Well… I'm not really sure where to begin. It was just over a year ago I think, every race I’d entered had been cancelled and I was frustrated and probably a little down. It was clear to me that we’d be waiting forever for “permission” back then and so I dreamt up this idea - it had to be hard, but also had to be something that anyone could join in with along the way.
So, I’m halfway, no we are halfway… in fact we are only just beginning. When I started this challenge I wasn’t sure what to expect, I’ve run 100km a few times and done my fair share of difficult challenges but I wasn’t sure what was ahead with this one.
Well it’s not just 135 miles, it’s across Death Valley in the USA - the hottest place ever recorded on earth, I explain. This is normally followed by a question: “how many days does it take?” “Well, it’s just a single run, it’s non-stop”. I enjoy the bewildered look on their face as the sheer magnitude of the challenge I’m tackling is absorbed and I begin to smile.
I was nervous at 05:29, we were heading out of the door and about to start. I’m always nervous before an endurance event, not because I don’t think I can complete it - the nerves come from the fact I know I can’t not complete it. Once I start, I know I have to finish it no matter what happens, there is no choice or exit route and that is scary.
With just over a couple of weeks to go until the 100km run, in an effort to try and take my mind of the relentless suffering that will be involved I have been thinking more about the way to engage the children in their run and make it a more challenging and inspiring event for them.
There didn't seem to much option really? We were now all back at home as a family and apart from a plaster on Allegra's chest there was little physical reminder of what had just happened but I knew then that I was going to "do something" and try and make a difference to the endless stream of families that go through those doors to Paediatric Intensive Care.
