Well, what can I say other than it was an overwelming success! After arriving a little bit late (1st event jitters methinks), we all pitched in to get the event set up, with Northampton's own Damien Moss joining us from the start and lending some celebrity help.
Unfortunately, Damien was (rather convieniently :) ) injured and unable to rack up a couple of miles for us, even after I offered to provide some Roller Skates and strapping! So, he was along for delegation and a royal laugh - mainly at me since he knew what was coming.....
I like to see people in pain for a good cause! - Damien Moss
On a serious note though, what a great sport! Thanks for coming down and we wish you all the best for the future and good luck on your return from injury in a couple of weeks or so! Hopefully see you representing Great Britain at the Olympics 2012.
With Keep Fit UK.com providing the treadmill and now no less than 3 runners, we looked odds on to complete our task and convincingly too! We also had representation from the Lowdown in the form of Richard and Mark who are old hats at this kind of thing and had a lot of really helpful hints, tips, balloons and sweets!
As soon as we were nearly ready, Sarah jumped straight on the treadmill and in one stint, managed her 7 miles in a time of 1hr 40 mins! Great work and great preperation for the Race for Life she's doing in June! She made it look easy and at this point, I was ready to do 10 miles! Little did I know what was in store..
Then came a bit of a photoshoot with Richard and the Chronicle and Echo - we are still waiting to hear if we made it into the paper, but it was nice of them to come along either way.
Next up into the hotseat was Charlie Batchelor -Sarah's Daughter. Taking on responsibility beyond her years, not only was she leading the way in terms of collecting donations and spreading the word about the event, she then managed to notch up 3 and a half miles in a single go! Excellent! By this time (not even 12 o'clock!), we were well on the way to hitting our target!
So, it was my turn. With what had transpired before, I had a couple of benchmarks laid down for me. I was about to discover how well they'd both done.........
With advice from Damien ringing in my ears......
Keep it at a steady pace, its not a sprint......I hopped on and stupidly (hindsights a wonderful thing) set off at a blistering pace. Within 10 minutes I looked like a beetroot! I couldn't believe how far just 1 mile was! Everytime I thought I'd done a mile, I'd done half. It was seriously hard work.
I had to look deep within myself and eventually slipped into the 'the zone' for what seemed like a long time - turns out it was only for a mile! I honestly thought I was going to pass out on more than one occasion!
After an hour of toil, I decided to call it quits after 4.5 miles with my intention to come back and finish my other 2.5 miles later. I'd set the target in my mind as was going to achieve it! But I knew now just how well Sarah and Charlie had done!
At this time Damien left us having stuck around for 4 hours or so - I'm sure I could see him chuckling to himself all the way out - and having filled in some gaps and walking about half a mile for us.
Then came Gary Smith - a friend of Jamie and Keep Fit UK.com. He's training for the London Marathon this year and it showed, with a quick 3.5 miles he made it look easy! Thanks for your support Gary and good luck at the marathon!
So, we were on 18 miles and it was about 1:45pm - we were sure by now we'd make it by 5pm!
After Gary came my best friend Andy Summers. Drafted in last minute (and forgetting his trainers....), Andy had so far been unsure as to how many miles he would complete or even if he would be needed! But, needed he was and within 30 minutes, we had hit our target! 3 miles achieved at again, a blistering pace, we managed it at 2.15pm!
Charlie then put in another mile stint before I stepped up to complete my remaining 2.5 miles! Rather more slowly this time!
Andy put the finishing touch to the run and carried us over marathon distance with another 1.5 miles and took his personal tally to 5 miles for the day! An excellent return in the 1st event of 21activities!
So, heres how we finished up:
Sarah Batchelor - 7 miles
Charlie Batchelor - 4.5 miles
Anthony Brindley - 7 miles
Gary Smith - 3.5 miles
Andy Summers - 5 miles
(Damien Moss - 0.5 miles)
During the course of the day, we had a lot of interest and donations came thick and fast! We finished up with just over £90 in the collection boxes, as well as sponsorship money from friends and family, which is a significant step towards the £1000 target for the campaign!
Thanks to all the participants and an even bigger thanks to those of you that generously donated to the cause. We do hope you'll continue to follow the campaign and maybe get involved in some of the events further down the line!
I'd love to hear any feedback you have about the event and/ or the campaign, so please feel free to leave messages!
For now, I'm off to recover some more!
Next event - Monday 5th April - I will be taking part in a 6-a-side game againd the NTFC multi-disabled team. See how I get on in the next 21activities installment!
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