So, it's been a while since I managed to write, life has been very busy.  I had fallen off the cool impossible path which I had so much enthusiasm and confidence in, mainly because I couldn't stick to the plan set out in the book. 

I am a Critical Care Nurse, I work full time and on my work days I either work 12 hour day or night shifts plus travelling on top..... so basically 06:00-21:00 is an average day. Where can I fit in the training there? 

Well, some…

Let me introduce you to Mr. Tommy Hafey, here in Australia he's a living legend for many reasons. 50 years ago he was a professional footballer, playing Australian Rules Football (AFL) in an era when the rules, though basically the same as today, could be manipulated far more easily given the grounds were not flooded with TV camera's. There also was no video review, only one…

Yesterday called for the last, longest training run before the first US Skyrunning Series Ultra event - Cruel Jewel 50 (really 56 miles...ahem!).  I’ve been racing now coming up on 3 years and these are the runs that seem to be a defining point for me in my training. I know it’s coming and I really look forward…

Alright, I’m going to admit something that I would rather not, but in the interest of being smarter and improving my running, I feel it is necessary. I read TCI last year and jumped right into Phase 1. But, Karen, you don’t have a HR monitor. “That’s ok”, I said to myself, “I can run based on feel.” Bad idea #1. 6 weeks into Phase 1 my heel and arch started feeling tight and sore. “I’m sure that’ll go away.” Bad idea #2. Continued to train, since the pain was only bad first thing in the…

I am tucked in between Scott Jurek and Chris McDougall.  The pace is not so hard that we can’t talk, but there was no conversing.  As the trail weaved, curved, and turned back on itself, I tried to get a peak and glance at the Tarahumara Indian ultrarunners positioned single file ahead of Scott and I.  For so long, they were mythical runners to me, and now I was running with…

Being a newbie! I just have a few que

as I am training to run a marathon in Oct and doing the BBMC an 18mile trail over the Brecon Beacons in Wales UK.

1) I find it very hard to run short (3-4 miles) distances, i.e I don't relax until mile 4-5, I still enjoy getting out, so will it still help in my training

2) do we have our own built in speed that we run at?…

I am struggling a bit

 with speedwork. I have developed a little “track anxiety”. Speedwork is fun when it’s easy and you hit the times you want. That hasn’t happened for me lately, I have struggled a bit on the track and now I have some sheer anxiety at the thought of speedwork. I finally broke down and reached out to coach. He encouraged me to visualize my track workout for the next day. I…

Free State Trail Half Marathon – Lawrence, KS

Saturday April 19^th I ran the Free State Half for the first time. Keeping pace with every other Trail Nerds event I have been involved with this was a challenging and exciting day. At start time the temperature was about 48 degrees but it was going to warm up quickly. I was not focusing on a specific pace or finish time but I still wanted it to be respectable. Typical to my habits, I…

In a bit of a break from the norm, sort of, I want to post up what is technically, I guess, an old running story. I thought I'd share as it's a chapter from the book I've written about how I went from not-running to running pretty far - I'm virtually ready to publish now, so I guess if anyone is interested in reading the whole thing, then it'll be around soon enough :)

I hope it's ok posting it here as a kind of toe-in-the-water to see if you guys like it. Anyway, here…

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL, I HOPE IT WAS A PEACEFUL AND HAPPY TIME FOR EVERYONE.

On Thursday my family and I flew to Adelaide, spending Easter with my sister's and their families and as always the first thing I packed was my running gear. The weather in Adelaide was fantastic, warm and sunny, so it was great to be outside let alone be outside and running on such beautiful days.

On the Thursday before Easter and Good Friday I completed day's 4 and 5 of Phase 1, Week 6 on grass at a…

Well, there's another day that just drifted away. They slip past almost unnoticed, one by one by one. And they're busy days, full of work and family and everything else that matters. Until you suddenly sit up and think, hey, it's nearly the end of April, that's another month lost by stealth, another month without running. And you start to realize what it means, that yet another season is just going to pass you by. It's a cold feeling in the pit of your gut, to face up to the fact that all…

I've been working with Northeastern State University Army ROTC, doing a running clinic with them monthly since August. Today I had the opportunity to test out the obstacle course with them at Camp Gruber. Here are a few pics!

Eeeeaaaaallllllmooooost...  I did finally get it!…

Trail runner looked forward to her first spring run on the trails in Arkansas. As she stepped onto the trail she remembered the last time she was out there, snow on the ground, animal tracks everywhere to be found. Although a cold morning, spring was in the air and evident in the woods.  The redwood and dogwood blooming, green patches of grass rising up, pushing aside the leaves of winter. Trail runner is training for several…

Well, I haven't posted anything since deciding to try running again.  As I said, I felt particularly unfit and still had the chronic remnants of many injuries received over the years.  Reading Eric's book really inspired me but I realised my feet were in a terrible state from many, many years of wrong shoes and NEVER walking barefoot!  The answer came in the form of Eric's 6 week beginners course.  I am now 4 weeks into it......and LOVING running!  This is a completely new experience for…

Since December we’ve been focusing on training, intentionally avoiding racing early so I can be as ready as possible for my Cool Impossible, the US Skyrunning Series - Ultra. This was my first opportunity to hit the trails racing. I entered the 25k distance so I wouldn’t need much if any recovery following the race and be able to jump right back into training. It was somewhat of a last minute decision to…

I always wonder what's a runner to do when it comes to days when you can't run.

Say, you are on a training plan and you're set to run 30 miles next Sunday. You can't make it because your employer is sending you at the last minute to visit a customer across the country. You'll be in flying all week end long.

What do you do? Do you push this missing day to the following Sunday? Do you just ignore it and move on to the next run?

As I got more…

Have to share my new favorite place to run. It sucks actually...in a really awesome way! I've posted a few pics in the past. It's the World's Highest Hill, Poteau Oklahoma. I have a good friend who lives at the base of Cavanall hill. He has etched trails all over the hill.

Some are…

Hi Everyone

Yesterday my B2R Trail shoes arrived along with a pair for my wife and a pair of the road shoes for my running partner Jeff. All in all it took 3 weeks for them to arrive which is very good given the distance they had to travel and having to clear customs before being delivered. As Jeff is also the local Post Master we opened our shoe boxes in the…

Two years. Two years.

104 weeks since I decided I'd make a bit more of an effort with what used to be a very alien pursuit for me. I've gone from being a panting mess that struggled to make it a couple of times around the local park to running literally thousands of kilometres over the last twenty-four months. I've run through the night, I've run for hours to see the sun rise, I've headed out to find peace and time to think. Sometimes, I've done it with hundreds of…

I found this on my home page today. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2595067/Jogging-actually-BAD-Too-running-increases-risk-early-death.html

The artical above tries to make the case that running can lead to an early death and to me the artical has alot words, a huge headline but says nothing just to get eye balls on their page. I…