Birth, marriage and the small matter of 310km in the month of May!

Well May went fast!
I signed up for the http://10keverydayinmay.com challenge towards the end of April as a means of remaining focused in the lead up to playing my part as best man at my friends wedding - I needed that suit to fit!  There was also the small matter of my first child's due date as well as the need to rise up to this personal challenge, not knowing what was going to happen after my son was born made me want to squeeze every possible training session: a busy month.

Knowing that it was highly possible I would be distracted from running at some point, I began the challenge of running 10km everyday, two days earlier than the May 1st start.  With my http://www.justgiving.com/somethinkblue fund raising page I set off.

The first week or 70km, went well, then things began to get harder, my calves caused the most discomfort and it was around this time that I walked a few days.  I also split the 10km into two 5kms in addition, I varied the time of day, one day running in the morning and the next running at night to give my body as much time as possible to recover.

At day 14, I had a sports massage on my legs, from this day forward, I took greater interest in stretching and using foam rollers to target pressure points, targeting the sore areas with localised self massage. Then on May 22nd our baby boy was born.  I had ran 230km without a gap but now priorities had changed.  He was not eating and my wife's blood pressure was high; they were kept in hospital.  I spent the next few days in a daze, taking respite in a quick 5km run a few days later, also happening this week, my friend was getting married and I was his best man, I had a busy week!

After a week in hospital, my new family were allowed home, now we were all together, I didn't want to leave them - EVER!  However, this is not reality, the running challenge echoed at the back of mind, I needed to get back to it, I had got 75km left to go, I cracked on, even incorporating introducing my family to the world with a few 5km strolls with the push chair, these were the most special kilometres of all of them.

With the bank holiday weekend, my brother in laws birthday and the Queens Jubilee, I made a decision, I needed to get this challenge completed, so with 25km left on Tuesday 5th June 2012, I set off and just over 2.5hours later, my challenge was over.  310km completed in 36 runs, with an average run time of 63.89mins/10km.  Considering I had walked some of the sessions, I was very pleased with this average time!

To date, I have raised almost £100 for the Special Olympics GB in doing this challenge, I was acknowledged as getting the 1st 10km distance logged on the fitnaturally challenge website, and I suspect, I was one of the last!  Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.  My fund raising page is http://www.justgiving.com/somethinkblue

Run 30 miles on the last day of being 30. April 1st 2012

I thought up this challenge for myself a while back, I also had the goal to try and get as fit as possible to compare being 31 with being 21.  The main advantage I have over my 21 year old self is my mental attitude - put bluntly, I'm stubborn. 

Previously, I would have said that it's strength and ignorance that get me through, but with age, I am trying to worker smarter and not just harder.  That started with nutrition and gear.  I took on the trip a back pack, carried 4.5litres of squash, 3 bagels, 2 bananas, a cream egg and some sweets! (I factored on 500ml of fluid per hour)

Weather was also a major factor, when I began, it was minus 1 degrees so I needed to dress appropriately, yet as the day progressed and warmed up, I had to ditch the clothing, the plan was that as I drank through my fluids, it would lighten up my pack and help as I tired, yet as it filled with discarded layers, it remained fairly heavy.

The large part of my route was away from roads and took advantage of the canal paths in the local area.  I found the following sites really useful; http://canalplan.eu/cgi-bin/canal.cgi and http://jwultra.org.uk/ which is a similar challenge.

I've got to say, I had a total blast and really enjoyed the day, although I had to dig deep between 17-22miles as that was when  I found it most difficult.  Now a day later, I've got the ache in my body that tells me that I did something awesome! The Miicoach app on my Blackberry made it so easy to track, luckily, the signal maintained for the whole journey and my battery survived the duration however it was flashing red at the finish!

I finished 30miles within 7 hours, I estimate that the total stoppage time for food and changing clothing was in excess of 1 hour yet the time was not the challenge here, it was to run 30miles on the last day of my 30th and that is what I did!  All 18stone1 (+my backpack) of me lasted the distance.  The only thing I forgot was the sun cream!!

Looking forward now, I need to continue to work on consistent training per week, (currently around 5hours), carry on building my confidence back on the bike and shed the weight that is giving you other athletes out there an unfair advantage over me!!  Knowle 5mile fun run in May and City of Birmingham Olympic Distance Triathlon in July.  My wife is also expecting our 1st child in May which should bring its very own 'secret training' into the mix!  Hoping to get some outdoor water time at Sandwell Valley Park lake from May onwards.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog!  I'm 31, aching somewhat but buzzing!!
Matthew Hunt