A piece of mine, titled Running Like a Girl, has been featured in the latest issue of Like the Wind magazine. As in published. I have been published! 

Now then, what’s been happening this week….

Well. I went to a ballet inspired strength class, which whilst a lot of fun was a bit too much for my poor legs and set me back a bit pain wise. I carried on, and I ran a 3.5 mile and a 4 mile session (legs completely fine for both of them, which is good because it means it wasn’t the running that made them hurt!). I volunteered at the excellent Osterley Park 10k yesterday, sporting a festive jumper and hat combo that somehow didn’t stop people asking me for information. I even wore a ‘race official’ hi viz, which was pretty scary – what if people thought I knew what I was talking about?

All that aside, one very exiting thing has happened this week.

A piece of mine, titled Running Like a Girl, has been featured in the latest issue of Like the Wind magazine. As in published. I have been published!

If you haven’t heard of Like the Wind, let me fill you in. It’s a bit different, as running magazines go. It won’t give you a load of advice about kit or training plans. It’s more interested in what runners have to say.

The Like the Wind website describes the magazine as a ‘collection of running stories’, including ‘personal anecdotes, inspirational tales, reportage, beautiful illustrations and stunning photography’. It’s been going every quarter since 2014 and they are currently on issue 11. I started reading it a couple of issues ago and was really impressed by what a simply lovely thing it is – the illustrations and pictures really are amazing; lots of different styles, all vibrant and thoughtful – the writing is funny, moving, pensive, and entertaining. Even the paper (which is sustainably sourced) is of the highest quality. When I showed the copy of the latest issue to my Dad his reaction was to comment on how you don’t get newsprint that smells like that anymore. Proper old fashioned quality newsprint. My piece has been illustrated by Aurore Carric, a Paris based illustrator and runner. It looks great.

I suppose I should be a bit cooler about all this, but really this is a bit of a dream come true for me. To have something I’ve written published is something that I can honestly say I’ve wanted for as long as I was old enough to read a book myself.

My writing isn’t always challenging, thought provoking or hilarious. I try not to labour the splits and nutritional nitty-gritty in my work here on the basis that it’s more interesting if I approach things as a writer who runs rather than a runner who writes (let’s face it, noone’s published my running records!). But without the luxury of being able to write full time, sometimes you can end up with something a bit more Chas and Dave and a bit less Shakespeare. Having this piece published has given me a bit of confidence that when I do write properly, it’s pretty good. Maybe I’ll never win a Pulitzer, but I’d be happy with my name a few more issues.