An English county new to me

I find myself at a lovely Suffolk B&B, having just finished a cup of tea and piece of cake provided by my very nice landlady called Pat. I spent the afternoon nosing around coastal villages; sights ranged from the Sizewell nuclear power plant which is right by the bird sanctuary through which we run tomorrow...


...to the Wenhaston "Doom", a church painting dating back to 1500 or so. It was discovered a while back when a pile of whitewashed boards were thrown out of the church. The rain subsequently revealed this amazing depiction of the process of entering heaven or hell:


This is a lovely tranquil spot; it seems quite remote despite being less than 100 miles from London. I'm looking forward to running along the coastal paths and through the ferny forests I've seen today. Unfortunately for me, cold, windy weather is predicted, but maybe with a little sunshine thrown in?

Location:Hall Road,Wenhaston,United Kingdom

Suffolk, England

Eight days from now, I will be back in England, running a half-marathon along coastal paths, trails and roads in Suffolk, then afterwards speaking at the Live More Lectures organized by the nice folks at Endurancelife.  I really like the concept of tacking these lectures on to races. All too often, we travel to events, run, and then leave straight away.  If we're lucky, we might meet one or two new people hanging around at the start or finish, but that's usually it. The lectures allow us to spend more relaxed time in the company of like-minded people, while hearing some great tales of challenge and adventure.  It seems a shame not to get this kind of post-race, inspirational spin-off benefit.

I spent all my growing up years in Hertfordshire, which is a mere 50 miles away beyond Essex.  I've been back there a lot in recent years, but amazingly I have no clear memory of ever having been to Suffolk. It's terra incognita.  I'm looking forward to it.

Napoleon Ultra 2012 - our start list

A group of seasoned ultrarunning internationals are now less than two months away from running between Moscow and Paris - without leaving the Lone Star State. They will cover 230 miles along East Texas roads during the first week of December.


The starting line-up includes five runners from five different countries who are already transcontinental runners. German Klaus Neumann and Jenni de Groot from Holland are the two most recent sign-ups. They join multiday legends - Gérard Denis (France) and Don Winkley (USA), plus Christian Marti from Switzerland who is currently less than three weeks away from completing his second Trans Europe footrace.

The female runners comprise Ursula Marti, Rachel Wasilewski and Claire Secker. Completing our P'tite Armée are three more fine Frenchmen: Xavier Servel, Romain Valle and Loire Intégrale race director Dominique Chaillou.

Location:Austin, TX