Over the last couple of months, the summer streak has continued into Autumn, getting people out running every day and raising awareness and money for the MS Trust; totaling just short of £1000 (£982.75 at last count). What started out with Debbie trying to find some motivation to keep running through the summer, has led to over 20 people running with us through the warmer months and beyond.
The streak has proved massively successful , in terms of fundraising and peoples running goals, with Personal Best’s happening at several events. Over the last couple of months, I have managed to achieve 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon PB’s (with the 5k being in month 1 of the streak) Whilst Debbie has achieved 5k, 10k and Half Marathon PB’s.
Since our last blog we have been keeping busy with events; September saw the snap decision by me to run the Vale of York Half Marathon, at 2 days notice as part of my marathon training, and I knocked almost 3 minutes off my PB, finishing in 1.27.34. Then we were off to visit Rother Valley parkrun with Ackworth Road runners and Debbie smashed her PB to earn an unwanted promotion to division 3 for next year.
Over the last couple of months we’ve been training for our challenges in Lisbon; a Marathon for me and the Half for Debbie. Why we thought it was a good idea to book a Half Marathon at Tissington the week before, we still don’t know. Debbie managed to knock 20 minutes off last year’s time for the same event and about 17 minutes of her PB. Although I was supposed to be taking it easy, I ran my second ever sub 1.30 Half Marathon.
Our plan was for a nice cool autumn run in Lisbon, how wrong we were… We had a couple of days exploring the city to acclimatise, it’s hillier than we expected! I was lucky getting to start at 8am with a relatively cool temperature of 22C, whereas Debbie had a 10.30am start, as the heat was building up nicely and they were stood in the middle of the bridge with no shelter; good for the tan but not running. The temperature was 32C when Debbie finished!
As there was a nice head wind for about 30km to keep me cool I managed to knock 7 minutes of my PB and both of us enjoyed finishing in the main square of Lisbon, but nothing compared to the free Calypo or heading straight into the river to cool off and sooth the aching legs.
Back home again with plans for more relaxed running, we headed for some off road fun at Langsett, which ended Debbie’s streak of four months, after part of a tree decided to embed itself in her leg. Debbie tried to carry on running for a few days, but could no longer get a running shoe on and was having to run in sneakers – not the best idea!
After a short break, antibiotics and minor surgery, the tree fragment came out and we got back out at the Dalby Dash 10k and even with a 2 mile hill to start, I think we will be back again next year. A great run and event and another sneaky PB for me (somehow) before heading off to Whitby for the afternoon for some bracing winds.
After missing out on a few Ackworth Club headtorch runs, Debbie decided she wanted us to head out to Howell Woods and Wintersett after work last Friday and have an explore; which was great fun and we both survived the witches and monsters on the way round.
As the Summer Streak has merged into winter, the orders for the Ackworth Road Runners bobble hats have been picking up again, with another £155 raised since the temperature has dropped. Even though I wasn’t going to join in with the Streak to begin with, I am still going and Debbie is going to resume in December, now she can get her shoes back on again.
In total, with the Summer streak (£982.75) and Hats (£566), we have managed to raise £1,548.75 for the MS Trust this year and almost £18,500 since the Worthington 500k Challenge in 2015. Once again, a massive thank you for your support and help throughout the challenges we continue to set ourselves… There’s more to come next year when we’ll be running the Great North Run again in our blue vests!
Worthington 500k For the MS Trust 