Adharanand Finn's Blog, page 4

The 24-hour race: 'It is a battle with your mind'

Ultra-running is one of the fastest growing sports, usually taking place in remote, scenic landscapes. Not a running track in London. Will competitors reach nirvana?

‘I hallucinated, of course. I always do,” Pat Seabrook says. She is 76 and has spent the past 24 hours running round a 400m athletics track in Tooting, south London. She sits in the front seat of her car, peeling plasters off her toes. “At some point I began to think the white lines on the track were ropes, rising up around me, an...

‘We still come if the rain’s sideways’ – how Britain fell in love with outdoor fitness

Over a million people have spent their Saturday morning doing a parkrun. Then there are the hordes of British Military Fitness acolytes and the high-energy extroverts of Project Awesome waking up the neighbours. So which is the park fitness class for you?

Sometimes the hardest thing about running is getting out the door, especially in the mornings. It’s so much easier to roll over and go back to sleep, or stick on some toast and promise yourself you’ll go another time. Knowing there are hundre...

How was your weekend running?

Breaking records, running around huge mountains, or nursing an injury? As always, share your weekend triumphs and woes below the line

I’ve been feeling inadequate all weekend. On Friday evening I watched the start of the UTMB on the race website. One of the biggest races on the ultra running calendar, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc is over 100 miles around Mont Blanc, the course traversing three different countries and scaling 10,000m (32,800ft) of ascent. It’s not a race for the faint-hearted....

Jasmin Paris: 'I rarely run on roads, only to get to the hills'

The new Bob Graham Round record-holding fellrunner on prosecco and pizza, and feeling like she could run for ever

On 23 April, fellrunner Jasmin Paris broke the women’s record for completing the legendary Bob Graham Round, a 66-mile circuit scaling 42 of the highest peaks in the Lake District. Her time of 15 hours and 24 minutes was more than two-and-a-half hours faster than the previous record set by Nicky Spinks in 2015.

Hi Jasmin, have you recovered yet? Yes. I feel pretty good, actually.

Co...

'If you don't talk, it doesn't work': how sport can help autistic people

The intrinsic importance of social skills in sport means it can be a more effective approach than traditional therapies to improve social skills, anxiety - and bring many other benefits besides

“A few years ago, I couldn’t even go out of the house by myself,” says Daniel Mynott. That was before he started getting involved in sport. “Now, I go all over London and the country. I have so many friends I’ve lost count. I even have my own car.”

Mynott has autism. A few years ago, when he was 15, the...

'If you don't talk, it doesn't work': how sport helps autistic people

The intrinsic importance of social skills in sport means it can be a more effective treatment than traditional therapy

“A few years ago, I couldn’t even go out of the house by myself,” says Daniel Mynott. That was before he started getting involved in sport. “Now, I go all over London and the country. I have so many friends I’ve lost count. I even have my own car.”

Mynott has autism. A few years ago, when he was 15, the Change Foundation turned up at his school and encouraged him to try taking...

Japan: land of a thousand runners – in pictures

Adharanand Finn spent six months living and training with Japan’s top long-distance relay-race runners. The ‘ekiden’ races they compete in are the most obsessively followed sporting events in the country. To celebrate the launch of the paperback of his book The Way of the Runner, Finn shares some photographs from his time in Japan

Continue reading...

Can Bogotá's state-sanctioned street art survive a crackdown by the new mayor?

The Colombian capital decriminalised graffiti after protests following the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old street artist at the hands of the police. Five years on, returning mayor Enrique Peñalosa believes graffiti is a blight on the city

Jeff gathers us all along one side of the road, which isn’t easy as there are around 60 of us and the street is narrow. A car drives by slowly, the windows open, two women leaning out.

“Welcome to Colombia!” they shout, as we all wave back.

The fact that some...

How was your weekend running?

Did you run in snow? Or were you melting somewhere hot? Or was it, like, just a normal weekend? As always, share your tales below the line

I heard it has been snowing in some parts. Round here (southwest England) it was a rather mild, grey weekend like any other. Nothing much to write home about, or to write a report about.

But Kate is away (somewhere sunny and exotic) and has left me in charge, so you’re going to have to make do with my 7-mile easy run on Sunday. And nothing at all to report...

Marathon de Sables winner, Elisabet Barnes: I do love running in the desert

Winner of the 2015 Marathon des Sables on being a surprise contender, the trauma of 60m races and why Eye of the Tiger is a terrible song to run to

Elisabet Barnes ran her first ultra marathon in 2011 but only started training seriously last year. This year she won the fabled Marathon des Sables and set four other ultra-marathon course records. A few weeks ago, she won the Oman Desert Marathon.

Before this year, no one had heard of you. How come you’re suddenly winning all these races? I’ve bee...