My West Highland Way race report

[El Gordo]

Well, there are many ways of writing a good report, Tim. I don't think race reports should be judged in the same way as most other pieces of writing. There are at least 7 or 8 people who contribute here who (in my view) write exceptionally well, even though there's a huge variety in style. It's not all about 'wordsmithing' and being creative with the language - though those things are always interesting. It's about conveying the excitement and the pain and all those other things, and your report did that. Your writing is a lot more understated than mine, but that can be really effective when describing something like a 95 mile race as it serves to emphasise the achievement. And take the stuff from our Spanish correspondents. The description of the characters, the food, the terrain make these compelling on their own, even without the actual wordplay.

As for the chances of me doing something like this race, I must confess that these words were very encouraging: "The trick is to learn to run very slowly indeed". If that's the case, I shouldn't have much trouble....

Seriously, I have the big 50 arriving in a couple of years time, and it has occurred to me that it could be a good long-term goal to aim for something like the Comrades marathon (a famous 56 mile race in South Africa, for those who've not heard of it). I'll have to think about it some more. I can't believe I'd ever start doing these things as a matter of habit, but certainly it would be good to have a crack at one of them sometime.

Do keep us up-to-date.