A busy January of training and planning

With just 150 days to go until the start of the 2,900 mile run from Belgrade to Astana there is hardly a day to spare in terms of training or planning.

This week has been very productive and it started with a very tough session at Primal Fitness and Performance at 0630 on January 2nd! I A further 5 gym sessions and a 7 mile Sunday morning run with my pal Steve Dobby (pictured below) completed a good week of training.

From a planning point of view, I had a very good meeting with Steve on Tuesday. We worked out a training schedule for January and a loose plan up to the end of May. We also came up with a list of tasks to be started in January. These include my Russian visa application, researching the freight options for Chappie, creating a kit list with the weight of each item and researching the best running kit to use given that I won't have access to a shower very often. 

I also continued looking at my route to Astana (as checked by Jimmy). I got as far as Oradea in Romania where I found a Lidl right on my route. With me being self sufficient, it's places like these that are going to play a hugely important role. I've already spotted many garages, delis, bakeries and supermarkets along the way. There are also many long stretches without any such facilities where I'll be making use of every bit of available space in Chappie to store as much food and water as I can.

I managed to setup my new fundraising page for St. Benedict's Hospice this week. Thank you to those kind folk who were quick to make a donation. 

There is a long way to go to hit my fundraising target for the Hospice in 2018. A very long way! With over £25,000 raised in 2017 for Useful Vision and The Children's Foundation the signs are there that there is enough support to be able to achieve this.

To say that last year's £25,000 and this year's targetted £30,000 is keeping me on my toes is an understatement. I'm working as hard as I possibly can to deserve the incredible generosity of sponsors and the general public alike. As I've said many many times, that generosity is something that I have and will never take for granted. If you'd like to make a donation then please visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/rungeordierun.

January will continue to be a busy month and I'll be meeting Steve again at the end of this month to discuss progress made. Meanwhile, Jimmy will continue to check and double check my route. Watch this space for further updates.

Progress being made on the route to Astana

A huge thank you to Jimmy for checking and double checking the first 54 days of my route from Belgrade to Astana. It’s a painstaking task and to have a fresh pair of eyes look at the route is a massive help. It also frees me up to do other things. Jimmy is a software tester and has all of the right attributes for this task. A keen eye for detail and a willingness to leave no stone unturned being just a couple. 

There are still 46 days left to check. Slicing the 2,900 mile route up into 31 mile chunks while checking each one from a safety and facilities point of view will take another month or so. 

Thanks for your efforts so far Jimmy.