So 2013 is over and yesterday I saw the year out with a bang, or rather a shuffle and a bit of a limp, with the Liverbird New Year's Eve Marathon. Three hundred and sixty-five days, 53 races and 1093.48kms after starting the year at the Cleethorpes New Year's Day 10K my running adventure had come to an end. The question is, and one I have been asked constantly for the past month, what happens next?
Well first things first, I'll be taking a bit of a rest. At least until the weekend, when my knee will hopefully have sorted itself out and finally get back down to my second Park Run. In truth I should probably give it a few more days than that, but I'll just end up playing it by ear.
Next stop...The Moon
My 1000km challenge is over, so Shane's 1000KM challenge is now kind of redundant. So later this month (January) I will be re-launching my blog/site as Run To The Moon.
"That's a stupid name, what's it all about?"
On a cold, Autumnal evening when I was bored and couldn't find anything to do I worked out that if I ran 10km everyday it would take 105 years to run to the moon and to run 384,400KM by the time I turned 80 I'd need to run 18.8km a day, everyday. And so the crazy idea was born. Soon enough I was brought crashing back down to Earth when I began to realise just how improbable it was.My body is old before it's time, I'm scared to think what state my knees will be in by the time I reach 40. But it's not impossible, you only have to look at the likes of Jamie McDonald to see that the human body is capable of far more than you can possible dream of.
I'll confirm now that I have no misconceptions about being able to run a quarter of a million miles, rather I thought it was a good 'brand' for the yearly running challenges I plan to embark on from here on out. I felt that the name represented one man daring to dream big, to set themselves an almost impossible task, to push themselves well out of their comfort zone and to do everything they can to help others.
It's no secret that I have gained a massive sense of satisfaction from my fundraising last year, at times it felt like it gave my running a purpose. To the outsider the amount I ran last year may not seem anything special, but if you compare it to what a normal running year for me looked like then it gives it a little more context. Typically I would run 4 or 5 races a year, a couple of 10Ks and the rest Half Marathons. The rest of the year would be spent either getting injured, or recovering from injury, so the fact that I survived last year surprised even me.Truth is I blagged this past year heavily, I never trained properly and I ate terribly and I'm left asking myself what more I'm capable of.
So what exactly is next?
So how do I go one better than running 1000KM? I don't, I go 3.241 times better. My next challenge is quite simple, to 'Run the Year', to run a total of 2014 miles between January 1st and December 31st. The reason for picking this is that it was simple and after making my Bank Manager very angry last year with travelling all across the country every weekend and spending the best part of £1,500 doing so, it's also relatively low key.
All I need are my trainers, an open road and some way of measuring where I'm running. There a still a handful of races that I have my eye on this year, some, ones I missed out on last year and others like the Equinox24, as I look to improve my fitness and challenge myself further.
I will be keeping my JustGiving page open as long as I can, for the benefit of those who still wish to sponsor me for last or this year's antics, or for those who have just stumbled across me. Originally I set myself a fundraising target of £6,000 and whilst I have raised an incredible £4,500 I still intend to do what I can to come as close to that target as I can.
I will be announcing more about Run To The Moon in the coming weeks, including my plans for 2014 and beyond. This weekend I will also be posting my write up of the final two races of 2013 as well as giving a recap on the highs and lows of the past year.
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| I've looked better... |
Well first things first, I'll be taking a bit of a rest. At least until the weekend, when my knee will hopefully have sorted itself out and finally get back down to my second Park Run. In truth I should probably give it a few more days than that, but I'll just end up playing it by ear.
Next stop...The Moon
My 1000km challenge is over, so Shane's 1000KM challenge is now kind of redundant. So later this month (January) I will be re-launching my blog/site as Run To The Moon.
"That's a stupid name, what's it all about?"
On a cold, Autumnal evening when I was bored and couldn't find anything to do I worked out that if I ran 10km everyday it would take 105 years to run to the moon and to run 384,400KM by the time I turned 80 I'd need to run 18.8km a day, everyday. And so the crazy idea was born. Soon enough I was brought crashing back down to Earth when I began to realise just how improbable it was.My body is old before it's time, I'm scared to think what state my knees will be in by the time I reach 40. But it's not impossible, you only have to look at the likes of Jamie McDonald to see that the human body is capable of far more than you can possible dream of.
I'll confirm now that I have no misconceptions about being able to run a quarter of a million miles, rather I thought it was a good 'brand' for the yearly running challenges I plan to embark on from here on out. I felt that the name represented one man daring to dream big, to set themselves an almost impossible task, to push themselves well out of their comfort zone and to do everything they can to help others.
It's no secret that I have gained a massive sense of satisfaction from my fundraising last year, at times it felt like it gave my running a purpose. To the outsider the amount I ran last year may not seem anything special, but if you compare it to what a normal running year for me looked like then it gives it a little more context. Typically I would run 4 or 5 races a year, a couple of 10Ks and the rest Half Marathons. The rest of the year would be spent either getting injured, or recovering from injury, so the fact that I survived last year surprised even me.Truth is I blagged this past year heavily, I never trained properly and I ate terribly and I'm left asking myself what more I'm capable of.
So what exactly is next?
So how do I go one better than running 1000KM? I don't, I go 3.241 times better. My next challenge is quite simple, to 'Run the Year', to run a total of 2014 miles between January 1st and December 31st. The reason for picking this is that it was simple and after making my Bank Manager very angry last year with travelling all across the country every weekend and spending the best part of £1,500 doing so, it's also relatively low key.
All I need are my trainers, an open road and some way of measuring where I'm running. There a still a handful of races that I have my eye on this year, some, ones I missed out on last year and others like the Equinox24, as I look to improve my fitness and challenge myself further.
I will be keeping my JustGiving page open as long as I can, for the benefit of those who still wish to sponsor me for last or this year's antics, or for those who have just stumbled across me. Originally I set myself a fundraising target of £6,000 and whilst I have raised an incredible £4,500 I still intend to do what I can to come as close to that target as I can.
I will be announcing more about Run To The Moon in the coming weeks, including my plans for 2014 and beyond. This weekend I will also be posting my write up of the final two races of 2013 as well as giving a recap on the highs and lows of the past year.
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