31 January 2024 | Race Reports

I’ve realised our kitchen is very poorly laid out, there has over the years been some errors of judgement made when allocating items to cupboards.  This fact became evident to me in the days following the 24-hour treadmill run.  Our breakfast cereal cupboard houses my steel cut oats, a staple breakfast food for any runner and being of an age where not following correct posture advice would see me bent over calling to my family that I cannot stand up, a call to 111 and the inevitable visit to A&E, I now bend ‘with your legs’ keeping the back straight.  Imagine you are squatting at the gym, this is the position needed to extract the oats from the below counter cupboard, and where I found myself now.

Now imagine yourself squatting the day after you have run for 24 hours on a treadmill.

As I attempted this position, the day after my epic treadmill run, my once happy legs screamed to stop immediately, the 2 inches of descent into the squat I had so far managed was evidently more than they could cope with and so I was left in the helpless position of having to ask a family member to come to my rescue and fetch out the oats.  With much hilarity on their part and embarrassment on mine.

"Treadmills are evil..."

I don’t recall the exact date I came up with the idea of running for 24 hours on a treadmill, I do however remember where I was.  On a treadmill.  I have come to like the treadmill as a means to increase my mileage over the winter months when the BBC weather presenters tell me there is another ‘named storm’ on the way.  Gertrude or Gordon was probably raging away outside so I had turned to the relative comfort of the gym to satisfy my daily fix.  A few months prior another member at the gym had completed a 24-hour gym session and this now seemed a great idea as one of my yearly fundraisers but I, being the invincible runner I think I have become, would do this on the treadmill.

Treadmills are evil, they are out to get you make no mistake in that.  Lose focus or concentration as you casually wave hello to a fellow gym member and the treadmill will punish you by immediately throwing you off the back and into the wall behind.  Or for some inexplicable reason it will suddenly disconnect from your Apple Watch mid run, leaving you glancing down at the tiny screen and fiddling with buttons trying to recover the situation, you see for a runner evidence is everything, if it’s not on Strava it simply didn’t happen.  As you turn off Bluetooth and back on you momentarily lose concentration and the treadmill throws you off the back and into the wall behind.  They are evil. Fact.

They are also very unforgiving, it is like running on a totally flat concrete road, the legs operate in the same range of motion all the time, this is unusual even if you run on the road.  Roads are rarely flat, and there are potholes to move around or parked cars to navigate, all this moving about means the legs are changing angle and length, so the muscles and all that other connective tissue has a varying range of motion, not so on the treadmill.  And this constant fixed range of motion tires out the legs, hips, knees, and ankles much quicker.

This run was never going to be easy; I knew that and partly that is why I took it on.  I love to ‘push the envelope’ a term the Deputy Headmistress once said to me when I was about 10.  I took that as a positive at the time but upon reflection feel her words may have had a slightly different inflection.  Staring at the wall of the gym for hour after hour would take its toll mentally, during the daytime hours and as it turned out up to about 10pm there was activity in the gym, so some distraction from the otherwise blank block wall.  There was even activity in the darked gym at around 3am when I swear, I saw someone walking around, I am reliably informed by my son who was better hydrated and fed than I that this was not the case.  In the months leading up to the run I had spent more time on the treadmill than I usually would, working through strategy as tiredness kicked in and helping to prepare the body for the assault it would have to take.

"Boxes of Kindness are gifted to cancer patients"

ChemoHero.  That was the reason I was going to do this, let me tell you a little about them if I may, it’s a story where you may need to grab the tissues before continuing.  Founder Lisa Wallis was diagnosed with breast cancer just prior to her 30th birthday, she underwent surgeries and chemotherapy, both of which took an immense toll on her body, her mind and her family.  It was during the cancer treatment Lisa had the idea of gifting a Box of Kindness at a patients first cancer treatment, the box filled with useful, thoughtful, and caring items that make the journey a little better.  I’ve put a picture of the box below so you can see the contents.

Having been through a cancer operation and chemotherapy I can tell you this is a crap time; it can be lonely and frightening.  Lisa lived with cancer for 9 years, losing her battle in 2021, her legacy is ChemoHero and in 2023 they gifted 454 Boxes of Kindness at cancer patients first treatment.  Most of their Boxes go to the Seamoor Unit in North Devon, a cancer unit, but some have been sent to patients in Europe and as far as Australia.  The charity is run by Lisa’s husband Rob and an amazing board of trustees, some of whom have or are navigating cancer themselves.  Today the charity extends beyond the Boxes and includes the funding of a counsellor, Paul, who cancer patients have access to, finding a counsellor can be challenging and Paul has significantly reduced the waiting times.  And just before I started my treadmill adventure the charity launched their Trolly of Treats, a trolly that is located at the Seamoor unit and contains many of the items found in the box, these are for patients receiving treatment to top up their box, or to take a treat whilst receiving chemotherapy.

I’ve been to ChemoHero’s offices with my family to pack boxes, a local company generously provide the space for them to operate from reducing their overheads.  There is a lovely photograph of Lisa in the offices where the Boxes of Kindness are packed, and Rob told me that every decision that charity make they take back to Lisa and consider what she would have thought and said.  Her presence is felt, I felt it too.

So, as you can see this run was much more than 24 hours on a treadmill, this was about helping to improve the cancer journey for many patients, creating a positive memory that will stay with them forever.  I am amazed at the number of people I have met who recall stories of receiving a Box or of a family member receiving one, this happened again as I was having a car serviced at the local Peugeot dealership two days after the run.  It reinforced the decision I’d made on who to fundraise for during the run.

10am Saturday 27th January 2024 arrived quickly and like all ultras the Ultra Devils, as I term them, made themselves known in the day and hours prior, these devils try to convince you what you are about to undertake is not a good idea, you are not prepared, you’ve not trained enough, and you have not planned through your fuel intake property.  It’s all a lie.  You are prepared, you are ready, and I was.

The 24 hours were tough on my body and my mind, I got cold in the night-time hours, I hurt in the final few hours and fatigue hit me hard nearly throwing me into the wall.  But it was exhilarating, supported, and humbling to remember why I’d taken this on.  Throughout the day I had family and gym members stop, chat, and run a few miles alongside me.  Levi came in and played a 7-hour vinyl DJ set, there is video of me dancing whilst running I understand, not that it will see the light of day if I can control it!

I held conversations with so many people, we talked about mental health, physical health, how crap men are about being open, and how rubbish we are at self-checking for lumps and bumps, family and friends that have been through cancer and others that are no longer with us.  The run become a platform for openness, and this has given me an idea on how I’d like to build on this for the future.

"Dawn French's glasses took a starring role"

At 2am I danced whilst running with my son, my wife came for a few hours throughout the night and another of sons joined at 4:30am.  Our eldest drove nearly 200 miles to be with me as I finished at 10am on the Sunday morning. 

There were video calls during the night with runner friends from the USA, so many post likes, comments, and shares as I tried to share my 24 hours across social media.  And of course there were the kaleidscope glasses sent to me by Dawn French.  They took a starring role many times, as wearing them injected fun when I needed it most, and to see Dawn like some of my posts made me smile at one of the really low points.

Martin Hewlett from The Calming Anxiety podcast dropped by at 1:30am and we did a live video podcast talking about the run and opening up on health matters.

I could not have asked or wished for more.  It was the experience I hoped it would be.  And we have raised over £2600 for ChemoHero.  That equates to over 30 Boxes of Kindness that can be gifted, 30 cancer patients and their families this run will make a difference too.  I could not have done it with you and your support, and I am forever grateful to you all.

The run gave me my first ever running blister and my first black toenail.  No other run, no ultra, not even the Tour du Mont-Blanc was that brutal on my body.

But I’ll be back to fundraise for ChemoHero again.  I’ve already an idea, but this time there are no treadmills.

The porridge oats have been relocated to the eye level cupboard next to the coffee cups.