Andy and Martin's Excellent Adventure

 

We're going on an adventure! This is something we've been planning for four years now (possibly longer in Andy's case!) and would have happened last summer except for Andy's ankle injury. It may be considered a little mad by the average reader.

The adventure is to run from Lands End to John O'Groats as part of Rat Race Run Britannia. This is an ultra ultra-marathon - it involves running for 6 days and resting for one, repeated for 5 weeks. All except for week one, where they kindly give us an extra day - and its the longest day of the trip. Aren't they nice!

The expedition is fully supported - feed stations at intervals, and accommodation organised every night. There is a support team working to help us get round, so we have every assistance we can have to do as much as possible.

We're treating this as an adventure to enjoy as much as possible. Its entirely possible, even likely, that we will not manage to complete every day, even at a walk, and if the expedition medic says that we need a day to recover then that's what we'll do. We have a pact that we'll make a note of any section that either of us is not able to do, and go back over the next few months and years and fill those in so that we can eventually say we have completed the whole distance.

Why do this? The answer is not "because its there" - there are a lot of physical challenges that exist that we wouldn't be interested in. Its an opportunity to see the whole of Britain in one sweep, at the height of summer, travelling over some of the most beautiful areas and Warrington. Its a physical challenge that we have worked up to over years of preparation in long-distance triathlon and ultramarathons.

Its a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do something like this. To do this, you need to be in a position in life where you can take the time off to do it (financially and from an employment point of view), you have the fitness level to attempt it, and you can afford the cost. Those circles don't have much of an intersection point, but they intersect at the moment for us.

Are we ready? Probably not, but there's no good way of training for this. We have both individually done ultramarathons, and know how to use our gear and navigate. Both of us have reached a reasonable level of fitness in our marathon training this year. But this is a massive unknown, and all we can do is give it our best shot.

We'll be taking lots of photos, and I'll be trying to keep a diary here on the blog, but I'm not promising to post every day, as I may be sleeping. Or eating. Probably alternately.

Its an adventure. It should be excellent!