• To be alive …

    ”The turmoil of emotion that permeates my every day – the doubts, the fears, the hopes, the apprehensions, the joy – is held in suspension. There is a quiet within my movement. I think. But… (Read More)

  • Bold, beautiful and brutal

    Bold, beautiful and brutal – it is all of these and more – Ultra Tour Monte Rosa!  

  • The Run

        We all have one. That run. Its physical location may change as we move house, region, country, continent. But it is the run that is always with us. It is the run that… (Read More)

  • ke garne?

        There is a saying here in Nepal that says it how it is. Ke garne? What to do? – because sometimes you just don’t know. And when you don’t know what to do; then… (Read More)

  • upwards towards the Larkya La (5140m), November 2012

    the ‘inbetween’

      I’m still loitering in the ‘in between’. Quite literally … I’m loitering between the sky high trails of Manaslu and the wilds of Mustang. I’m lucky. To be running again, to have these opportunities is a… (Read More)

  • winds

      The foehn wind was blowing this morning. The wind that heralds change. But there was another reason for my restlessness. I’ve shut the door. I’m making a journey. My things, neither really belongings nor… (Read More)

  • anchors

    If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things. Henry Miller.   Excitement,… (Read More)

  • lines

      Sometimes life is about lines. The ones that we cross and the ones that we don’t. I broke into a packet of my precious supply of Mustang (tsampa) biscuits today. And no I wasn’t… (Read More)

  • yielding

      Mat. One 161cm x 63cm x 0.6cm dark purple mat. This is my world. For now. Purple. Ironically the colour of peace of mind, spiritual fulfilment, good judgement? And magic and mystery… From here:… (Read More)

  • flow

    The mountains taught me a lesson this morning. A lesson that I’ve learnt before, and will learn again. And again and again. Of course the mountains have something to teach us everyday, but that’s not… (Read More)

  • perception

    Moving, in the dark cold of predawn. A (heartbreakingly beautiful) winter day waiting to break. The mountain ridge ahead becoming just discernable, etched against the darkness of the night sky. The nightday daynight so clear… (Read More)

  • aspirations

    What are your aspirations for 2013? What are your hopes for this spring? Are you looking for something different? Are you looking for a physical challenge, or maybe a freedom of mind, or a lightness… (Read More)

  • thank you

    It is all too easy to forget to say Thank You for something until it is taken from you. So as 2012 becomes 2013 … 2012, I thank you: – for all of the 366 days,… (Read More)

  • fear

    Fear (in some guise) is something that is with us every day, much as we might wish otherwise.  But facing our fears might be the only way to see the beauty that is staring us… (Read More)

  • beauty

    Yes, another post already.  You see, the feet don’t have quite so much ‘work’ to do at the moment, so it is the turn of the hands, for a (possibly short) while at least. I… (Read More)

  • feet

    I might sometimes talk about spirit. But our spirit, mind, heart, soul are inextricably linked to our physical body, at least in this life, and as we are living it at the moment. Our eyes might… (Read More)

  • spirit

    Running on those trails in the sky ….. Happy days. I left some blood, sweat, tears, laughs and smiles out on those trails in the sky around Manaslu (8156m) – the ‘Mountain of Spirit’. Nepal… (Read More)

  • running with a little bit of pride and a lot of humility

    The light is coming back into the sky.  The days are becoming longer and the winter months are drawing to a close. Soon the snowy trails will be melted out and the weather will be… (Read More)

  • change

    All is change; all yields its place and goes. – EPITECTUS The cows came home from the alp today …. they passed by our house on the narrow cobbled street, bells clanging. Their return heralds… (Read More)

  • I love the upward ways

    I love the upward ways to the sun tipped crest of the mountains High over the billowy world; Where the wind sings hymns of praise,  And the snows break into fountains, And life is a… (Read More)

  • movement

    ‘Stillness is what creates love.  Movement is what creates life.  To be still and still moving – this is everything!’ DO HYUN CHOE When we can be still within our movement, and yet move within… (Read More)

  • happy new year

    “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.  There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the… (Read More)

  • dreams of a journey

    Dreams of a journey …… Sometimes things don’t always happen as we plan or as we hope. We had a dream to make an expedition to Cho Oyu – to reach the summit and then… (Read More)

  • namaste

    The sky is the daily bread of the eyes. RALPH WALDO EMERSON   Until the end of October I am on expedition in the Himalaya – please forgive me – I may not be able… (Read More)

  • alone, in the clear air and searching sunlight

    Alone, in the clear air and searching sunlight, we are afoot with the quiet gods, and men can know each other and themselves for what they are. A.F. MUMMERY In three short weeks we leave… (Read More)

  • the artist is nothing without the gift

    The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. EMILE ZOLA Running is an art ….. So maybe we need a little bit of a gift …. But even when… (Read More)

  • the longest day of the year

    Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf. RABINDRANATH TAGORE Spring melts into summer the days lengthen, and so do the thoughts …. a time… (Read More)

  • alpine trail running in Chamonix

      Would you like to run on some mountain trails? We are hosting a training course in the Alps this summer at the end of June …. based in Chamonix, with the option of either… (Read More)

  • knowing yourself for what you are

    “Alone, in the clear air and searching sunlight, we are afoot with the quiet gods, and men can know each other and themselves for what they are.” MUMMERY, 1894 Knowing yourself for what you are… (Read More)

  • the hardest race

    ‘Be faithful to that which exists within yourself‘. ANDRE GIDE I was just asked to write a short piece on ‘the hardest race’. It made me think a little ….The hardest race, the toughest race?… (Read More)

  • perfection

      ‘IF a man walks in the woods for the love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a… (Read More)

  • for everything there is a time

    ‘But like of each thing that in season grows‘ WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE For everything there is a time – it gives life depth and vibrance. But sometimes, just sometimes, we wish it were time again for… (Read More)

  • disappointment and hope

    “We must accept finite disappointment, but never loose infinite hope.“ MARTIN LUTHER KING Stars in a mountain sky after a beautiful autumn day in Austria. I’m here and not on route to Italy as planned…. (Read More)

  • seven days

    “For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” VAN GOGH Tonight I know nothing with any certainty. But there are stars in a clear mountain… (Read More)

  • a grimshaw moon

    “Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” LAO TZUSo tonight the moon is half hidden by a little cloud – but it is a still and beautiful evening. It is a true… (Read More)

  • change

    “People do not resist change; they resist having change imposed on them” FRITJOF CAPRA Life is at the moment a rollercoaster of constant change – a night here, a night there …. Sometimes hard to… (Read More)

  • look to the hills

    “Look to the hills, from whence cometh your help.” PSALM 121 And I have been looking …… Sitting in the Kirchplatz in Zermatt one week ago and my heart was already sad to leave. Some… (Read More)

  • running high, running far

    “Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I… (Read More)

  • sitting down

    Trust no thought arrived at sitting down ….. SHEEHAN, Running and Being It’s true. Or at least that’s the way it feels to me? My head works when I’m running or when I’m walking. Lose… (Read More)

  • another day of training

    Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can. CARLYLE Two weeks after the 78km Swiss Alpine Davos, and one week after the Gondo Event with its double marathon …. Friday… (Read More)

  • only those who risk going too far

    Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. T.S. ELIOT Just one short week after the Swiss Alpine Davos – too soon for a tough event such… (Read More)

  • we judge ourselves

    We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW But sometimes, just sometimes …. it is hard to even ourselves judge… (Read More)

  • the future

    The future depends on what we do in the present. MAHATMA GANDHI The head said don’t run …. The heart said try …. I tried. I started, I finished and some miracle was working with… (Read More)

  • adventure means risking something

    Adventure means risking something, and its only when we are doing that, that we know what a splendid thing life is and how well it can be lived …. GERBOULT Bettmeralp … they call it… (Read More)

  • where our roots are

    The land! That is where our roots are. There is the basis of our physical life. The further we get away from the land, the greater our insecurity. HENRY FORD So maybe the mountains are… (Read More)

  • boldness

    Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. GOETHE Do you ever wake up in the morning and not know where you are? It seems… (Read More)

  • when I rest my feet

      When I rest my feet my mind also ceases to function. J G HAMANN After what has felt like a long winter, finally spring has arrived. And with it there is the promise of… (Read More)