Training Update #1

First week and a bits training has gone really well.  It doesnt take long for the bug to come back.  Looking forward to the next days training already.  Feel really good.  Still a bit unfit and a bit of a spare tyre but other than that feel ok.

Will have to weigh up whether I can run in my Vibrams all winter as the feet were numb the other day due to the wet and cold and they dont exactly have the best grip in the ice.

We will persevere for now and see how things go.  Dont really want to go back to my old trainers as I need to strengthen my feet.

4 x 1mile fast runs tomorrow.

Jerry the dog is up to 3 miles.

Training Starts Soon

Right 3 months to go until my next challenge and the serious training starts on Monday.  A couple of xmas do's over the next few days have given me the excuse to have the weekend off.  I am going to follow a training schedule I used for my first London Marathon but for a number of the long runs I will change them to multiple long runs to get used to stopping and starting throughout the day.

After the first challenge where I ran for 10mins then walked for 2 mins I feel that to complete the 48 miles a day this time I am going to break it down into 4 x 12miles with an 1hour or 2hour break between.  I will see how the training goes and may change this if it doesnt seem to be working.

Leeds Liverpool Canal

I know I have to go back and do the last 12 miles they will be done the first week in November as that is the first time I am over that way.  I will also soon write a full account of the first leg.  I have set the provisional dates for the Leeds Liverpool Canal leg of my challenge, I am looking at the the 2nd - 4th March 2012.  Hopefully there will be enough daylight.  Coursework and Exams for my Masters has dictated these dates.  Would have been nice a month or so later as it might be a tad cold still but we can wrap up warm.

A Quick Thanks

Just a quick thank you to the client I work for, Northern Gas Networks for their kind donation to the cause.

The Morning After the Night before (A little Later)

The Morning After the Night Before

Saddleworth Video No 2

Saddleworth Video No 1

What it was like on Saddleworth Moor at 2.15am.

When Someone should tell you to Stop

When you start to dress like this someone should have been brave enough to put me out of my misery.  It is plain to see the head has gone.

NDCS Website

Below is a link to the NDCS website which is carrying a story about my runs.

http://www.ndcs.org.uk/news/ndcs_news/father_to_run_heroic.html

Finishing What I Started

I have decided to go and finish what I started.  I am heading to Wigan for a party so will do the last 12 miles this evening.  I haven't run since last week so it should be interesting to see how I feel. I can also get a picture of the place of my demise last week.

Due to traffic jams and the need to get to a 40th birthday party I didnt get chance to finish it.  I will do however over the coming weeks.

2 Hours In

I had run late at night before but never this late.  I most certainly got a lot of strange looks from the pub goers who couldnt believe I was out running at such a stupid time of night.

Before the Start

A few photos from before the start.  When it came time to start there was no real nerves or really a full understanding of the fact that I wasnt going to sleep or what I had to do before I could stop and put my feet up.  I felt more worried prior to starting all of the marathons I have done.  Probably because there was no target for me, I always aim for under 4 hours at the marathon, but there was no pressure on me to finish in any time.

East Ardsley dad’s epic marathon challenge - Local - Morley Observer Advertiser

East Ardsley dad’s epic marathon challenge - Local - Morley Observer Advertiser

A few days after

Right I have all the videos and photos from my run.  Once I have sorted through them all and banished the bad ones to the file marked BIN I will post them.  One or two aren't that complementary and I probably shouldnt have chose that outfit to wear in daylight so I still need to decide if I should let anyone see them.

Bury 40 miles down

This is what I look like after 40 miles

Saddleworth Moor

This is what Saddleworth Moor looks like at 3.00am in the morning

The Run

A lot of photos and videos of mine didnt get uploaded and my Dad took loads of photos and videoa as well when I recover sufficiently to post them all I will.

Slowly starting to sink in what I did actually achieve just annoyed that in the space of 4 miles I went from total excitement and feeling great sprinting down the road to complete and utter exhaustion.

Legs are aching like crazy.

Multimedia message

Totally gutted 46miles done and thats it i could go no further. Being sick every couple of miles has drained everything from me. Extremely disappointed.
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42 done just over a half marathon to go hardly seems worth it come on sprint finish
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Three hours mile or two from saddleworth moor support driver has taken yet another wrong turn and gone for a twenty mile run down the motorway
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Sack the support driver lost me once a wrong turn and always on the phone to his wife. I love you dad
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Two hours in over ten miles done feel good just so many hills
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1 down 57 to go
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About to Start

Just going to get some pre run photos and then we are off.  Hopefully I will post through the night as I run and sometime tomorrow morning it will be done and dusted.  Very nervous now.

6 Hours To Go

Just got up from a nice pre-run sleep.  I cant remember the last time I had an afternoon nap.  Very excited and nervous now, will really need to keep the adrenalin in check when I start to make sure I dont try and do the whole 58 miles in the first hour.

24 Hours

Nervous and excited.

I would like to thank my very good friend, Ste Unsworth, who is going to meet me for the last 13 miles and drag me home.

A big thank you to those people who have made a donation so very kind of you.

Multimedia message

Too warm tonight sweating buckets out here

2 Days To Go

Going out shortly for my last run before the RUN.  Going to do the first 2.5 miles of the RUN and back at the pace I will do on Saturday.  Dont know why but seems like a sensible thing to do.

I have been interviewed by the Morley Observer and the Yorkshire Evening Post today.  The Observer is coming to do a photo shoot, well take a picture, on Monday.  A few other papers and magazines have expressed an interest to get a story after the run.  Maybe they want to see if I finish it first.  No pressure then.

The number of visits counter on the left also tells you the country if you click on it of where people are.  I have had a hit from Afghanistan and a few from the USA - truly global.  Maybe I can call in on these folks when I do my round the world running challenge!!!!!!!

3 Days to go

Work are lending me a van so that my Dad can support me, it was a small van.  I have just made a list of everything I am taking with me and I think I need to upgrade.  How these folk do this sort of thing unsupported or with just a drop bag I will never know.  First one of this distance so a bit of overkill but it will be there if I need it and i am certainly taking a change of clothes or two after the assault on the moors

Multimedia message

Just another test god its going to be cold

The Shoes

The Shoes

Why am I doing this

After running the London Marathon I was challenged as to what to do next and a good friend came up with the idea of doing an ultra marathon.

Why?

6 1/2 years ago my little boy was born 15 weeks premature on Christmas Day weighting 2lbs 9oz and measuring from the tips of my fingers to my wrist, he battled through so much and faced so many many challenges that something so small shouldnt have too. After battling against all the odds for 155 days in Leeds General Infirmary we had the immense joy of being able to bring him home for the first time.  I have watched him face so many more challenges in his short life and seem him deal with them as if it was nothing that it spurred me and a few others to don our running shoes and do something to give a little back.

One of his main challenges is communicating with those around hime.  He is deaf and cant speak, however he successfully goes to a mainstream school.  Through the challenges and this page I am raising money for the NDCS and offline also his school, East Ardsley Primary School.  Both these organisations have helped so much in enabling my son to be able to be like any other child and to be able to communicate as best he can.

The NDCS do tremendous work with children of all levels of deafness and I know from personal experience that this work makes certain situations for children of all ages so much easier.

5 Days To Go

Tested my new head torch out with a run at 11.15pm – some very strange looks from the pub goers and also the local constabulary.  Not sure someone would choose a luminous yellow top and shorts to go out causing mischief at that time though.

Less than a month to go

Sorry I havent updated since the first post.

The date of my first challenge has been sorted and I will be running overnight on Saturday the 10th September 2011.  I dont particularly feel up for it after being ill for a week with food poisoning but I am getting quite excited about the challenge.

I will post again in the next few days with more details.

The Plan In Brief

I will post soon but basically I have set this blog up to track 3 challenges I have set myself, and to also raise money for the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) and Bliss who deal with premature births.

The challenges are:

1. To run 56 miles through the night from my house in Wakefield to my parents house in Wigan - why? - because I want to know if I can.

2. Run the length of the Leeds - Liverpool Canal in 3 days - 127 miles.

3. Run the length of the Trans Pennine Trail from Hornsea on the east coast to Southport on the west coast - 5 days - 218 miles.

My running history is 3 London Marathons and numerous half marathons. Once you have done some marathons what is left to challenge you but to go longer.

Why BAREFOOT? Technically not barefoot but wearing a pair of VIBRAM FIVE FINGERS. I needed to do something different to keep me challenged and a complete change of shoe was one of those differences.

I will post more over the next few days about everything.