Adam in Runderland

A friend of mine recently ran around his estate. Housing estate that is, not a country estate. It made me wonder if I could do the same thing where I live. The idea grew and soon I was planning to run every road in Folkestone. Handily the town is bordered to the north by the M20 and the downs, to the east it is hemmed in by the cliffs and to the south lies the sea. This just leaves the west where Folkestone merges into Sandgate, then Seabrook and finally Hythe. I took a map from Google and decided I would make the western boundary a road called Horn Street but would include any roads coming off this. The other rule was that I would only have to run public roads and not drive ways or footpaths. The challenge began at the start of July and soon I was adding my runs to a printed map by hand. It gave me a great sense of accomplishment to see the roads I had run spreading across the town. It worked as a good motivation to get out and see places I would never have explored otherwise.

I recently read a book by a guy who had run 401 marathons in 401 days to raise money towards his anti-bullying charity. It was inspiring and I felt drawn to challenge myself in aid of a good cause in a less demanding but similar way. The result is ‘Run the Date’. I will be running the number of miles in the date every day throughout September. This will be a total of 465 miles and ending with 5 (ultra)marathons in a row. The charity I am supporting is Folkestone Rainbow Centre which helps homeless and vulnerable people in East Kent through a winter shelter and food banks.                   The miles do not all have to be run in one go. As I work full time and have a young family I will be splitting the longer distances into two or three runs using early morning, lunchtimes and evenings as necessary. As far as training goes I am not doing anything specific. I’m at the point where I run most days and can run a marathon distance most weeks if need be, so the first 26 days shoul

After a hot, sunny week I was gearing up for my July Marathon to be a scorcher. The week before I had enjoyed the good weather so much that, rather than tapering, I ran 55 miles. I was getting used to the higher temperatures and the opportunity to cool down with a swim in the sea at the end. The day of the North Downs Marathon arrived and I opened the curtains to see a wall of grey drizzle. Summer was over. I put away the sun cream and took out my waterproof jacket and swapped my road shoes for a pair of trail shoes. After a breakfast of Weetabix, banana and coffee I was on my way by 6:30. The marathon was being held in Reigate about an hour away. The journey is all motorway – M20, M26, M25 but due to roadworks and the closure of the M26 westbound I left plenty of time before the 9am start. I needn’t have worried about the roads but it was a very wet drive with a wall of spray and rivers of water collecting in the gutters. Parking was free and easy to find when I arrived at R