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How Not to Grow Old
4 July 2026The Visit I stood at the reception of the nursing home where my father was being kept. The cool, air-conditioned hall, the air still, and the smell of urine. A woman at the corner of the staff room – our eyes met. She lowered her gaze. I hear the sound of metal cranking as a…
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Lessons from the Dark
1 April 2026What Happens When the Body Stops and the Ego Doesn’t “Wake up! Wake up! Don’t fall asleep,” he kept saying. I was shivering, sleepy, and tired. I just wanted to lie down, but he held my body upright. Drifting in and out of consciousness, I couldn’t work out how long we were standing there. Then…
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Ikigai – A Reason for Being
28 February 2026In the second week of January 2026, I received an email from the charity I had been volunteering for over the last two years, saying they had changed the volunteer shift days and that I was no longer required to attend if the day was inconvenient. I had previously mentioned to them that I would…
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A Second Chance to Run
1 February 2026The Night Everything Changed On one night towards the end of March 2021, I jumped out of bed in the middle of the night. My heart was pounding, as if I had just finished a 400-metre time trial. My breath was short and shallow. I choked and coughed. Is this COVID? No… I had…
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The Body Image in Sports
5 January 2026Weigh-In Pains In the morning of the competition, I enter the weigh-in room. I see the scale on the floor. The technical officials are sitting at the desk. Shoes, trousers, hoodie, and T-shirt. Off they come. I dread this moment as I step onto the scale. I stay still as my weight is read out.…
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Waking Up to Myself: A Journey from Dreams to Healing
1 December 2025The Dream I was a fly. I was flying, circling above the dinner table, unnoticed and silent. I could go anywhere. Then I noticed a cloud of mist following me. Insect Killer! I frantically flew to the next room, and the kitchen, and I darted in between the cupboard doors. I positioned myself in…
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Breaking Barriers and Finding Strength
30 September 2025Goodbye from HSBC In November 2018, I was made redundant from HSBC. Eight years of hard work. Long hours. A job I didn’t even like. I stood on the platform at Canary Wharf, holding a neat little divorce paper from HR. Shellshocked. I was at a loss. How dare you? But underneath the shock, I…
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Chasing the Dragon: Five Days Across a Country
1 September 2025In 2017, I stood at the start line of the Dragon’s Back Race — a five-day, 315 km ultra across the rugged spine of Wales. I was 50, not fast, not skilled in mountain navigation, and had no idea if I’d make it past day one. But I showed up. This is a story of self-worth carved into stone trails, boggy moorland, and sharp ridgelines. I was disqualified every day — and I kept running. Not to win. Just to be there. To prove to myself that trying was enough. This is what it means to chase the dragon — and find yourself in the process.
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Two Sports, Two Selves
27 August 2025The training hall was filled with the clank of plates being loaded and unloaded. I sat alone on the floor, preparing my warm-up. Around me, other lifters started moving in. They are followed by their coaches, teammates, and friends, etc. They were there to help the lifters time the lifts, to film their attempts for…
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Learn to Fly – From Trail to 190 Miles
1 August 2025The Northern Traverse wasn’t just a race — it was a crossing. A crossing of landscapes, from rugged coasts to wind-swept moors. A crossing of time, of days stitched together by movement. Most of all, it was a crossing of something inside me — the version of myself who set out, and the one who arrived. This wasn’t about chasing a finish line. It was about surrendering to the journey and letting it change me, one footstep at a time.
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The Starting Line
1 July 2025From tears at the start line to leading trail runs, this is a story about running, resilience, and finding your place—one mile at a time.
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Run, Hisayo, Run!
4 June 2025It was a cold December day in 2003. I was working a night shift at the Crisis Open Christmas shelter in London. I had just finished my MBA but couldn’t find a job. I had one year left on my visa, and I was scared. I didn’t know what would happen to me. Would I…