Mark J. Keenan

"There is magic in patience, you know." Zedd. The Sword of Truth, Terry Goodkind. My 2017 running goal, set at the end of last year, was to complete the PTS Bloated Goat trail event. On March 26th, after 18 weeks of training, I did just that. I wasn’t fast - taking just under 5 hours to finish the 30km, 1400m vert course - but, I didn’t die either. And I loved it! The challenge, the solitude; me against the hills, me against the distance, me against me. To cap it all off, Mel

Today marks three years since the day I decided to give up alcohol. A lot has changed in that period of time but one thing hasn’t. I still don’t drink. At the time that I made the decision, things were not that great. One of my sons was suffering from mental health issues and had been hospitalised. I was was over-worked, highly stressed and, as I now know, suffering from depression myself. I was also overweight, nearly 90kgs, eating poorly and with a drinking problem. I was

There’s a well known, but rather rude, joke that springs to mind. It involves a Scottish man and his indiscretion involving a goat. However, I think I’ll save that for another day. A couple of weeks ago, I announced that I would be undertaking the Bloated Goat trail run in March next year. This is a 31 kilometre trail run in the Wungong Regional Park with an elevation gain of 1600 metres. Doesn’t sound so bad. At least on paper. I’ve run Eagle and Child, that was 22k and 500m

This is a post of mine that was shared on the Facebook page for a fantastic group called Perth Trail Series (www.perthtrailseries.com.au) as part of their Trail Tuesday Stories. I have only been running for two and a half years. Before that I thought runners were all crazy. Now, of course, I know they are. And trail runners are the craziest! I got into running for very personal reasons. My family was going through a few challenges - including mental health issues - I needed p