"We had done this thing we had set out to do, and instead of becoming larger because of the experience, we became smaller, more humble, more aware of how little we know: about the world in general, about ourselves specifically."
Richard Benyo in "The Death Valley 300."
This summer I'm going to be attempting to run three of the UK's hardest Ultra Marathon trail races. As well as challenging myself to the very limit, I'll be raising money for a great charity in London called Naomi's House. They provide support to children and young people with conditions that mean they are unlikely to live to become adults. Thanks in advance for your support.
Iain's Ultra Challenge
1. The West Highland Way Race (18 June, 95 Miles, COMPLETED IN 28:20)
2. The Ultra Tour of the Lake District (30 July, 105 miles, 40 hours or less) DID NOT FINISH. Unfortunately after 60 miles and 18 hours my legs just didn't have anything left. I'll be back for this one though!
3. The Ridgeway Challenge (27 August, 85 miles, 28 hours or less) COMPLETED IN 22:07
Update - the end of a long road!
I made it over the first hurdle - I finished the West Highland Way Race in just over 28 hours to collect my cherished crystal goblet (now in pride of place on the mantlepiece). When you consider less people have one of these than have been up Everest, it brings home the scale of the thing.
That only gave me 6 weeks to prepare for what was the hardest race of the three - the UTLD. Unfortunately that probably wasn't quite enough and despite giving it my best shot I only made it to 60 miles. Stil,l it was one of the hardest 60 miles you could run and as a friend pointed out - "what you've done there is tried to run from Birmingham to London and climb Everest on the way". Success is never a given, but I'll be back some day to finish that one off.
So I was feeling a fair bit of trepidation when I lined up at the start of The Ridgeway Challenge - could I deliver? Would my body take any more punishment? In the end it went as well as could be hoped for and as I descended off the beautiful downs to Avebury in the light of a perfect Autumn dawn I knew I'd achieved something quite special.
Clearly a lot of this was about challenging myself to the limit, but I'm delighted that I've been able to get support for such a worthy cause. Thinking about all the gifts that life has given me to allow me to do such things kept me going through many a dark place. I hope the money I have raised goes some small way to helping Naomi's House to continue their fantastic work for families of children that don't have the opportunities that we so easily take for granted.
And finally, hanks to everyone who has sent donations and messages of support - it really has meant a huge amount. Thanks to my amazing support team in Scotland (Kay, Damo and Si) I really couldn't have done it without you all...see you out there
