It’s been a busy month since my last blog when I confirmed I’ll be running every day in 2017 for a minimum of 5km on each occasion and I’ve got quite a bit to update you guys on but I’ll try to keep it short……..
Let’s start at the beginning of October; I completed my 50th parkrun on the first day of the month. My friends and I alternate around different parkruns in Kent and we chose Malling (Leybourne Lakes) for my 50th as it also coincided with Malling’s first anniversary of operating – now my next aim is to get to 100 parkruns during my 2017 challenge.
Although it was nice to reach the parkrun landmark a few days later I relished one of the best days of my life by participating in Ben Smith’s final marathon from his 401 challenge (401 marathons in 401 days) in Bristol. It was the first time I completed a whole marathon, the same goes for my wife Nicola and our friend Catharine.
Drawing on the experiences of my friends Steve Wolfe and Ben Rogers (the ‘other’ Ben who is running 365 marathons in 365 days) was helpful as the day went on. I wouldn’t say I was nervous leading into the marathon, more zealous to complete it injury free, in a good time and then celebrate Ben’s remarkable achievement. Another friend, Brendon ran his first marathon in Brighton earlier this year so he was another person I leant on for advice – you can never have too much of this.
This could be seen as cheating (but I did promise to keep this blog short!), please take the time to read Steve’s account of the full day, he explains it a lot better than me and adds a great mixture of humour but also deep thoughts and feelings http://www.kentsportsnews.com/blog-401-marathons-in-401-days-07-10-2016/
The whole day has left me in no doubt that I want to do more marathons, and although I was thrilled to have accomplished my first marathon I was more overjoyed to see Nicola cross the finishing line having ‘hit the wall’ many miles before.
Running with Ben has only increased my desire to complete my 2017 challenge. It was great to get the news that Ben was given the Points of Light award https://www.pointsoflight.gov.uk/the-401-challenge/ recently and also to hear that his fundraising total is now over £300,000!
Determined to test my legs the following day after the marathon I completed a 10km run around Sheppey. The first 500 metres or so took a while for the legs to flow properly but once I was in my stride I was surprised that I completed the 10km in an hour, a bit slower than normal but still a decent time given under 24 hours earlier I was running 26.2 miles and also driving home from Bristol that evening.
No rest for the wicked, Steve and I decided to run a virtual half marathon in support of the 401 challenge on the Saturday. The route took us from Sevenoaks to Hildenborough and back – those hills were tough on the return leg but we muddled through.
It was nice to mix in with the people taking part in this run (who were mostly women) and talk about the Ben Smith experience and my own upcoming 2017 challenge. When Steve and I finally got back to my car we decided to run again the next morning, another 10km! All-in-all I ran a full marathon, a half marathon and two 10km runs in 5 days – I think my body is now ready for 2017.
Let’s fast forward a few weeks (which included running with Tracey Crouch – Sport, Tourism and Heritage MP at Maidstone parkrun) and I’m still doing a lot of running including some with the Medway Rebel Runners every Wednesday evening….you might have noticed the green vested runners if you live in Medway!
I mentioned earlier I wasn’t nervous about running the marathon – but I was the opposite when I was asked by Zoe from my workplace to present my running story to my colleagues during South East Water’s wellbeing week. A few weeks prior to this I was fine, but on the day the nerves certainly kicked in a little at the start.
It looks like my story went down well, I’ve had offers from 5 people at work to come on a run with me in 2017 –I would like to repeat what I said during the presentation, the more people I get to run with me will be more of an achievement for me than completing the challenge and raising the money, I really want to enthuse people to make positive changes like I have done to myself throughout this year.
I have already ran with one colleague by the name of Chris Lunn – and he doing so well, I hear he might be tempted to do a parkrun soon, maybe one day we can get a load of South East Water runners to do one……
Kent Sports Trust coming along to provide input to the wellbeing presentation mixed in very well. Charlotte Evans MBE spoke after me to talk about never giving-up by using her own Olympic gold medal winning experience as encouragement. Charlotte kindly agreed to bring her gold medal with her – it was good to see so many of my colleagues have photos with it around their necks – “heavy isn’t it!” was a common comment.
Charlotte has been running with Steve and I whenever it’s been possible and it’s been great to learn about her sporting life and experiences and I’m sure she will be running with me and the gang in 2017 to egg us on a bit.
Steve also announced during his talk that he will be doing a 365 challenge alongside me – we have both stated we are doing a minimum of 5km a day and I’m sure the competiveness but also good friendship between us will see us more than beat the minimum total of 1825km over the year and we will in no doubt also help each other along the way.
That’s the thing about having good friends who you can run with – they will support you through thick and thin. There will be days when we may only do the minimum of 5km a day, but knowing us two there will also be days when we more than double it.
The fundraising is going well with a few more donations received over the last few weeks https://www.justgiving.com/lee-allen13 and also more ‘likes’ and shares on Facebook https://m.facebook.com/Leeallenkentsportstrust/ One of the ways we collected money recently was via a bucket collection at the Invicta Dynamos ice hockey club. Over £100 was raised which will be split equally into the JustGiving pages me and Steve have created.
This will probably be my last blog until the challenge starts on 1st January 2017, so a quick update on other bits. All of my equipment and clothing has been ordered/sourced…..although you can probably guess what is on my Xmas list this year…yep trainers, compression socks, shorts etc.
I reckon I will probably go through 6 pairs of trainers alone. Even bright flashy lights have been sourced – and a recent selfie picture of my cross between a Minion and Laa-Laa the Teletubby certainly got a few likes and comments – as bizarre as I look it is very important to make sure you are safe at night.
Running will continue in force for the remainder of 2016, I’m running every Saturday and Sunday leading into 2017 and will run more or less when I can during the week – if you fancy joining me please give me a shout.
I don’t actually know where run #1 for January 1st 2017 will be yet – I will announce it in good time, it would be nice to get as many people as possible to join in….but I am very aware it’s New Year’s day and a few people might not be in a sober state to run.
Finally, I signed-off my busy month with a great parkrun at Shorne Woods, another PB for that venue was pleasing but what was more delightful was my wife and both my girls also took part. Work commitments for Nicola and/or Jazmine means we cannot always run as a family so I cherish moments like this.
During the evening, Nicola and I attended the Kent Sports Trust Foundation’s gala night – a brilliant night and once again the opportunity to mix shoulders with both Ben’s, all my running friends and many more.
It was a great opportunity to get a picture with Ben with my medal from the marathon (the medal wasn’t presented after the run).
As I post this blog we are eagerly waiting on the result of Ben’s Pride of Britain result – good luck Ben from all of us who have ran and met you in Kent and beyond…..
I leave you with a comment from my presentation “A running buddy is more than just someone who runs next to you. A running buddy is someone who pushes you, motivates you and supports you through all the joys and struggles of running”
That’s all folks!
Lee