Mummy, my legs hurt

Where: Glenbrook, Blue Mountains Distance: 2.5km Duration: Approx 1 hour Despite living a stone's throw from Glenbrook and exploring the national park almost weekly, we hadn't yet been to this peaceful track overlooking Erskine Creek. First up however, we stopped along the way at Blue Pool, a great walk for the smallest of people that still feels interesting and 'bushwalky' enough, even if you happen to be going at toddler pace. I've been here a few times solo and always find it a stark contrast to the busyness of nearby uber-popular Jellybean pool. With Jellybean having its own large carpark it is a rare occasion when you can enjoy it without crowds. Unfortunately with crowds comes irresponsible people and in turn lots of rubbish. It's crushing to see how much litter is left carelessly at Jellybean, and likewise, how much makes its way down the creek to its confluence along the Nepean River. On this day, we were able to enjoy the rubbish-free Bl...

100 days to go...     When I last shared my thoughts we were only a week or two out from UTA, which is now over and done with for another year! It was a magic weekend; I finished feeling strong in the 22k with a time of 3:20, but the highlight of the weekend was both volunteering and seeing off all my amazing friends competing in the 50 & 100K races. I also got to meet Sam and Anna from Rapid Ascent at the UTA expo which was awesome! So, now that I've started training for 100KM in earnest, it's beginning to come up in conversation with a few people, both runners and non-runners . The typical response from my non running friends is a combination of wow, what?! and why??? Of course my running friends invariably get it, and their response is more like where, when and woohoo! :) Numerous times I've found myself unable to answer that 'why' question concisely . Why travel 100 kilometres on foot, in a world of cars and technology and automated ever...

Another amazing weekend in the mountains, done and dusted! Last year I decided to sign up for the 22k race at UTA, having done the 50K twice before. I really enjoyed the alternative 2017 course for the 50K, which was changed at the 11th hour due to weather concerns. This new, more runnable route took in most of the first half of the 100K course. I would have loved to have done this part again, but knew I wasn't ready to commit to the full hundo, so decided to have a go at the 22 and really try and run it strongly. Usually I would tell myself that I'm just 'here for a good time' and perhaps not push as hard as I could when things get tough. This time, I wanted to do better and not just waddle along like it was an everyday training run. UTA weekend often coincides with a huge work event for me, so after running Narrabeen Allnighter in January and doing some sporadic, non-specific training in the month or so following, I just didn't have the mental space to...

I've been training for the Surf Coast Century for a month or so now, and here's my second blog post.  If you missed the first installment, here's a link: Journal entry #1  //  156 days to go *** Journal entry #2  //  122 days to go Hi everyone! Since January I've been working towards two races at Ultra-Trail Australia - the 22km, followed by the 951 stair challenge the next day. Although this has been my focus for a few months, I've tried not to think too far ahead and skim over my UTA preparation because bigger things are on my mind... 100 bigger things to be exact...! UTA has been my goal for the last couple of months and I'm hoping to run it comfortably but also run it well, rather than faff about and tell myself it's a training run. This is a bit of a story I tell myself if I feel under prepared, or not confident that I'll get a respectable result - but this time I want to push myself harder than usual and really give it my all. I...

Near Blackheath NSW Time: 2 hours Distance: 7km loop This beautiful lush rainforest walk is well known and well publicised as one of the best attractions in the mountains. We had a kid free weekend so Richie and I were able to enjoy this snowy(!) day in peace. This loop walk is jaw droppingly beautiful; prehistoric in its scale, and lush green everywhere you look. There's so much information online about this walk that I'll just share some photos and skip all the details. Suffice to say there's a hell of a lot of stairs up and down, but the views are totally worth it. On our way back down the mountains, we stopped for a moment to check out the walk to Lake Burrogorang lookout overlooking Warragamba Dam. This walk is about 2.5km from the parking area at the end of Kings Tableland Rd. It was absolutely freezing by this stage - we'd got warm walking around Blackheath then cooled down so I was well and truly frozen when we got ou...