3 sweaty weeks

The following 2 weeks are going to be a huge push for us physically. The idea with the training over this time is to push ourselves further then we've gone before... this will however not involve attempting to run the 700km as we will run it in 3 weeks. The 3,600km the team has collectively run over the past 6 months has resulted in considerable wear and tear. Sore joints are a terrible thing and help no-one. We will be riding, swimming & running our way to peak physical condition, and then with one week to go, the running will stop and a little cycling and swimming will occur, just to keep the fitness up.

With 3 sweaty weeks to go, perhaps now is a time for reflection. This idea to run 700km, in its infancy, took on a slightly different form. AG, team poster boy, and SM were sitting around having a chat (some members of Team Run may dispute this as being the origin of 'The Run' - however, they do not write this blog). AG who had just signed up for the Reading Half Marathon said he was growing something of penchant for silly charity runs. We proceeded to come up with a bunch of daft charity run possibilities. Top of the list, which we mentioned to the other now members of team run, was to run around the clock in Iceland. Given that it would be summer, the days would be never ending and we could happily sleep for 6 hours, get up run, sleep for 6 hours, get up run, etc. etc. About 30 k per day for 8 days in a row. Reality set in, aided by a few massive reality checks from the older and wiser. This was perhaps a little over-ambitious.

So we then set about finding a more 'do-able' route. We all had ideas on what this would be, so after a blind vote within Team Run, we narrowed this down to 2 routes. These routes were 700km along St James trail in Northern Spain, and 700km between the world's 2 smallest countries - Vatican City and Monaco. We then put the vote to Rider Levett Bucknall London. Collectively, the office voted in favour of Vatican City to Monaco. And now here we are - 3 weeks to go and a couple of very sweaty weeks of intense training.

Finally, a quick update on sponsorship. We have now £1,713 (or £1,850 including gift aid), which is 34% of our target of £5,000. We still consider this target realistic and hope you will help us to realise this. Links are available on earlier posts.

Until next week.