It was the 6th August 2016 aged 50 when I first started to run for the first time since leaving school 34 years ago and being diagnosed as obese. Unaware at that time I had stage 4 (bone on bone) osteoarthritis in both knees, I thought the pain would subside as I got stronger. Alas that never happened. Following multiple steroid injections and arthroscopy knee surgery, I'm still unable to run pain free and never will.

Pain is something millions of us must live with. One day arthritis will get the better of me, but until then, I choose not to allow pain to dictate what I can and cannot do! Never has a truer phrase been said than, "no pain, no gain!" 

I truly believe running has strengthen my leg and back muscles, which in turn has helped to protect my failing cartilage.
The advice from the knee surgeon (non runner I might add) was to give up running, limit walking and to swim instead. If I felt pain to use a walking stick. Sorry, swimming continuous lengths looking down at a black line, just doesn't do it for me!

Before surgery I managed to run 30 half marathons and 3 full marathons. Following surgery I have completed a further 8 half and 2 full marathons. By adding regular walking breaks I manage to keep going, and I currently manage an average of 2 hours 10 min for the half marathon and 5 hours for the marathon. 

My 2018 personal challenge is to run 12 marathons in 12 months. 

To make my quest even more interesting, on 23rd June I'm taking part in the 53 mile, Pennine Barrier Ultra Marathon. With 8507 ft of Ascent, taking in Malham Cove, Ings Scar, Malham Tarn, The Pennine Way and the wonderful Yorkshire Three Peaks, Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, and with a cut off time of 17 hours, this will be my biggest endurance  challenge to date.

5 weeks following my knee surgery I (probably stupidly) ran a marathon. A few days later I pulled out of the Pennine Barrier Ultra, I felt I simply could not take the amount pain that I went through, for a further 27 miles. Plus the thought of climbing down steep hills, made me feel physically sick! ........ Well my wife treated me to a pair of trekking sticks and I'm now back in!!!!! 

The main reason I'm back in though, is on the 5th January my father suffered a head trauma following a freak accident. He spent 3 weeks in Russells Hall Hospital, before being transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. Following brain surgery he spent 3 weeks in the QE's Critical Care Unit. Having never before seen what goes on in Critical Care, I was taken aback at the amount of specialised care and equipment it takes to keep head trauma and tumour patients alive.  

It really brought it home to me, how many patients there were, all receiving the highest quality of care from our NHS and all the highly trained medical staff.  It's only with that level of care, that our loved one's have a fighting chance of surviving a brain trauma. 

One young man in the next bed to my father had slipped while jogging and hit his head on the curb. A complete freak accident, that could literary happen to any of us. He is father of a 7 month old child. Just a few beds along was a woman fighting for her life following a road traffic accident. So yes these complete freak accidents could happen to you, me or any of our loved ones.

Fall over and break a bone with just few hours at hospital and it's fixed in a few weeks. Fall over and hit your head and it's a completely different story!

It is through the generosity of people donating money to the QE charity, can the most updated and specialised life saving equipment be purchased. That gives our loved one's the very best chance of survival and then to go on to live an independent life.

SO, if I'm willing to go through arthritic knee pain progressively getting worse over 17 hours, would you please consider donating whatever you can to the QE. Your donation no matter how small will go straight to The Queen Elizabeth Charity, where it will be diverted to the Critical Care Unit to go towards the purchase of the specialised equipment, that will go towards helping save lives.

I also have a few charity giving tins, please contact me if you would like one.

After every marathon I run, I will be asking as many people as possible to share my Just giving page and if able to, to make a small donation.

If anyone fancies running 26.2 miles with me in April, May, June, Aug, Sept or Oct, please it would my pleasure to run alongside you. Just as long as you run at my slow pace. If by the slimmest of chance, you are slower than me, I will run at your pace. Please, just message me. You run for a charity of just for your own personal achievement. Together we can do it!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 

Regards Richard

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.