finally able to build that up again and maybe even start planning some lovely longer runs.

In the meantime I can walk, so I’m walking as much as I can. I’d love to get over 40km this week – it’s nice to have a mini goal.

It’s nearly a month since I last put pen to paper; well fingers to iPad.

There has been a fair amount of improvement in the hip/thigh department. There is also a way to go. This tendinopathy thing is definitely a long term thing. I am not yet searching for Ultras to sign up for. Not even “short ones”.

The main upside of running less is that I’m spending a lot of time in the gym. Generally around 30 minutes, 6 days a week. I’ve noticed myself getting a lot stronger (as you would expect) and my husband has commented on my changing form (in a complimentary way I should add lol). Strength work is definitely good for toning up if you really put in the time and effort.

My workouts are deliberate, planned and specific (what else would you expect from a planaholic). I do leg and glute strength one day, chest and back another day, arms on a third day. I add in various ab work (tum) to these days. This then gets repeated to make a 6 day cycle. On top of this I do my rehab exercises. I’m noticing small improvements from doing these. It’s not fast but it’s there. Patience is definitely important.

In terms of running I’m only doing 10-12km over the whole week. This is very low mileage indeed. I won’t increase this until I next speak to the physio. I’m walking a lot though. I walk everywhere and also go for a potter most afternoons. I generally cover 30km a week. All in all I’m still doing as much sport as I did before, just a lot less running.

There are a number of differences I notice from doing more gym time and less cardio. Apart from a better body shape, the main one would be my appetite. I’ve gone from a quite hungry person to, I want to eat the contents of the fridge in a wrap now please. I crave protein like mad. Being a pescatarian this means I’m eating more fish than ever (not sure thats good but there you go). I’m also shovelling in lots of other high protein foods. This is not me following the latest trends. This is my body telling me to eat protein. It’s like when you are pregnant and you just know you need to eat crumpets and down it with a Guinness. When you know, you know.

Today I had a protein shake after my workout, alongside my breakfast. For lunch a salmon omelette with bagels. Mid afternoon a yoghurt with pumpkin seeds and granola. I finally feel satiated. Kind of.

I’m looking forward to seeing the physio on Monday. She said that once I reach the stage where nothing is hurting then I can start counting two weeks until my next step; namely the long awaited progression step.

I need to see her to ask what constitutes pain in this context. I no longer feel anything that would classify as a 1/10 pain. However, I have felt twinges, a dull sensation at the top of my thigh (where the pain used to be). I’ve also felt something more aligned to pain but it’s gone away after 10 seconds of standing still. Does this count? I need to check. It would be so nice to finally move to the next stage. I am missing the longer runs and I really really miss the hills.

In other news autumn is here. The fallen leaves in shades of sienna, ochre, green and gold are beautiful. On my outings, I enjoy the pleasure of kicking these whilst on a jog or walk. It’s the same joy as jumping into a puddle in your wellies.

I’m back running. Very short and gentle outings of 3-4km but it makes me sooo happy 😃.

I finally saw the physio at Runners hub, who was excellent. She listened and was very thorough. She checked length of legs, angle of pelvis, strength of many different muscles including smaller ones you don’t think about. She checked mobility.

The final conclusion: I have gluteal tendinopathy rather than hip bursitis (both sit within the term greater trochanter pain syndrome). So I was nearly right. Regardless, it was nice to not only get a diagnosis but further feedback on what I can and can’t do as well as a get back to ultra running program. In short if you’re a runner, I highly recommend her.

She said I can run but only every other day. On the day off I assess if there is any pain and it must be kept under 3/10. I can then increase or decrease volume in line with this. Once I’ve found my line I stick to this during the rehab period. So far I’ve barely experienced a 1/10 so am quite content.

I have a list of isometric exercises to do which I do at the gym with my other strength workouts. Isometrics are where you hold a move. For example lift one leg up and hold the outer thigh against the wall for 10 sec. The leg standing is the leg you are working (this one works the glute).

She confirmed some lordosis (tipping of the pelvis ) but said it wasn’t really bad. I have one glute stronger and the other side of my body is more mobile so my rehab is focussing on individual leg muscle strength or mobility exercises to even things up.

I’m feeling better all the time but it will take a little while. I’m going back for some treatment on a muscle in my back (the QL for those interested). Apparently it’s rock hard and keeps tightening up even when my body doesn’t need to utilise it.

So all looking good. She felt I could still do an Ultra in 2026. Just not sure if it will be the 268 mile race I’ve signed up for or something more palatable like a 60-70 miler (lol).

Although seeing a specialist is not cheap, neither is signing up to races you then can’t do. It feels very worth it.

We are now off on holiday so I’m looking forward to some nice walks and short runs in the sunshine. Plenty of swimming and hitting the hotel gym to do my rehab. Of course we will also be chilling, eating, drinking and inevitably reading lots of books.