Dear All,

Many of you who read this will know someone who has been affected by cancer and will be aware of the struggles faced by patients and their loved ones. Many of you will have been touched and found inspiration from the strength, courage and determination shown by those fighting this illness.

My inspiration is Jon, who I'm proud to call a best mate, and I'm joining him in raising money for Myeloma UK.

Myeloma is a bone marrow cancer that, for now, is incurable. Fundraising efforts contribute to this charity's efforts in raising awareness and providing support to the patients and families living with this condition as well as contributing to the investments made into improving treatment and progressing the research into finding a cure.

To raise money, I am undertaking a series of challenges to hopefully earn the donations of kind and generous people such as yourself :)

I will be joining Jon on a 70 mile 3 day hike along the Isle Of Wight  coastal path in early June. This probably sounds tough but very doable  for anyone in good physical health. But as Jon has recently recovered from the removal of a spinal tumour, subsequent radiation therapy and now has a new tumour growing in his spine, two in his ribs and is living with a cancer that is slowly eating away at his bones, then you'll get an idea of how difficult this challenge is going to be for him. Some will say he is incredibly brave, some will say he's a bit nuts. Knowing Jon I can safely say it's a bit of both with a big dollop of grit and guts thrown in :)

To try and emulate Jon's nutty challenge, I will also be entering a Tough Guy (http://www.toughguy.co.uk) race at the end of July.

Other challenges are on the horizon (see Updates), leading up to a non-stop 100 mile race some time in the Summer of 2017. Any donation, any amount, will be very gratefully received, or if you can share this page on your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, wherever, then that will be super-duper too as it's raising awareness about Myeloma and that is just as helpful.

Thanks for reading :)

UPDATE AUGUST 2018

First, apologies for not posting an update sooner. I had a setback that forced me out of Winter Tough Guy, a knee injury that didn’t going away and part frustration part not wanting to give up, it felt like there was nowt to say until I knew what was going on.

It took until August last year, after visiting a few different physios to finally get a scan on my knee. The scan revealed torn cartilege (the medial meniscus), that will never repair, but I'll worry about that later. There was the choice between an op or to go easy, so I chose the latter, spending 5 months away from running to rehabilitate my knee and building up muscle to help adjust the way I run.

Anyway, going easy doesn't necessarily mean 'always' going easy, so happy to report that after easing myself back into running in February of this year and slowly building up the miles, I’ve recently completed a 40 miler without any complaints from my knee. So to celebrate I’ve entered a non-stop 100 mile race on September 15th!! Training now consists of around 60 - 70 mile a week runs with 50 miles over the weekends and short runs during the week to improve strength and endurance. Bad luck that this has to be done during a blummin' heatwave, but beggars can't be choosers.

I will give my very best to complete this race. If I don't, then I will not stop until I do.

This challenge has taken on more resonance as, 18 months after Jon underwent a stem cell transplant to eradicate the cancer in his body, new tumors have recently been found. I know from seeing first hand the pain of what he has had to go through, physical and emotional, that this guy is a true example of fighting against all odds and his strength and humility continues to be an inspiration to me.

This is what this 100 miler is all about. As much as I will be putting my body through a lot of discomfort and I will want to give up many times along the way, it is absolutely nothing compared to what people like Jon have to go through when fighting diseases like Cancer. I will be experiencing pain and the nagging voice to 'give up' for 1 day, people like Jon have to endure worse time and again. Please spread awareness of Myeloma UK (https://www.myeloma.org.uk) and if you have a Facebook account you can follow Jon's story here
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/1125599374163176/

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2018

Flippin' eck, I actually did it! 100 miles completed in less than 29 hours. Pic in the latest update below.

Running (and quite a bit of marching) 100 miles along a canal, up some hills, navigating through forest tracks at night, wasn't exactly the gentle amble that I would have liked. Some of it was enjoyable (first 50), some of it was grim (last 50ish). Throwing up on mile 51 meant a big change in my fuelling plan, forcing down the pace in order to temper the waves of nausea through the last 17 hours.That had quite an impact physically and mentally in the final stages. Inane babblings and lots of belly wobbles later saw me through to the finishing line and, although you couldn't be there Jon, you helped to pull me along :)

But.... never again, 100 miles is nuts!!!!!!!

A massive thanks to my parents and my lovely Nicky. You were there throughout the race and your encouragement pushed me on. And thanks Nicky for completing the final 25 miles with me, at times I was a grumpy git and you put up with it when you had every right to push me into the canal!

Big thank you to everyone who has shared this page and donated, you are awesome. Please keep on sharing wherever you can to raise awareness for Myeloma UK (https://www.myeloma.org.uk - @myelomauk will tag them) and if you can spare a few of your hard-earned pennies then it is going to a worthwhile cause who will use your pennies well.

Thank you to http://www.hobopace.co.uk for organising such a great event, you couldn't have done any more.

Provisional results are in (64th place) at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pJvjL3GkFxe2cNQezLYHoWHvJG8qssal2hrPoEuORuw/edit#gid=0 but official results will be available at http://www.hobopace.co.uk/event-results/ in the upcoming weeks - look under the Robin Hood 100 2018 results.

You can also text 70070 and in the message area type BRET60 followed by £5 or £10.

For more information on Jon read his Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/Jonmissin-marchformyeloma