Michelle Purnell
Relentless forward progress
Fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support
Story
After months of tricking my mind into running one footstep at a time when I saw the stadium in Cardiff at the end and my fab little support crew I still had no comprehension of the 50mile distance travelled...I was finishing and it was going to be at a sprint, smiling and looking strong.
We all started on the bus from Cardiff at 530am, there was a lot of nervous laughter and many were quite subdued. Like me there were a lot of wannabe ultra runners, those who had been unbroken by a marathon and wanted to see where the limits lay. Some found their limits, I was a lucky one.
Nothing happened in the way I had expected, the weather was lovely, there were no demons, I could eat throughout without any real objection and I never found the wall. Everyone was very jolly on the way round, looking out for each other but there was one rule...never think beyond the next checkpoint, never talk about it, it was never 49miles to go but 9 miles to the next checkpoint.
At the finish there was no clock, it was irrelevant. We were home, safe and it wasn’t dark. Today I joined a very special club...I am an ultra runner and will be forever.
Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me, your support has astounded me and it has been a real honour to run for such an important and fabulous charity.
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Its this Sunday!!! I will try to update facebook at every 10 mille checkpoint (depending on signal in the Brecons!) so you can all track my progress. Thank you all so much, its a great charity and an honour to pay something back to them.
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As some of you may know I have been doing a bit of running recently. Since the beginning of January I been training for the biggest challenge I have ever taken on not knowing whether I would survive the training never mind the event. On the 20 May 2012 I am going to be taking part in the Cardiff Ultra, a 50 mile off road run from Brecon along the taff trail to Cardiff in a single day.
A few weeks ago I crossed the finish line at the Milton Keynes Marathon. Onlookers would have suspected a plodder at a 4hr 53min result...few would know that it was the 60th mile run that week in training and my 6 marathon in as many weeks. Over the training period of just a few months I will have run a total of approximately 800miles and that’s before I set foot on the race line.
Last year my Granddad like thousands of other people was diagnosed with cancer. A far bigger challenge lies ahead of them than I will ever feel in this event facing far greater demons than I will however as I make relentless forward progress it would be good to know that the wonderful people at MacMillan Cancer Support are continuing to help people make their relentless forward progress however big their battle is.
Whether its 10p a mile or a £10 a mile any donation would be greatly received and will almost certainly spur me on.
Let my ultra help others with theirs.
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