30 July 2009 Update
Well what can I say, finally made it to virtual Saudi Arabi on 16 July 2009 or 87 days into the challenge. Its been tough running in the ever increasing heat and its only going to get worse over the rest of July and the whole of August from which I hope to see a significant increase in my mileage and my kilometers per day. I also, hope to actually compete in some form of run, hopefully a 10k or so but I'm not counting my chickens.
As of writing these little paragraphs I have managed just over 400km's towards the total at an average of 4km per day. Unfortunately, to finish the challenge I should have been averaging 7km per day from the start so I have a lot to make up...
Best get running!!!
The Run
Basically I have decided to run home, no mean feat you may think, well take into account I work and live in Abu Dhabi but my home (where I grew up) is Settle, North Yorkshire and is roughly 6,909km away via Saudi, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Bosnia & Herz., Slovenia, Austria, Germany Belgium and last but not least the UK.
This now may seem like a massive task but it is made a little easier as the distance will be covered on the roads of Abu Dhabi, treadmills, fun runs and maybe a few more serious races in the UAE and hopefully back home in the UK once I have shed numerous pounds... I aim to do this before my 35 birthday which on 1 January 2012 which means covering more than a marathon every week until then. At the moment I have completed just over 300km towards the total but at the current average it would take me 5 years to complete so I have a lot of running ahead of me!
I am doing this as a personal challenge as the Dubai stone is really getting to much as well as being forced to retire from rugby due to a chronic neck injury but not only that I want to help people who have been less fortunate than myself. I intend to raise funds for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal in completing this challenge and wanted to further help people while keeping a strong ling with my Yorkshire roots.
I intend to allow people to keep track of my progress and theoretical global position via google earth (i’m about 15km from the UAE/ Saudi border), my facebook page which is linked to the Nike plus system and a link to the actual Nike Plus page , http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=all_challenges,1211078396 I use to record the distances I have run and raise money through the justgiving website http://www.justgiving.com/James-Howarth-AbuDhabitoSettle.
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