Rob on running

One of the questions that I get asked most often is why I do it.  What on earth motivates you to run that far? I’m sure its a familiar question to other ultra runners, and I’m grateful that many have shared their reasons with me over the last few years. It’s perhaps a more perceptive question than it appears - one of the things that I have learnt along my ultra journey is that your “why” is tremendously important.  In every race, as in life, there will be tough patches and being able to connect to a strong reason for being there is critically important to being able to respond positively in those moments. Let’s start at the beginning.  I confess, when I started running long my reason wasn’t entirely clear - that clarity has emerged over the subsequent months and years.  Simply enough, I read Scott Jurek’s book in which he discussed how hard he found UTMB, and the contrarian part of me decided if it was that tough I’d better try it. Over 3 years and 8 Ul...

UTMB 2018 Race day awoke to a mixed and deteriorating forecast, and two route minor changes texted to us by the organisers.  I managed to get some fitful midday sleep which in itself was a big improvement over last year, got kitted up and got to the start a full 90 mins before the off, to make sure I got a good position - not because I wanted to go out fast but because I didn’t want to get trampled!  Given it was raining, there were only a handful there and I ended up right behind the pen reserved for the elites.  Learning from experience I’d brought a camp chair, extra layer and a delicious snack prepared by my daughter.... The time to the start passed quickly as the atmosphere built, I found myself smiling with anticipation and gratitude knowing the adventure we were about to be setting out on, the incredible environment we were in, and how well prepared I was - I felt really confident. Those of us who had been organised enough to be there early were pretty rob...