Ian and Emma’s 100 mile challange

Having completed 100 miles walking & running in 2 weeks in 2015, I was intrigued to see if the magic 100 could be completed in a week.

After discussing the idea with a few experienced runners while running on the hills of Luddenden Foot it got me interested, as everyone said it would be a massive pull on the body, not to mention the time involved.

Not to be deterred, it remained on my radar during marathon training with Emma Forester Thompson and I slipped the idea in during one of our Sunday runs.

I’m not sure if I was ignored (we were concentrating on 16+ miles) or if Emma thought I was mad. Anyway the timing wasn’t right during the marathon training and the winter months set in.

I reminded Emma again in January about the 100 challenge and I was pleased to hear, “I’ll think about it”. After giving Emma 2 months thinking time I reminded my amigo and to my surprise yes was the reply.

Plans started to be put in place, dates, times and routes developed. We came up with the novel idea of asking for the donation of Easter eggs rather than sponsor money.

Day 1: Our first run commenced on the 18 March on the canal from Copley to Todmorden where fellow Puma, Lynsey Clarke, joined us as part of her marathon training. We completed 20 miles.

Day 2: Our second day started with Huddersfield Parkrun (3 miles) followed by 15 miles on the canal out to Cooper Bridge and on the canal to Brighouse through to Copley. We completed 18 miles.

Day 3: Saw us running from Copley to Hebden Bridge with lots of Pumas doing various distances in between – we actually set out to do 16 miles but one of our friends doing marathon training was struggling so we carried on running to encourage them. We completed 19 miles.

Day 4: Day 4 was my birthday, and what better way to spend it than running from Copley to Beacon Hill and down Shibden to Brookfoot leading us on the canal back to Copley. We completed 15 miles.

Day 5: I took the train to Huddersfield to meet Emma straight from work and the wheels turned again as we ran back to Copley. We completed 13 miles.

Day 6: We joined in with the Pumas club run from Northowram – a scenic run with group 2 with a mixture of road, trail and cows. We completed 8 miles.

Day 7: For our final run we hijacked a club run with Stainland Lions – the final countdown with around 20 runners on the canal from West Vale to Sowerby Bridge and loop back for a surprise party on at the club. We completed our final 7 miles.

100 miles complete, a daily average of 14.46 miles, completed in an average pace of sub 9 minutes – injury free.

The support on route was tremendous. It’s amazing where you see people you know or don’t, (as was the case when a runner on the canal said I’ve seen your faces numerous times this weekend – both Emma and myself thought each other knew the runner – turned out he was a newsagent who had seen our picture in the Courier).

Additionally a massive thank you to each and everybody who donated Easter eggs, toys or money.

I can honestly say I was like a coiled spring looking forward to the next days running and it was strange not running on the Friday – but delivering Easter eggs to the Children’s ward more than made up for it as we shuttled 200 plus eggs up to the ward.

Saturday we delivered to the family food bank who where so kind and grateful with lots of children receiving eggs whom would have missed out over Easter.

#100milesfor100smiles was a slogan we adopted – it turned out to be more than 300 smiles from all the eggs we where able to donate to local causes.

Emma and myself met at a beginners running course 3 years ago – so when people think they can’t run I say breathe, body straight – #Believeinyourlegsnotyourhead!

Finally, a massive thank you to Emma, family, work and still managed time to complete the challenge, oh and having to put up with me!

Now whats the next challenge we have been asked…….. ermmmmmm………………………………

This slideshow requires JavaScript.