“We’ve come a long way. But we’ re not too sure where we’ve been….”
Take That (Never Forget)
Watch the short film to find out why we are determined to succeed in this challenge.
It feels like we have been doing this for a very long time but there’s now less than two weeks of serious training left before we have two easy weeks and the big day arrives. It’s now close enough to feel very real and daunting. We are fine-tuning our refuelling strategies as they are very different from running just one marathon. It takes a body 20 hours to recharge its glycogen stores. We are likely to only have around 19 hours to do this so, even if we get our nutrition right each day, we will be starting without a full battery.
This past week has been the biggest in terms of mileage, I hit 80 miles and Philip made 94.
It has taken months and months of sustained consistent training to even reach this point. For the past two or three months we have regularly been running 50 to 60 miles a week. One of the strange things when training for an event like this is that you never do anything like the mileage of the actual event. It’s vital to get your body used to running regular mileage but it’s equally about training the mind. So much of the success will be down to mental strength.
We are both in a good place with our fitness and feel we have got ourselves to a point where we can really do ourselves justice. It has been a roller-coaster though. The worst point came two weeks ago when we both hit our biggest low point on the same day. For me it was a Sunday morning; I had got up at 5.45am to do a 20-mile run, having just completed a 60-mile week. As I left the house to meet up with Philip I felt really, really tired – far more than normal. I ran a mile to where we were meeting and just felt terrible, I was already mentally shortening the morning run. I was early and as I stopped to wait for Philip (secretly hoping he’d overslept and wasn’t coming so I could just go home) I could barely keep my eyes open. Unfortunately he arrived and we started running but I had a flat battery. I kept going but 7 miles in decided my body was shouting at me for a reason and I should listen. I wasn’t going to be helping myself by still going for the 20 miles. I reluctantly cut the session short and ran the three miles home, completing just 10 miles. I felt terrible and angry with myself for not finishing the run I set out to do. I decided to have a rest and took the next two days off from running. Since that day I have felt great, one week later Philip and I ran a marathon on treadmills in public at Seafront Sunday, it was really good and helped make more than £500 for the charities we are raising funds for.
Some of the things I’ve experienced:
- Blisters on all toes, sometimes blisters on top of blisters
- Friction sores to the inner thigh
- Cut nipples
- Dead legs
- A huge food bill
- Self doubt and fear
- Occasional mental and physical exhaustion
Bigger than the running challenge is our aim to raise £20,000 for The Hub and ThisisEPIC. Take a look at this short video clip to find out how your donation will have a direct impact on someone’s life. Both charities change lives.
If you are one of the many kind people who have already donated we thank you so much, we have been humbled by your generosity.
We have been kept injury free and in training thanks to;
Stuart Hardie from Primal Running (Chi Running)
Paul Gosling from Equilibrium Massage
The thank-you list is growing – thank you to everyone who has helped so far.
Warren
Watch this video to see how you will change lives
