March 2024

March was such a busy month that it’s difficult to pick out the highlights without inadvertently missing something! We had a couple of runners taking part in the Greener Miles Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra. Both ran with very different goals, achieved these and had a brilliant day in the process. Elsewhere, S sucessfully completed both the Chester 50 Ultra and the Allendale Challenge – a marathon distance fell race with over 2000m elevation! Not to be outdone on those hills, M also completed the very challenging Cheviot Pendulum race.

Slightly less wild and hilly but no less noteable, F achieved a huge 10K PB at Salford 10K, and A got a 1/2 Marathon PB at Chester.

And finally, we had a couple of athletes running round in circles: J completed the 4-lap Fewston and Swinsty Trail Marathon – as First Lady! – and P completed 65km at the Heaton Park Ultraloop event.

I could go on, but hopefully I’ve not forgotten any big highlights. What a month, looking forward to seeing what April brings.

February 2024

February has been a month of where many athletes are now looking towards those 2024 goals. It’s such an honour to be able to plan the year out with runners and to share in their goals and hopes for the coming months. We’ve got loads of exciting races coming up this year: I’m very excited to see lots of runners signed up to the Manchester Backyard Ultra, which will be the first Backyard experience for most. Also plans for first time runs across all distances from 10K right the way through to 214 miles.

February has also seen the start of the Isaac’s Tea Trail group training plan, and we had our first online discussion session talking about nutrition and hydration for training and race day. It’s not too late to join in if you have a decent base mileage to start with – get in touch and I can tell you more.

December 2023 to January 2024

Into January and a group of us had a day out at the National Running Show – it was good to chat wth organisers of some of the great green initiatives there as well as listening to some excellent talks.

Yes, I have sneakily combined 2 months, but it was a very busy period over Christmas and the New Year so I’m just catchng up on myself. firstly it was a credit to all the RWM crew that all of them managed to combine the festivities with at least some ongoing training. F went 1 better and chose the period between Christmas and New Year to bag herself a new 10K PB at Ribble Valley.

Several athletes also picked up awards at their club fell and road championship – well done to all of you, and a special mention to D who won her club Endeavour award.

Finally, it was a busy few days on the RWM WhatsApp group as everybody got very excited about dot-watching the Spine race. I’m hoping to be there in summer 2025 and hopefully with some coached runners too.

November 2023

Whist many runners are now getting stuck into some winter base training, there’s still been a fair bit of racing going on. It’s always good to see a runner brave enough to target a specific race, invest all their training into it, overcome obstacles, and achieve their goal on race day. This was the case this month for J. as she achieved her goal of a half marathon PB after several months of training for it. Elsewhere saw a successful completion of the Warrington Way Ultra and a very successful backyard ultra debut for P, who completed an impressive 100KM (15 ‘yards’). Hopefully lots more yards to follow in the future! Finally, 2 runners achieved PBs in the Wilmslow Festive 10K – great results although one reported that she was a bit annoyed that she was still beaten by a gang of Christmas trees!

Local coached runners were also able to attend a RWM track session, where we focused on drills and speed builds. I’ll be running another session soon to build on this work.

October 2023

Another month packed with events – with the half marathon distance taking centre stage. A couple of athletes took on the Rochdale Half: One (pictured) achieved her PB and then went on to finish the super-tough Oldham Half in an almost identical time a couple of weeks later. For the other runner, it was her first Half Marathon so her successful completion was a massive achievement and only the start of her journey towards a marathon. Elsewhere we had runners successfully completing the Langdale Half Marathon and famous Eryri (Snowdon) Marathon. Another runner completed her first half marathon since her journey to recovery from an injury last year. Congratulations to all!

Finally, several people were involved in cross country action at the beginning of the new season, with a couple of runners dipping their toe in the water (or perhaps more appropriately, lower leg in the mud!) for the first time. Some athletes have chosen to have cross-country specific sessions within their training, so it will be good to see how the season pans out for all.

Away from running action, we had a RWM social, with around 10 of us getting together for a meal and to see if we recognised each other without running kit on. A lovely evening and chance to get to know each other better and support each other in our running journeys.