Saturday mornings don’t get much better than this. A small, intimate event, a celebration of Gillian (one of the masterminds behind We Run Wild NI), and a good warm-up for the Belfast Half Marathon the next day. So naturally, I thought, “Why not?”

Name: Nifty at 50
Distance: 26.2 miles
Start Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland

The day I started in the car park of Carrickfergus, where I pulled up to see Gary, the better half of the We Run Wild duo, sorting out race numbers and organising the day ahead. It had that relaxed, no fuss vibe I love about these smaller events.

Once we started, Declan (guest on the podcast Idiots Go Running, you might have heard of him) shot off at the front. Now, I’m not one to panic, so I kept a steady pace. There was a group behind me, and at one point, I turned right onto a path… but then I noticed everyone was still behind me. Turns out, I should’ve gone straight ahead. Lesson of the day: sometimes the person in front is the actual idiot (yep, that was me).

After correcting course, the race was properly underway. I pushed hard and managed to take the lead from Declan. Let’s be honest here though—this wasn’t some high stakes competition. It was a relaxed, friendly run, but I still wanted to test my training. I’ve been focusing more on gym work and strength training and added a new weapon to my arsenal: the Territory Run Co gear. I have to say, it felt great, light, comfortable, and it looked sharp too.

The course was no joke either—548 metres of elevation. For a marathon distance, that’s what you might call ‘incliney’ (in the most polite sense). I managed to push hard up to about 18 miles, but then the legs started to have a little rebellion. Typical.

In the end, I finished strong, and to top it all off, there was birthday cake waiting at the finish line. Not bad for a Saturday morning, eh?

All in all, what a day. A big happy birthday to Gillian, and a huge thank you to We Run Wild NI for another brilliant event. See you at the next one—hopefully, with fewer navigational errors on my part!