June 03, 2016
OutRun May 2016 for Macmillan
Half of Sauce & Brown turned 31 this May. Happily married with a toddler and our second due 1st of June. This brought on a sort of male bravado, which made me want to prove that I could push myself to the limit. Almost like a pre pre midlife crisis with someone shouting at me “just because you’re a father you don’t have to get the slippers and beer belly to match”
I have always played amateur football, as a result I have an OK level of fitness
but this had slipped with S&B and home life demanding more of my time. I knew I had let things slip a little but eating more doughnuts and no plan to combat this wasn’t helping. #Doughnotts
It sounds flippant but when my father got a serious diagnosis, it was a kick up the jacksy that I needed to get my arse into gear and this was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. That evening I saw an advert for Macmillan’s fundraising campaign OutRun May 2016 where you set your challenge depending on ability and raise money based on your efforts and dedication. So after a brief discussion with my brother-in-law Ross Cheeseman. We agreed to sign up and give it a go with the belief that it would give my father the positive support he needed.
When we took on the challenge it gives you the option to choose your level, we should have selected to run 25 miles…..Nah we are red-blooded males, hunter gatherers with competition ingrained in our bones, so naturally we picked to run the longest distance of 100 miles in 31 days.
That’s 3.22 miles each and every day without rest or approx a marathon a week for 4 consecutive weeks. EASY we said, a mile is so much further than you think and when you are clocking your runs in kilometres and then dividing by 1.6 that is even more depressing. At that point the size of the task in hand actually dawns on you.
The first few runs were small and fine but slow, in the back of your mind you think ‘ it must get easier’. It doesn’t, however focus and determination are huge factors. We both also suffered a little from injury, it can only be the lack of rest but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or in my case blame it on poor footwear and go treat yourself to a brand new pair of trainers.
On the final 2 days of May we still had over 22km to cover but through the wind and rain we completed it with a smile on our face and with the immense feeling of pride for our achievement. Team that with the fact that we smashed our fundraising target of £500 and the total currently raised stands at £1,880.33 almost 400% more than we aimed for.
I have done my bit now time for a beer.
