Only those who push themselves too far can ever know how far they can go. T.S.Elliot 

In June 2012 I had an ankle operation and was told I shouldn't run more than 5 miles and even then it should be on a treadmill.. That was never going to work with me so I set myself a goal, something of a challenge and to work towards to assist with my rehabilitation. This is when I stumbled on the idea of entering the Lakeland 50, a 50 mile Ultra running event starting at the northern part of the Lake District travelling south finishing in Coniston. I did it !!! I entered again in 2014 and had caught the bug. Not content with this, a part of me thought, 'I wonder?' Could I do it, could I defy the odds and do something I thought I'd never be able to contemplate let alone enter. On 1st September I did, I entered the Lakeland 100 which is in fact a 105 mile clockwise loop, running around the northern part of The Lakes starting and finishing in Coniston Cumbria with a cut off time of 40 hours. The route takes in several mountain passes with a total of 22,493 ft of ascent & descent. This starts on Friday 24th July 2015 at 6pm. I'll let you work out the maths for the finish time with no sleep in between. 

My journey will be the most challenging thing I have EVER done so far and won't be easy in the training mentally and physically but still won't match the mental & physical capacity I will need to draw upon to complete this race which has on average a 60% drop out rate!!! 

Along the way I will be entering the following as part of my training: Beachy Head marathon, Coniston to Buttermere recce, Ambleside to Coniston recce, The Steyning Stinger South Downs marathon, Coastal Trail series Sussex Ultra, Buttermere to Dalemain recce, The North Downs Way 50, Weald challenge trail series half marathon, Dalemain to Ambleside recce, Ultimate Trails 35 mile ultra. Just the above alone add up to 275 miles of running and with my training I hope to achieve approximately 800 miles from January to July. Not content with the above on 11th April I will be doing a 10 hour Treadmill run walk or crawl challenge at Gover Gym in Broad Oak East Sussex.

I am fundraising for a local charity Demelza one I have links to and have supported several times who give hope and support to families of children with life limiting illnesses. Through other fundraising methods I also aim to raise £1,000 for my children's school towards the forest school project.

I hope you will help me to help others by making my challenge all the worthwhile by donating to my cause whether through this site or supporting my other fundraising events. 

I can't tell you how much by your giving will spur me on and make me complete this, my ultimate challenge.

Thank you so much 

Mike 

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