Chris Sturdy
Dux does Barns Green to See Off CF
Fundraising for Cystic Fibrosis Trust
Story
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The story so far - November 2008, I saw the great and the good running in the Barns Green Half Marathon in my capacity as an Explorer Scout leader with 1st Shipley Scouts and thought short and soft (not long and hard, or maybe I wouldn't have come to the same conclusion)... "I could do this and raise some money along the way"
December, I got kitted out in some running shoes.
January, I went out for the first time and realised it was a jolly good thing I had allowed so long to prepare.
Since then, I have gradually been getting fitter and fitter, helped along the way by being given a running watch for my birthday in April.
In August, I broke through first the 10 mile and then 11 mile continuous running barriers.
I also now occasionally go to work by train and run from a station 7 miles from the office.
Breaking News - 8 weeks to go
I have had to buy a new pair of running shoes. 300 miles of training have worn a great chunk of tread off the original ones!!
Minor disaster - our shower has packed up at home. Exercise confined either to lunchtime runs at work or swimming, or if my co-runner lets me pop in for a hose-down after a training session.
I did my first full distance session on 13 September. It came in two parts; an 11 mile continuous run along the Downs Link path, almost to the Surrey/Sussex border and back again, and then I grabbed my gear, went round Paul's house and did two more miles more as a warm down than anything else. Broke my 2 hour target!!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/13173725
Tuesday 15th - new shower installed. Praise be.
Only six weeks to go now and I'm beginning to get a bit excitable. I can't imagine what I'll be like on the day.
Under five weeks to go. The local pub has been tremendously supportive and I have put sponsor forms on the wall. The following anagram I have composed is therefore very fitting, as I am likely to end up in the Queen's Head after the run:
Barns Green Half Marathon
I have received some pretty imaginative incentivising sponsorship pledges, with people offering me money for every person I beat, or amounts for every minute under two hours etc. I have also managed to convince three other people to take part in the event, and even if they don't get themselves sponsored, their entry fee goes to the official race charity (which I am also supporting), and who knows, if I manage to run faster than them, that is worth 20p per person to charity as well!
Last update before the run - Thursday 29 October
Have spent a few weeks in the doldrums with a sore right leg, but got a convincing 4 mile run under my belt today with no major ill effects. Looking forward to Sunday. Should be great fun...
My overall aim was to raise £75 for each mile I run, and the total is to be split between three charities, but have in fact nearly got enough for £75 per mile for each of the three charities!!! This page is for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The money they receive will help to do research and ultimately find a cure for this debilitating genetic disorder. My dear friend Will is currently on a waiting list for a lung transplant operation and for him and countless others out there, I would ask you to be as generous as you are able.
STOP PRESS - Less than one week ago, Will received some new lungs! Early days yet, but I am so thrilled for him.Makes me all the more determined to raise as much as possible to prevent anyone else from having to go through that in the future!!
Thank you so much for your support
Result
I finished the race in 2 hours 2 minutes and 9 seconds (2:02:09)
I was 896th over the line out of 1359 competitors, but my chip time was 886th quickest, so for those of you who sponsored me per person I 'beat' that is 473!! In some ways the weather tried to beat us all, but everyone who ran played their part in raising funds for charity, as some of the entry fee and the car parking went towards cancer research.
Below is a fairly comprehensive account of the race as I saw it:
As you may have noticed, Sunday morning/early afternoon was a small anti-oasis of hell in an otherwise lovely spell of great weather.
I was somewhat trepidatious as I left the house anyway because of my sore right leg and not having done enough recent training, but with it blowing a hurley and there being more competitors than ever before on a course with narrow, rutted offroad paths as part of it, I didn't know what to expect really.
I was somewhat trepidatious as I left the house anyway because of my sore right leg and not having done enough recent training, but with it blowing a hurley and there being more competitors than ever before on a course with narrow, rutted offroad paths as part of it, I didn't know what to expect really.
The Scouts were there with their marquee cooking bacon rolls and burgers etc.and they gave me and Paul a great reception when we arrived. To give you an idea of the conditions, they had already lost a marquee earlier in the day after a gust of wind had lifted it up and pulled all 8 18" pegs out of the ground!
Anyway, we lined up a few minutes before the off. There were people of all abilities there. A lot of them looked more prepared than me, but some of them didn't!!! To the credit of the organisers, we started bang on time and as you know, the first bit is very little to do with individual runners, with a solid contingent of people sweeping you along. I ran with Paul for the first two miles at 9:10 mins/mile pace but then we hit a bit of a hill, and I wanted to kick on a little bit, so I pulled away from him. There were a few incidents where the wind was unpleasant, but the rain didn't really bother me. I did the first 10k in 56:03 mins and reached the halfway mark on the course in 59:10, but that was at the foot of a half mile hill and it was there for the first time that my leg began hurting a bit. I pushed on and gradually it went away, but it was nagging at the back of my mind somewhat.
At the 8 mile marker I saw a friendly face in the shape of one of the Scout helpers and I got her to radio through to the Scout hut to say I was only a few minutes away. They were great and gave me a boost at the water station just shy of 9 miles and I had a strategically placed bottle of Lucozade waiting for me. The next bit of the course is the worst. It is about 1.5 miles of gradual uphill and there are precious few people around. I think it was at this stage I really begane to lose time and was sadly resigned to the fact that my time wasn't going to be what I wanted by mile 11. By then it had stopped raining, but the damage had been done. My feet were soaking wet and I was pooped.
The last bit of the race includes some downhill and a bit of respite but by then I had so little in the tank, I was being overtaken left and right by people who had more reserves than me, and the final stretch through the village was desperate for me as I had so wanted to make a strong finish but just couldn't.
All things considered, my finishing time of 2:02:10 was pretty respectable, but seven or eight minutes slower than I might have achieved if it had come a month ago, and the weather hadn't been quite so awful.
My supporters (both sisters, father and a cousin came along, and my ever dependable Jane, who had been on her feet all day cooking, and who had put up with my moodiness over the last few weeks because of my leg, as well as everyone associated with the Scouts and some key local village people) were brilliant. I couldn't have done it without them.
Paul came in about 30 minutes later. He had had a very creditable first half, which I think he had done in a little over 70 minutes, but in the end I think not having done many long training runs told and his legs were really giving out at the end.
Chris (a.k.a. Dux)