Elise Downing

1 week ago | elisedowning.substack.com | Elise Downing

It was the London Marathon last Sunday. It was always one of my favourite weekends of the year when I lived in London, whether I was running, cheering or that time Sophie and I set off at 3am from the finish to run the route backwards. I’m sad not to have been there this year but, if social media is anything to go by, it looked crazier than ever. Running really is having a moment, isn’t it? It’s also my annual time to wonder: would it be fun to run a road marathon again?

2 weeks ago | elisedowning.substack.com | Elise Downing

A few weeks ago, I introduced one of these newsletters by telling you that I was in Northampton, that it was a Friday morning and that I was eating toast and marmalade and drinking lukewarm coffee. And today I’m writing to you with an almost identical set up, from the exact same spot at my parents’ dining room table. That’s the thing about sending out weekly(ish) mail. You realise how often you do the same thing, how rarely you have something completely new to say, how boring you are, honestly.

4 weeks ago | elisedowning.substack.com | Elise Downing

You know that “when the trip finally makes it out of the group chat” meme? Well, that’s exactly what just happened the weekend before last - and it exceeded all expectations. But before I tell you more about the trip itself (keep reading for full details and costs of a 10/10 weekend camping in Wasdale), I want to tell you about the group chat. Some time in late 2022, I received a message from a then-stranger called Hannah on Facebook.

4 weeks ago | restlessmumma.substack.com | Anna McNuff |Elise Downing

Hello Restless Rebels,For those of you who missed it — here’s last week’s live chat with . Hit the play button to watch or listen to it. We talked about her new book Walk Britain, that time she ran 5,000 miles and why there will always be learning in the ‘doing’ of things — whether it turns out how you expected it to or not. Elise always makes me smile w…

1 month ago | elisedowning.substack.com | Elise Downing

Okay so I do realise that we’re at risk of this just becoming a weather blog but, when the sun’s shining, how can you talk about anything else?!I’m scrolling through the BBC Weather app and it’s showing wall-to-wall sunshine right through to the end of next week. And because this is the UK and a) this is exceedingly rare and b) we can never quite trust that it won’t vanish in an instance, I feel this frenzied need to make the most of every last second of it.