New Forest Marathon

After suffering a haemo pneumothorax and 6 weeks of hospital in 2009 however, my drive to ‘raise-the-bar’ developed.  Soon after leaving hospital I competed in the New Forest Marathon and it was then that my thirst for physical achievements commenced.  This was without a doubt one of the hardest marathons I have every completed.  Undulating, very hot and extremely challenging.

Time to start pushing harder

2010 was more of an experiment really.  I was keen to see how far things could be pushed versus the investment in training.  This year I ran a half marathon the evening before the London marathon.  I ran a lot of back to back long distance runs in preparation for this and the training paid off.  Whilst standing at the start line of the London marathon slightly sore and wondering why I was doing this, I went on to complete a 5 hour marathon without any incidents.  This is where the thirst for more and more began really as I started to understand that with a good balance of rest, training, good diet and a strong mental attitude, that actually we can push ourselves far further than one may think.

North Pole – Unsupported

After 18 months of focussed training, I walked unsupported to the North Pole.  In a small group of six of us, we struggled across the ice fields floating in the Arctic Ocean with 24 hour daylight.  The expedition was unsupported which meant that we had to drag everything we needed with us.  No chance of any supply drops!

For two weeks we slept for 12 hours, man-hauled for 10 hours and ate for two hours everyday.  One of the hardest challenges I have ever pushed myself through, but by far one of the most satisfying experiences I have ever had.

Paris 2 London – 335 miles

Having completed a successful unsupported polar expedition to the North Pole in 2012, I was on the hunt for a world first.  I may not be the most athletic of builds (chunky is probably a better description!), but I now have found that I have a big engine and a lot of determination.  My next challenge therefore was obvious to me.  It needed to be one which tested my stamina.  Something which would really test me when others would give up.  Something which not many people will ever do again.  A very, very, very long run seemed to be the answer.

After much research, I found that nobody (as of 2015) had ever claimed to have run every mile from Paris to London – including the distance of the English Channel of course!  So I set about planning.  It seemed obvious at the time that I should finish in London and preferably with the London marathon if at all possible.  As soon as the planning started getting serious, I found that the Paris marathon was 2 weeks before the London marathon – now there was a challenge!  Could I run the Paris marathon and then run a marathon everyday and finish with the London marathon?  The distance worked out well, the timing was perfect!  In fact, it would even allow for a rest day.  So, planning became ever more serious and discussions with Children with Cancer and some fantastic sponsors ensued.  We were on!