Gutbuster 10 mile – 28/12/21

Heading back to the Gutbuster was like going to visit a long lost friend you were never really sure if you actually liked, but hadn't seen for absolutely ages. We're talking about back in the days where this blog was still in nappies and the quality of writing was akin to that of a Daily …

Ironman Estonia – 07/08/21

Tallinn, Estonia. It's much further north than you think it's going to be. Looking out to sea from the port area, you can't quite see Finland, but it's very close. Once part of the Soviet Union, it's now a thriving independent state. Anyway - that's the serious stuff done with; you only came for the …

Big Half marathon – 01/03/20

Two posts in a week! My fingers are smoking from typing so much. The main positive from signing up to some races (apart from getting fitter), is providing more content and opportunity for me to put myself in a compromising or unfortunate situation, which is usually what people find the most entertaining. No pointless pre-amble …

Cape Peninsula Half Marathon – 16/02/20

Good morning/afternoon sports fans. Yet another slightly longer gap between posts. Not me being lazy this time, just no real races of note to report on, and nobody wants to hear 'I ran x miles on Monday followed by swimming x miles on Tuesday etc etc' - people only read to hear about me making …

2019 review – racing/training summary

2019 is already well and truly in the books, but I've been enjoying my Christmas pudding and mince pies far too much, so there's been a short delay in publishing the much anticipated 'how much training and racing does a semi-mediocre 'athlete' do in a year' post. For those of those of you bored at …

Valencia Marathon – 01/12/2019

As reported on these pages, as well as in various national and international press publications, 2019 hasn’t entirely gone to plan for Joe Spraggins. Seemingly never-ending waves of viral fatigue, bouts of depression and just a general attitude of can’t be arsed has led to a decline in fitness and results to match. However, the …

Frankfurt marathon – 27/10/19

Frankfurt. The financial centre of Europe, apparently. It was time to go and cash in some of those training chips. Unfortunately, I didn't have many, as alluded to in my post last week. However, this trip was all about the cleverer, prettier and less annoying person in our household - and she'd been working hard …

Ucka trail/Frankfurt this weekend..

It's been 2 months since I last posted - an absolute barren spell in the history of this blog. Despite being contacted by both regional and national press, enquiring about my whereabouts and next moves, I've kept myself to myself and tried to sort out some issues closer to home. I've always set myself a …

Owler middle distance triathlon – 21/07/19

So, sports fans. I left you all on tenterhooks right at the very end of my Challenge Roth report (assuming anyone made it that far), when I finished with; 'With that in mind, I definitely won’t be doing a half-ironman in 2 weeks’ time…' It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to work out that this could well …

Challenge Roth – 07/07/2019

Challenge Roth is one of the biggest triathlons in the world. It’s been running since 1984, taking place in the small town of Roth, near Nuremberg, in Germany. Ever since I started triathlon it had been on my bucket list of races to do, and when I got the chance to sign up shortly before …