46 days and counting.......

This weekend however, I taged along on a training run with Little Havens; another such incredible charity. They have so many runners that they provide support in the form of coaching and training runs and very generously allow other marathon entrants to come along. I was really pleased to go as I had to do a long run to do, the weather wasn’t great on Sunday morning and I knew that if I was running on my own, I would have taken one look out of the window and decided against it.

My friend Katy is running for Little Havens and we went along with another friend of hers, Kelly, who is running for Children with Cancer. Katy had been before but Kelly and I hadn’t and weren’t sure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised as it was a really well run event. We turned up with about 60 other runners, I certainly wasn’t expecting as many as that! We had a safety briefing and were told of the route and then unfortunately had to get out of the lovely warm room and get on with it.

From Little Havens we headed towards The Woodmans Pub (no pint pitt stop for me unfortunately), then passed the Tandoori Parlour (a curry was the last thing on my mind at that point), on to the A13, passed Seevic, down Shipwrights Drive, onto Benfleet Road, through Hadleigh, down Tattersal Gardens on to Marine Parade, then up Hadleigh Road, (passed my house which is always difficult), on to London Road, (I had to stop for a wee at Chalkwell Park toilets, too much information?), down Chalkwell Avenue and on to the seafront to the Pier. All the time it was raining, sideways! The rain was actually painful hitting my face and everything I was wearing was drenched (my nipples are very sore this morning where my wet T-shirt was rubbing. Too much information again?). We turned round at the Pier and then........ran all the way back through Leigh Old Town to Leigh station.

Everything was going quite well and I was feeling OK. It was then that the wheels came off. I must have been up to about 15 miles when from Leigh station I had to run up the Belton Hill. By the time I got to the top my legs were like jelly and I know that if I had stopped for a drink or a break I would have fallen over so carried on up the hill at Thames Drive. There wasn’t any respite after that either as there were more hills to come at Highlands Boulevard and even right at the end at Daws Heath Road, before finally turning in to Little Havens and finishing. 18 miles done! Phew!!!

Afterwards, very generously Little Havens provided tea, water and even bacon sandwiches. The only problem was that I was sat on the floor exhausted and didn’t even have the energy to chew down on mine!! Once it was done though, it is difficult to describe the feeling. You are obviously euphoric about finishing but also shattered and can’t imagine ever running again! Katy has very generously arranged for me to go up to the marathon with the Little Havens group. A coach is being provided to take everyone which means one less thing for me to get stressed about which is very welcome.

So, although I can now tick the '18 miles' off my list, I am furiously trying to rustle up more sponsorship money and get my name printed on my vest; it definitely seems like I am going to do this which is extremely scary. I have to do another 2 or 3 long runs of about 20 miles eeekkkk but at leaset training is going in the right directon! 

I won't keep asking as I don't want to get a reputation from you readers that kindly take the time read my property blogs that im only after your money... but in this case.. I am. So if anybody would like to kindly sponsor me for such a worthy cause, please click the link https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Robert-Kahl

This article is by Rob Kahl at Scott & Stapleton
Tel: 01702 471155