TOP 5 INSPIRING RUNNING WOMEN AND MEN IN RUNNING - List 1.

There are many female and male runners who have inspired me over the years since I started running.  There are many reasons why these runners inspire me, and I thought this would be a great regular feature to have on my blog.  I will list those who have been inspiring me from the start, those who I have discovered through my own journey in running, my current running muses, and those who achieve a stand-out performance as we go forward.  As such it will be possible to appear on these lists multiple times.  These lists are obviously personal to me, but maybe some people who appear on them may inspire you too.

So, let's see who gets the honour of being on my first list...

WOMEN

1. Maggie Gray (my DRC club mate) - for supporting me in my running from the very first day I laced up my running shoes. And for always wanting to support others in their running.
2. Fiona Rennie - life has thrown a lot at Fiona and yet she has the most wonderful attitude towards life and running.  Fiona is a fighter, but she fights with the sort of positivity most of us can only hope to achieve.  I dare you to read her blog and not be inspired - it's just not possible.
3. Anna Frost - for the patience to stop and listen to her body, recover from injury (over 18 long months), and run an amazing record-breaking race at Transvulcania 2014.
4. Ellie Greenwood - her never-give-up attitude saw her come back from a year of injury to win the Comrades Marathon 2014.
5. Sally McCrae - I absolutely love the yellowrunner. The Nike Elite Trail Team runner, endurance coach and mother shows that you can be dedicated to all parts of your life and be successful.


MEN

1. Paul Hart - nobody supports me or believes in me more than my other half Paul. His list of achievements (the greatest of which was marrying me of course!) will always inspire me to keep trying my best.
2. Dean Karnazes - Dean's book Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner was one of the first books I read on ultrarunning, and it got me hooked.
3. Ian Corless - Ian set up the global ultrarunning podcast TalkUltra a couple of years ago and I have listened to every single episode.  Ian has kept me company on many a long training run, and even the odd race!
4. Les Hill - my DRC club mate was running ultras long before they became 'cool'.  His stories of the West Highland Way Race were one of the contributing factors to me deciding that one day I would run that race myself.
5. John Kynaston - John blogs like nobody else.  He cannot be beat for his combination of running and blogging skills.  If you want to know what is involved in training for an ultra then follow his blog.  His attention to detail and love of a spread sheet is second to none.