In memory of Micah True - in death he gave me two great runs!

It's been a few weeks since my last post, but that doesn't mean nothing has been happening!  Quite the contrary, it's been possibly two of the most eventful running weeks.

Readers of the Chris McDougall book, Born To Run, will no doubt be saddened at the news of the death of Micah True aka Caballo Blanco.

Caballo was and still is my inspiration to run.  "If you aren't enjoying your running, you're doing it wrong!"

On 4th April after several days missing, he found dead on a trail after going out for a run. Despite not knowing him personally, I still felt a sense of loss.  Strange as I'm not renowned for being emotionally sensitive!






But such was the impact his philosophy has had on me that to not mourn his passing would be to be entirely contradictory to his way of life - give everything and take nothing!

I was on holiday with my family in the far north west of Scotland.  The barest of mobile phone signals and no WIFI - how could I honour the person who gave me so much and we never met?  Simple - go for a run in the outdoors!

Gairloch in Wester Ross, Scotland was the backdrop.  Caballo Blanco the motivation.  Fantastic 7.5k run along the coast and to be true to Micah, who cared about the time!

In between this run and the second 'tribute' to Caballo, I managed various treadmill runs and sessions - none worthy of note here but in line with half marathon training seeing as it is now only 8 weeks away!

Today saw my wife and I heading 'south of the border' (Scotland to England!) for our annual handover of our girls to my parents for a week during Easter holidays.

Great opportunity to get in another trail run in the outdoors in spectacular scenery, the Lake District.

Keswick is a gorgeous town and you can't help but want to be physcially active here as every other store is either mountain gear, running gear or hill walking.  There's even a New Balance factory outlet!

Derwentwater is the lake closest to Keswick and a convenient 14 to 15km circuit with good trail paths for the majority of the way.

Weather was okay - bit fresh and drizzly but still the views were awesome and at the back of my mind was the intention to 'just enjoy it'!

Lots of families and walkers out so needed some nifty footwork and not just over the tree roots!  Some minor events, such as being chased by 2 dogs, getting wolf whistled at by a group of female campers and even being physically assaulted (got a smack on my arse!) but nothing was going to stop me having a good time.

So, to you Micah True, thank you for giving me the 'get up and go' to get outside and enjoy the countries I am blessed to live in or visit.  Without you I would have missed this!  Run free, run light, run smooth, run easy and while you are up there, see if you can get the 'Big Man' to lose his sandals and go barefoot as well!

RIP (Run In Peace) Caballo Blanco!