Tom Roper's Weblog

The 2018 Brighton half marathon was, I see, my fifth race here, though the route changes often. Seek not to understand the mind of the race planner, mortals. For this year, they sent us out to Ovingdean for the first…

I ran thrice this week; I’m not sure this constitutes a taper, as though I scored fewer miles, they were all tough runs. On Wednesday it was a Striders run, though our numbers were depleted — something to do with…

It may be a little late, but I’ve started to pack more runs into my week. This week consisted of: Monday’s track night, with Seaford Striders, at the Lewes Leisure Centre track. After a warm-up, our group ran 300m with…

The Brighton Half is now three weeks away. This week’s excursions consisted of: A Seaford Striders run on Wednesday; I took my group for a five mile run round the second half of the winter route. Once again, they outpaced…

There are now four weeks to go till the Brighton Half. From this moment forward, apart from a small sherry when Mrs R and I watch University Challenge tomorrow, no alcoholic drink will pass my lips until I cross the…

After a Wednesday night with the Striders, when I once again fed the insatiable appetite of my group for interval training, and a Peacehaven parkrun, the most significant run of the week was today’s, a ten miler to Bo Peep…

It was not a bad week, all things considered. I recorded a respectable 18 miles, led a hard intervals session with the Seaford Striders on Wednesday, ran a solitary dark evening run round Seaford on Friday, and then on Sunday…

Slow progress, but progress nevertheless. In the first week of 2018 I ran the Seaford Striders New Year’s Day run, about 5k on the seafront, some short runs to and from a gym in Brighton where I went for a…

I’m back from the Seaford Striders New Year’s Day run, in one piece, although I hadn’t run for ten days. It’s time to sum up 2017 and look forward to 2018.  In 2017 I ran 559 miles. For comparison, in…

it seemed such a good plan. With nearly two whole weeks off for Christmas and the New Year, I would run most days, and start to build distance and stamina, with longer runs that it’s hard to fit in when…

Training officially began for next year’s Brighton half marathon last Monday. The week was not a typical week, though, so rather than follow the programme, whose demands are in any case very modest in the first of sixteen weeks, I…

Tonight the second Seaford Striders Couch to 5k completed the programme, the ninth week, with 30 minutes of non-stop running. It was a chilly night, and my group, who self-identify as medium, set a cracking pace. We finished back at…

I had a place in the Lewes Downland Ten, which was run this morning. I was sorry not to be able to use it, because of family commitments, and reasons of state. Instead I ran a very short local run.…

It’s an awfully long time since I wrote about running; my last post looked forward to the Seaford Half, an event I missed thanks to my knee.  Since then notable runs have been: 10 parkruns, including my 50th. These were…