About

May almost saw the challenge come to an end as the planned 10K in Hull was reduced to a 9K due to a bridge being left open in the marina. This meant I had to scramble for a replacement and meant I ended up running a 10K on the Bank Holiday Monday in Southport and then the following Sunday in Lincolnshire at the Woodhall Spa 10K. Posting times of 46:59 and then 45:54. July and August were both Run for All events in Leeds and York, with my time now down to 44:30. September was the fast Wilne 10K then I did my anniversary run again at the Great Yorkshire Run which was a bonus 10K and then I did the Shelton Striders 10K in October, November was the Abbey Dash which is still my favourite 10K and it meant with one race left I had gotten my time down to 42:33. The final race was the Percy Pud in a time of 41:38. This meant I had completed my challenge and gotten my 10K time down my almost 10 minutes in a year. I also ended up raising over £2,000 for the NSPCC.

However I wasn’t done and felt like the challenge was only half done. So decided to do a new challenge of doing 13 half marathons in 13 months starting in January 2014 and finishing in 2015. This time there was no goal time but aim was to raise a further £2,000. The challenge started on the 5th January in Preston at the Central Lancashire HM running a time of 1:38:33. February was a very windy one on the Blackpool coast in 1:35:07 as luck would have it my HM in march was the following week in Bath. Despite carrying a hamstring injury I managed to run a time of 1:35:30. To improve I had started training with Pete Browns track group on a Thursday evening and this meant I decided to swap club to Steel City Striders for 2014. At the time runners didn’t swap clubs and some at SRC took it personally and to this day still not spoken to me. The planned Sheffield HM was cancelled over the infamous watergate. So ended up having to travel down to Plymouth for their half marathon running 1:36:04. This was to keep the HM challenge going,

I was also racing other races during this time and set another PB at 10K at the Liverpool Spring 10K in May by now my mohican runner moniker was starting to grow and gain traction. The reason I grew my hair into a long mohican was to stand out from the crowd, I’m not a big fan of fancy dress but wearing a green vest for the NSPCC just wasn’t enough to get me noticed. Just after Christmas 2013 I decided to re-grow my hair with a mohican, it was small at first but it soon grew. Sarah is my hair stylist and we have tried many methods over the year to get it to where we wanted it. I tried to go green but it just wasn’t for me so we opted for black and at each race I was not only getting noticed for my awesome hair but people were really interested in my charity challenge, which for me is excellent. Yes I get lots of funny looks, children pointing at me in the street, adults almost walking into lamposts but most importantly media attention and despite cutting it off and growing it back over the years, my hair style and me now go hand in hand. Although as I get older it’s not as easy to re-grow back!

Anyway back to the 2014 challenge…..

Next up was a trip up to Scotland for the Edinburgh Half Marathon setting a new PB of 1:34:04. June was a very hilly one in Stoke at the Potters ‘alf marathon 1:39:49. Then it was down to Milton Keynes for the NSPCC very own half marathon, This was a very hot day and did it in 1:39:00. August saw the family travel to Great Yarmouth for their half marathon in the middle of a storm. Winds were horrendous at times but I ran a new PB of 1:34.23. For challenge I also had some LEGO Versions of myself done to help raise money. I was having my first crisis in confidence as couldn’t seem to crack the HM distance like I had 10K and was getting frustrated. 2014 was a big learning curve as learnt more about running.

September saw me do the famous Great North run but I ended up in the medical tent at the end with septic tonsillitis despite it I posted another 1:34 time. October was the Great Birmingham run and my breakthrough HM posting a time of 89:11 and followed that up going even faster at the Lancaster HM in 86:17. December was back down to Milton Keynes and despite having to run with no watch I clocked 86:03 ss I had forgotten to charge it!!. Over the autumn/winter of 2014 I shared my childhood story with the NSPCC who used it in their winter campaign on TV, Radio and other media under an alias at the time to protect me. This campaign helped to raise over £1.3 million for charity.  My story was featured in the Daily Mail under and alias to protect my identity at the time.  I then finished this challenge in January 2015 with the Brass Monkey HM in York and another new PB in 83:19. I had also do a stop motion video for Childine with LEGO and their phone line, you can view that video here

I thought I was finished with challenges as I had a break to do my first marathon as I had won a place at the London Marathon at the start if 2015, with me running two more half marathons with another PB at the Wilmslow HM posting an 83:03 in March. I also took advice from Mike at the track to swap to Hallamshire Harriers to continue improving, so for 2015 I swapped clubs again. My first marathon was an experience as despite a decent training block I scrapped to a 3:08:24. Coming out of London I had another leap in performances. Setting a PB at 10 miles in Blackpool with a 60:07, then I went sub 18 for first time at 5K with a 17:59, then a week later went even faster with a 17:21, I then set a new PB at 10K at the Penny Lane Striders 10K but the icing on the cake was going 36:34 at the Leeds 10K. I should have continued on this focus racing as my times were tumbling……

However, I came up with my craziest challenge to race 52 times in 52 weeks. Basically I had to race once a week for a year, I also decided to do it wearing face paint like my favourite WWE/WWF wrestlers. This time I wanted it to do it for the local Children’s Hospital as I had spent a lot of time in there as a child. The challenge started in August  2015 doing 6 races including racing on a Saturday and Sunday.

Starting with York with one of my most iconic photosas Hawk from the Road Warriors, posting a 36:36, following week I did back to back 5 milers Saturday and Sunday with times of 29:38 and 30:51. Following that up with three 10K races over the next 3 Sundays, one in Billingham, one Warrington, one in Atherstone.  September I had to drop the face paint as was having a bad reaction when running, sweat and paint didn’t really mix and burnt my eyes, not ideal when your racing!

September including two races in one day doing the Yorkshire Gold 5K in 18:17 to place 5th overall then an hour later doing the Wetherby 10K, then it was a trip to Mablethorpe posting another solid 36:37, the following week I set another PB at half marathon with 81:12 at the Vale of York HM. I was also selected to be captain for Yorkshire at my home race through a public vote in the local paper. I captained our county to victory while also setting yet another PB at my home race for 4th in a row with 36:21.

October saw my first podium during the challenge at the Holmfirth10K before that I represent my club at the national road relays in Birmingham, I also lowered my 5 mile time to 29:25 over at Green Drive 5 but for me it was finishing 3rd at Holmfirth. And all I got was a pair of socks that were too small!! However Sarah got me a memento of the achievement made up. November was even better with my first ever race win at the Power Surge 10K, this still holds place as one of the highlights of my running journey. I led from 200m and just had the lead bike for company, I expected to be caught but I ended up with a big lead and I can close my eyes and still remember this race. This was first of 6 10K races in November as I did back to back races following weekend with another PB at the Cheshire 10K in 36:18. However by end of the month, the constant racing was causing issues as the whole family was tired of getting up early every weekend for another race. I was run down at started December with a chest infection and by Christmas I was burnt out and after struggling over the festive period with 6 races in that period racing 20th, 26th, 27th and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of January! I had donw the Travellers 6, the Turkey Trot, Ward Green 6, Cleethorpes 10K, No walk in the Park 5K and then the Hit the Trail 5 milers. I sat down with Sarah and said enough was enough in the end I had done 30 races in 23 weeks. Raising another £1,000 for charity.

Over the years through doing challenges and telling my story I have managed to help raise £1,330,721.17.