Apologies to regular readers for the lack of updates over the last few days. As well as working my way through 85 miles in training this week, I've spent every spare minute planning, plotting and scheming a whole host of different aspects of the run. For example, a single day hardly passes now without an hour or so being spent looking at the route across the USA. I've spent a lot of time plotting the route through the first 4 states on the run and find myself at a town called Dinosaur, Colorado. That is just one of many intriguing place names I've stumbled across to date. There are many more hours to be spent route planning. I should have quite a good appreciation of the USA by the end of it!
I'm working on a number of other initiatives which will be launched over the coming weeks and months and when the time is right. More news on these, as and when I get it.
My primary concern at present is being able to get a support team in place. I appreciate that it's difficult to commit to something that is 2 years away but I would appreciate it if you would get in touch if you feel you can be part of the support team. I would imagine there would be a number of support people during the 100 days, but at any one time ideally there would be 2 drivers, someone qualified in sports massage and someone to help out, entertain, motivate, cook, wash, keep the blog/Twitter/Facebook updated while I'm running. Do you fancy being a part of it all? Please get in touch at sponsorship@rungeordierun.com.
Away from the organisation of the run, training is going very well so far with 32.5 miles already in the bag, leaving 52.5 to do before Sunday. This is despite a scare on Saturday when, while sprinting on the soft sand at Beach Bootcamp, I over stretched my hamstring causing a bit of pain and discomfort. The pain was quite evident during the first run of the week; an 11.2 mile hilly effort in the North Pennines
on Sunday. The pace was sensible and I came through unscathed. The following day saw another cautious 5 mile run with Patrick and Carl. Not as much pain but I definitely felt as if my speed was restricted. Later on in the day, a 6.3 mile effort on the treadmill was done at a much quicker pace (00:08:38). There was hardly any pain at all after this run. I managed 2 x 5 mile runs today, deliberately striding out for sustained periods and, at the time of writing, there is no evidence that I had a pain in my hamstring at all. Happy days!
on Sunday. The pace was sensible and I came through unscathed. The following day saw another cautious 5 mile run with Patrick and Carl. Not as much pain but I definitely felt as if my speed was restricted. Later on in the day, a 6.3 mile effort on the treadmill was done at a much quicker pace (00:08:38). There was hardly any pain at all after this run. I managed 2 x 5 mile runs today, deliberately striding out for sustained periods and, at the time of writing, there is no evidence that I had a pain in my hamstring at all. Happy days!I'm now faced with running a half marathon each day for the next 4 days in
order to get 85 miles done. That's just like doing the Great North Run 4 days on the trot. If ever I feel the slightest lack of motivation (not very often these days!) I simply think about the 2 great charities that I'm working so hard to raise funds for. The following gives you an idea as to the services that St Benedict's Hospice and The Children's Foundation deliver to people in the North East of England.
order to get 85 miles done. That's just like doing the Great North Run 4 days on the trot. If ever I feel the slightest lack of motivation (not very often these days!) I simply think about the 2 great charities that I'm working so hard to raise funds for. The following gives you an idea as to the services that St Benedict's Hospice and The Children's Foundation deliver to people in the North East of England.St Benedict's Hospice have recently launched an appeal for £400,000 to extend their "Hospice at Home Service". At present the service is from 9pm – 8am when the palliative care team are on call and can visit patients at home. It will be changed to 5pm – 8am avoiding an influx of calls at 9pm and will spread the visits over a longer time. This means that the patient has a choice of where they want to be cared for - in the hospice or at home and it means that they are covered 24 hours per day. Personally speaking, this service would have been of great use to me and my Mam during the days when I cared for her at home. You can read more about the aims of the Hospice at Home Service by clicking here or by visiting www.hospice.co.uk.
The Children's Foundation "provides leadership and raises funds to enable research, support service delivery and create partnership programmes, designed to improve the health and well being of children and young people in the North East.". As I found out last week, there are so many amazing projects that are funded by The Children's Foundation. Here are just a couple of examples in addition to the item I posted on this site last week. Click on the following for more information; Limbs Alive, Whoops! Child Safety Project.
