Adharanand Finn's Blog, page 2

Vegan runners: can a plant-based diet provide what you need to compete – and win?

Fiona Oakes was a lone crusader when she set up a running club for vegans 15 years ago. Now, she holds four world records

“In 2004, I was the only vegan in the village,” says Fiona Oakes, a multi-world-record-breaking marathon runner. “But now you see vegan runners everywhere.”

An animal lover who set up her own animal sanctuary, Oakes started a running club called Vegan Runners in 2004. The idea came about after she saw the long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe on TV and spotted an opportunity....

How the sheer hell of ultrarunning led me to a strange peace

He was often on the verge of giving up such gruelling challenges, but eventually Adharanand Finn found that ultrarunning led him to a meditative state

I never wanted to run an ultra marathon. I’ve always loved running, the freedom of it, the childish abandon, but I was a 10K and half-marathon runner, a “real” runner (in my eyes), someone who pushed the pace and gunned for fast times. Ultrarunning, with all its backpacks, poles and food, was not really running. It was running with all the joy b...

Ultrarunner Jasmin Paris on her gruelling 83-hour win: ‘I just had one job to do'

The winner of the brutal Montane Spine Race on how hiking with her baby helped her to smash the men’s record – despite having to express milk along the way

It is Britain’s most brutal running race – 268 miles non-stop along the Pennine Way, from Edale in Derbyshire to the Scottish Borders, in January. Jasmin Paris, who is still breastfeeding her 14-month-old daughter Rowan, and was expressing milk along the way, this week beat 136 other competitors – including 125 men – from 15 different count...

After Eliud Kipchoge’s world-record win, is the two-hour marathon in sight?

A sub-two-hour time once seemed like a dream, but the Kenyan runner’s astonishing time at the Berlin race means it no longer feels far fetched

On Sunday, Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge obliterated the marathon world record by over a minute, running a time of 2 hours 1 minute and 39 seconds in Berlin. To anyone who has ever attempted to run 26.2 miles, that is insanely fast.

Continue reading...

NHS at 70: staff and patients pay tribute to 'best thing in the world' – as it happened

On the 70th birthday of the NHS, the Guardian is reporting from King’s College hospital, south London, to tell stories from the frontline

NHS at 70: all our anniversary coverage in one place

7.40pm BST

Let’s end this blog with a reminder of the words of 15-year-old Freya Lewis, who underwent 13 operations and more than 70 hours of surgery after being seriously injured in last year’s Manchester Arena bombing.

Freya said of her time in Manchester’s children’s hospital, where staff helped her to w...

Big is beautiful: the razzmatazz of the grand ultra

Having only previously run low-key races, how would Adharanand Finn rise to the challenge of 120km in the Italian Dolomites?

I’ve been running ultra marathons for about 16 months now, but I’ve been mostly keeping to low-key, smaller races such as the Ring O Fire in Anglesey, or the Miwok 100K in California. These races are intimate: you get to know the other runners, the race organisers. You get to feel like an oddball as you shuffle alone at dawn through quiet country towns with your backpac...

Just a baby ultra? Qualifying for the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc

The UTMB is a serious challenge – at 105 miles, with a route that ascends 34,000ft, and traverses three different countries. But just getting through the qualifying races is an epic feat in itself

When you tell other ultra runners that you are training for the Ultra-Trail du Mont- Blanc (UTMB), they give you a certain look. Oh, you are a serious ultra runner. You can almost feel your trail cred rising.

Not because the UTMB is the toughest race, or the longest, or in the most extreme conditions...

When 26.2 miles just isn't enough – the phenomenal rise of the ultramarathon

They are an almost-impossible test of the human body and spirit, yet the number of ultramarathons has increased 1,000% over the last decade. Adharanand Finn asks what’s behind this rapid increase – and whether racing 100 miles or more is actually good for you

A while ago, I was standing at the office tea point when a colleague who had heard I was a runner asked me if I did ultramarathons – the term for any foot race longer than the 26.2 miles of a standard marathon. He looked disappointed when...

Why don’t Kenyans run ultramarathons?

East Africans dominate long-distance running up to 26.2 miles – but longer races are almost exclusively white affairs. As ever in top-level sport, money has a lot to answer for

In the world of ultrarunning, one race stands out as the most competitive, the Super Bowl, the London marathon of ultrarunning: it is the Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc.

Since getting involved in ultrarunning a few years ago, I have followed the race online each August. The start is stirring stuff: more than 2,000 athletes gathe...

Five lessons from a year of ultrarunning

Being an experienced runner, I was mistaken thinking that ultras would be more of the same. But making sure you prepare your head, body and your feet makes a world of difference

Before this year, I was a reasonably proficient marathon runner (PB: 2hr 50min*), but I had never run an ultra – a foot race longer than a marathon. Intrigued by the ever-growing popularity of these races, I decided to ratchet up the distances. I ended up running six ultras in 2017, the last three of them in a mad five...