I’m Ally. My social media bio’s read; Photographer. Runner. Green. Vegetarian & proud to run on plants.
I’m a photographer, I take photos for a living, mainly brides, grooms & business people.
I am self-employed & run my own business. I absolutely love what I do, I love being creative, I love that I’ve turned a childhood hobby into a successful career, I love the flexibility of being my own boss.
I don’t carry a camera when I run. All the photos that I post on this blog are shot & edited on my iPhone.
I run. A lot. I started running properly (as opposed to a half-hearted jog round the park in an old pair of Reebok Classics) when I moved to Croydon & gave up my expensive gym membership in exchange for a mortgage. Someone told me running was free.
I’m a trail runner at heart. I like mud & hills & climbing & jumping over things. I don’t like roads or tarmac.
I run with Striders of Croydon where I lead some of the group runs. I’ve not lost anyone yet.
The yellow & green of Striders of Croydon!
I swim. Not so much. I try to hit the pool a couple of times a month & adore swimming in the sea. My main holiday criteria now is, can I run & can I swim in the sea.
I cycle to get from A to B or when I’m injured & can’t run. I used to get injured a lot so I used to cycle a lot. Since I started lifting weights & doing regular strength training I’ve been a lot less injured.
I lift little weights & would like to lift bigger but am a bit of a wuss. I also quite like yoga but have to admit I neglect it far too often.
I like coffee. A lot. Probably too much tbh.
And wine.
And gin.
I’m vegetarian. I eat mainly a plant based diet & fuel all my runs with real food.
A few of the things I like…
I’m Green. In today’s political climate I don’t think that needs any other explanation.
I lived in Romania for a while, speak enough Romanian to get by & my dream race is the Transylvania Bear Race through the Transylvanian Alps in Romania. I have a big birthday coming up. I don’t want a party, I want a big adventure. I think this might be it.
Not running…
PB’s (and yes, I count solo runs as PBs if they were run under race conditions, eg. not stopping the watch)
100 miles: 18:27:25 at Autumn 100, October 2022
50 Miles: 8:50:31 at the South Downs Way 50, April 2019
50 Miles (track): 7:55:52 at the Pheonix Running Track Wars, March 2022
50km: 4:38:41 in the Virtual Centurion One Love 50km, February 2021
Marathon: 3:33:33 (yes really!) at Milton Keynes Marathon, 2023
Half-marathon: 1:35:36 at Paddock Wood Half in March 2023
10km: 45:06 in the Virtual Striders of Croydon 10km challenge, July 2020.
5km: 21:34 at Dulwich parkrun in March 2019
1 mile: 6:36, self-timed mile TT, December 2020 (Garmin recorded time)
Photo Girl Runs 