Archives

  • A Thread Runs Through It

    From 1990-92 my wife Elisabeth and I lived in Sweden. We moved from the UK and ‘the idea’ was to be settled for a while in my wife’s homeland. By living in the country I would hopefully improve on my Swedish and get to know her family and background. With over 30 years of hindsight

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  • I am no Latin student but the above phrase is the motto of a well known sports shoe company. It roughly translates “A Sound Mind in a Sound Body.” I am querying what a ‘sound’ mind and body might mean as more years go by. In 2021 I only did one race, an ultra*. From

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  • In the following story I have not indicated places, names or dates. Once upon a time there was a young ‘line up man’, hereafter known as ‘line up man’. He was ‘lining up’ for the world’s first floating bookship. The job involved preparing for all aspects of an upcoming ship visit to a port. Arranging

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  • Why I Am Blogging

    Shortly will be the first anniversary of this blog. It seems appropriate to share how it’s gone as well as my aspirations and thinking behind writing about life, faith and running.  I started with not much of a plan, just a sense of wanting to say something. Each blog has been different and unpredictable with

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  • For almost 2 years from 1992-94 my wife Elisabeth and I lived in the city of Nagano, Japan. We were there working for an international Christian organisation. Both of us had visited Japan previously for shorter visits and had enjoyed getting to know its people and culture a little bit. This time however was to

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  • For some years now once a year I have run every day for a month. I was inspired by what is known as the ‘Marcothon’. Started in 2009 by a Glasgow ultra running couple Marco and Debbie Consani the premise is simple. Run every day in December for 25 mins or 3 miles  (4.8km), whichever is shorter.

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  • As a boy nearly every summer holiday was spent staying with either my maternal or paternal grandparents. My mother’s parents lived in a small village on the North west coast of Scotland. My father’s were from a crofting community in the same area. My maternal grandfather was in his 70s but still a very active

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  • Nothing to Lose

    The spring /summer of 1973 was for me a transition period between finishing school and starting studies at Glasgow university. With time on my hands I applied for and was fortunate to get a 26 day scholarship to join the adventure sail training vessel ‘Captain Scott’. Purpose built in 1971 in Buckie, Scotland it was

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  • In other blogs I relate my flying experience with the Royal Air Force Special Reserves for 2 years 1973-75 (Kicked Out of The Nest and Come in Number 6!). During that time I loved the romance of getting on my modest little Honda 50cc motorbike and riding the 6 or so miles to Glasgow Airport. This

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  • For a couple of months towards the end of 1979 I was priviledged to visit a number of islands in the South Pacific. They were not tourist or luxury liner visits. Most of the time I stayed with locals. My work was representing the ship MV Logos and making advance preparations for the vessel to

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