Author: Sarah Kemp

24K Magic at TRAMP

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There’s just something about community that makes me go all gooey inside. We don’t have enough of it in the world these days. I remember sitting in my grandparent’s house as a kid lapping up their stories of street parties and deep friendships with neighbours. I can’t deny we live in different times now, but there is a large part of me that craves it. And it is probably this reason I prefer team sports to solo sports and why I am rather fond of going out to a venue and knowing I’ll bump into a friendly face when I get there. You might be wondering where I’m going with this, but bear with me reader. You see, you’d think the only places that have even a whiff of community these days are members’ clubs. But I don’t necessarily agree with that. I am a member of a club (which I absolutely love and is amazing in so many ways), but does it have a real community? I haven’t really found one yet, despite going …

Ten top tips – marathon training for beginners

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Alright, alright, I guess I can’t exactly call myself a beginner. The upcoming marathon that I’ll be running on 28th April in London will actually be my third. But despite you all thinking that this doesn’t class me as a beginner, you may be surprised to hear that I actually don’t like running and never do it unless I’m training for a mammoth jog around a big city. I ran my first marathon (London 2017) in 03:59:57, my second (New York 2017) in 04:06:34 and soon to be third, well I can only imagine a lot slower than the last two, as the training hasn’t exactly gone to plan. I have suffered injury (hamstring tendinopathy) and am currently one week into the flu, so in total I have only done a total of two outdoor runs. And with the marathon 7 and a half weeks away, I could panic, or I could hold my head high, carry on and follow my own tips.  1. Get good sleep Sounds easy, right? Well if you’re anything like …

It has been a while…

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It has been a while. Quite a long while, actually. The last time I posted I told the world how I wasn’t going to be so hard on myself for pulling out of the Berlin Marathon last September. Pulling out wasn’t fun, especially as we had booked flights and accommodation – but rather than face limping around the course, my boyfriend and I decided to go and spend a few days splayed around the pool at the incredible Soho House Berlin instead. So, why haven’t I written for a while? I’ve had this blog for almost a decade – yes, 10 years! When I started tapping away on my now vintage white Macbook all those years ago, the new age bloggers and what have more recently become termed influencers, were probably still getting grazes on their knees in the playground and eating lumpy custard and vanilla sponge in the school canteen. It makes me feel old, but not in a bad way as you might expect. Truth be told, when Instagram took off I was …

Pulling out of the Berlin Marathon – why I’m not being hard on myself

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It’s a phrase you hear often, but yet a lot of people, me included, never seem to listen. Why is it resonating now? Well, as I sit on my poolside hotel bed that we booked as a post marathon treat watching four Englishmen stalk slowly past me to the exit, legs tense, walks resembling John Wayne, I can’t help but feel like an idiot. Yesterday was the Berlin Marathon, one of the six world major championships. I am in Berlin because last year I set myself a challenge to run all six world majors and I was meant to run it. But a couple of months ago I did something I never really thought I’d do. I… dun dun duuuuun, pulled out! I even sighed as I just wrote that sentence. I’m not a quitter, but recently I have come to realise that I set very high standards for myself. Standards that don’t mean a single thing to anyone else in the world. So why do I keep them? If anyone has the answer, please …

Friday Fun at Royal China, Queensway

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Can we just take a second to appreciate one of the greatest contraptions ever invented, the Lazy Susan? No doubt the person who invented it had had enough mealtimes too close to a family member’s arm pit, or reaching arms that just happened to graze their gravy as they brushed past to collect the mustard from the other side of the table. No matter their own personal reason, whoever invented the Lazy Susan gets a hats off from me. When I was younger, every so often we took a trip to an upmarket Chinese restaurant situated at the end of our road – Mr Mans. It was owned by the dad or uncle of one of my classmates in year 3 – I don’t remember his name now, but I do still have an image of his very scuffed school shoes – strange how memory works, isn’t it? It was here that I saw my first ever Lazy Susan – and from that moment on I always wondered why restaurants other than Chinese never adopted …