It’s been a long time since my last blog post, fortunately
those of you who know me know the Land’s End to John O’ Groats cycle challenge
I faced was completed with incredible success and myself, Karl and Jordan made
the long journey back from Scotland in high spirits with my parents who were
fantastic by waiting for us at the finish post with a cold bottle of champagne –
although I must admit I was more looking forward to a hot chocolate after the
bitter cold of our final ride through the peaks and troughs of beautiful Scotland.
After my deepest gratitude to my parents Tony and Diane, I would like to extend my thanks to Karl and
Jordan; they were the best riding companions a man could ask for and we made
the journey unforgettable together with the highs and lows of morale and our
physical conditions. Together we conquered the challenge we set ourselves. Just
shy of 1,000 miles later I firmly believe we created a bond that can never be
broken sharing our anger, tiredness, frustration, joy and non-stop laughs
throughout the trip. If there’s one moment that will stick with me forever it
was on the penultimate day when we had 40 miles still to travel with no food,
minimal water and a constant incline to reach our destination. Lesser men would
have given up and added an extra day onto the tour, but the determination from
the 3 of us meant we kept on pedalling and ensured we laughed all the way to
the next destination arriving at 11pm after setting off around 8am that
morning. I travelled the road from South to North with 2 great friends and
returned with 2 brothers.
I would also like to say thank you to the incredible donations
from everyone around the globe that donated; I can say that as I got a donation
from Australia and The Netherlands! The guys at Everton in the Community –
namely Carena, Ken & Jonathan - were instrumental in my success; friends
and family at Goodison Park for the half way stage were great to see and
boosted morale on a logarithmic scale. At that point I knew we were destined to
succeed. The Bike Cabin – in Coppull showed support not only to myself but to
the other boys by providing enough inner tubes to repair a peloton and offering
sound advice and words of wisdom regarding bike maintenance and nutrition,
thank you Ben!
However, even though our bikes were hung up after the
challenge, the charities we supported continued with their work. This is
something I came to realise will never stop benefiting the community and
others not as fortunate as they deserve. It is with this in mind that I have
taken inspiration from Karl and his achievements last year and will now attempt
his feat of running at least 1 mile a day for the whole of 2016 and aim to run
1,000 miles before the year is through. Running is a lot tougher on the joints
and this will be a much more difficult challenge in the physical sense by
having no rest days and consistently having to be in a condition to run. This
is a challenge that I feel anyone can attempt; whether the aim is 100 or 1,000
miles for the year I would take a lot from this year if people ran alongside me
and Jordan (who is also attempting the challenge) to keep up our efforts and
ensure we don’t fall by the wayside. Avoiding injury is paramount but achieving
the goal is the ultimate aim, I want to be able to proudly say I ran 1,000
miles for Everton in the Community and made a continued difference to the
social inclusion schemes, mental health, wellness and free schooling the
charity offers. Every time I look outside and dread pounding the pavement in
the torrential rain I will think of the difference this can make to others and remember
that I am lucky in that I have the physical capability of being able to run and
it is inexcusable not to take advantage of this by pushing myself and raising
awareness and money for the incredible charity.
As January has already commenced I am well underway with the
challenge, thus far totting up a total of 43 miles.
Only 957 to go! As I said, if any one wants to undertake some of those
miles with me – please do. I will be regularly attending the Cuerden Valley
Park Run in Bamber Bridge, as well as being signed up for some races including
the Liverpool Half Marathon on my birthday, 13th March.
Again, this is another personal journey discovering how
strong I am both mentally and physically but with Karl’s inspiring achievements
last year and him providing help, advice and support I know it is achievable. I
will be opening a Just Giving page soon and hoping to drum up as much awareness
and publicity for the charity and its continued work, please follow me on
Strava or better yet – come with me on the journey!
See you on the road.
Total Miles Ran: 43
