It’s Got Legs, What’s the Plan?
“I love it when a plan comes together.” - Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith
I had made up my mind then, I was doing this!
One night, I sent an email to the hospice …
“Date: Monday 21st October 2013 – 11.53 pm
To: Kate – Notts Hospice
Subject: 5k a day (At Least)
Hi Kate,
I saw that someone was doing a running challenge for a local charity and it gave me an idea…
It’s basically this:
I will run 5K (at least) every day for a year. I’ll even run the Nottingham Half Marathon as part of it. I would also run some park runs; they are usually 5K.
I was also thinking that people/businesses whatever, could suggest weird places to cover 5k (it has to be using my legs though). It would be a great way to raise awareness and funds for you,
but I will wait to hear your thoughts first.
Thanks,
Kind Regards, Andy”
As I get older I realise that I have an impulsive side but that was the summit of Mount Impulse, I spent no time at base camp perusing the foothills, plotting my route at all. “Hi, I’m here to scale Mount Impulse… yeah training, correct clothing, people fall or freeze to death, blah blah blah, screw it, see you in a bit. The top is this way right?”
My spontaneity stands pretty much alone in our family and usually comes up against worried eyes and some criticism at times. My family thought it was a great idea, but were concerned about how I'd fare completing the challenge. My parents were concerned for my health and my then-partner was expressing concerns about how much time it would take up as I was already out of the house a lot with work and all the other ventures I was committed to. Of course, I assured them that I would be fine healthwise and that as 5km can be covered in around thirty minutes it was unlikely to keep me away from the family very much and was likely to go unnoticed throughout the week.
That's what I said at the time but what the hell did I know about it? I was going to do it, I had made my mind up, so I was just telling them what they wanted to hear. In truth, I was getting extremely concerned about the whole thing, the more it sunk in, the more I started to regret it, but I was not about to back out.
Date: Tuesday 22nd October 2013 – 12.18 pm
“To: Andy Wallis
From: Kate
Subject: Re: 5k a day (At Least)
“Hi Andy Wow, that’s a great idea, and thank you as always, for your support. Your proposal definitely has legs. . . (Sorry, couldn’t resist that, I can hear you groaning from here!) It’s something that we can push with lots of corporate and community supporters for sure.
I think that this could really take off, the more I think about it, the more I love the idea but we should probably have a chat, let me know when will be good for you.
All the best and once again thanks for a brilliant idea!
Kate”
Shit!
Of course, they thought it was a “brilliant idea” and that it “could really take off” and so did I. My problem was, that I thought it was starting to sound like a brilliant idea for someone else to do. I knew of a couple of challenges local to me that were similar, but this would be different. The others had a distance target in mind so their challenges didn’t require them to run every day. I, on the other hand, was suggesting that I’d run daily and didn’t care about the final distance.
The issue I had with a set distance is the same dispute I seem to have with all deadlines, time.
If I were to try and run, let’s say, a thousand miles in a year, I would have two hundred miles left to do in the final week. I’m not saying that for dramatic effect, I’m serious. I told everyone I knew about my new idea, and most people were very encouraging and said they would support me. However, there was one person I worked with who told me that I was an “Effing idiot” for attempting it. He went on to say that I wouldn't last a month.
“Right”, I thought, “You just bloody watch me”.
As I’ve said, I was already donating time and some profit as a photographer to the hospice, but this would be the first time I would have been raising funds for them. The Hospice offered (and still does) a free service to patients and their loved ones which aimed to take care of not only the physical needs of patients but also valued their emotional, spiritual, and social needs. They provided support to families and close friends, both during the illness and in bereavement. They ran a Hospice at-home service and Day Therapy facility, complete with Complementary Therapy, Physiotherapy, Counselling and Bereavement services. At the time they had 148 employees and around 300 volunteers and in 2013 the Hospice needed £3 million per year to run efficiently, one-third of which came from NHS funding. The rest of the shortfall was raised through their retail division, donations, legacies, weekly lottery, and fundraising activities.
They were a fantastic team and always appreciated the work volunteers like me did for them. As I said I did feel like a bit of a cheater as I just took photos for them, I enjoyed it and I didn’t feel like I was putting myself out to do it. Running this ridiculous 5k-a-day challenge would allow me to generate some funds directly. So there it was, I was committed.
In November 2013 a meeting was arranged with the hospice to discuss the details of the challenge and come up with a plan.
Run number 1 would be from the Hospice building at 2 pm on Monday 27th of January 2014. Because they were working with a local cinema complex in Nottingham, it was agreed that the finishing point would be there.
Run number 365 would be a half marathon, starting at my house in Stapleford to the Hospice premises in Nottingham, and would take place on Monday 26th January 2015 Setting off at 9.30 am.
That was pretty much it, the rest of the running in between would happen organically. I said I would set up a Just Giving online donations page to collect sponsorship, which I did.
It was also suggested that I might want to include the Nottingham Robin Hood Half Marathon in the challenge. This took place in September. I tentatively agreed. We all agreed that getting local companies and runners to join in throughout the year would be a great idea, and would also help to raise the profile of the challenge.
A big group halfway run would be organised too.
The rules:
Each run had to be an actual ‘run’ on my own legs. No walking, riding bikes, roller skating, etcetera.
I would run at least 5 km (3.1 miles). More if I desired.
I would track my progress using the phone app Endomondo. This would be linked to a GPS watch.
Each run I completed would be posted by me on Facebook and Twitter (X) and would include a map. No cheating for me!
The Hospice events team would approach the media and organisations to help raise awareness and donations.
As running always seemed such a solitary pastime for me, I was expecting to be single-handedly pulling this ridiculous stunt off, it now seemed like we were now ‘Team 5k a day’ and for that, I was extremely relieved. I know that I was the one out doing the miles, but it was so nice to feel they backed me up.
One year of running daily. Err … Ok.
Photo by Hope House Press - Leather Diary Studio on Unsplash
