#RunTheDate May 31st – 31km. I’ve Only Gone And Done It

May Distance Run: 496km

Distance Remaining: 0km

Well, there we go, who’d have thought I’d actually be able to do it?! When I started off this challenge, I didn’t know how to take it. The first runs were really straightforward, obviously, but I was always daunted by those last two weeks. 147km followed by 196km. What?! How is that going to work when I’ve only ever run 113km in a week and that hurt?

I’ll do a full run down of all the facts and figures this week once the dust has settled but today’s headline is that, 26573 calories burnt later, I finished the final 31km on the 31st May today to complete the 496km for the month.

I said a week ago that if my legs felt as good today as they did last Sunday I’d be over the moon. Well, on Friday and yesterday they behaved but were getting progressively tighter, especially towards the end of the run. I decided today would be all about grinding it out, completing the distance at all costs.

I set off then at the usual crack of dawn start, maximising the time I had to drag my legs round the 31km. Again, the weather played its part

My legs thought they’d save their best for me today though. I hope they’ve not been deliberately holding this back because I could have done with better legs a few times in the last 2 weeks. However, today they were a dream. How odd is that?

Whether it was psychological knowing that they were almost done, I’m not sure. I wasn’t complaining. All I know is that they actually felt better than last Sunday when I only dreamt they would hold up. Proof again that running is a fickle old sport. Either that or your legs have their own personalities and they like to mess with you. They felt strong and let me really enjoy my running today. I ended on an absolute high, blue skies, chilled out music, happy legs, with even a little left in the tank at the end to push it, for fun. It couldn’t have finished on a better note. What a lucky boy.

As I said, I’ll do a follow up post to bore you with all the facts and figures of the month, as I’ve collected them. For now, it is all about completing it. I’m obviously over the moon to have done it and it has given me so much confidence and faith that my body can do so much more than I ever thought it could!

In the last month, running 496km is more than I’ve run in some 6 month periods. In road coverage terms, here’s my heat map for May 2020:

Another number that stands out is the fact I’ve spent 42 hours running. This is another great chance to give a huge nod to my lovely family who have rallied round to allow me to do these runs day in day out. Somehow they understand and tolerate my crazy ideas and I owe them so much. I’ve said a few times that I feel like a bit of a fraud since I’m enjoying myself out there and it’s others who are putting in the effort or support so i can do this!

Finally, not intending to make this sound so much like an Oscar’s speech, since I’m talking about owing…I went into this hoping to raise £496 for the NHS in the UK. £1 for every km. I thought I might have to top it up to make the target. I’ve been blown away over the last few days by the amount of support this challenge has had.

I’ve now raised £915! This generosity in such a difficult time for everyone is so humbling and, if there was anything that helped get me out of bed at 5:15 every morning it was that gesture from you amazing people. A big thank you was in order so that’s what I tried to do:

It’s much harder than it looks! 30km into a run, you’d be surprised how difficult it is to remember which letters you have or haven’t invisibly spelt out! Either way, the message is the same. Thank you!

I’m compiling all the numbers from the month so that I can make them look as exciting as possible over the next couple of days. For now though, I’ve got pizza to eat. A lot of pizza. This is something I really do have to calm down now the running will reduce massively. The eating will also have to reduce in sympathy too! Until then though, I’ve still got some calorie catching up to do tonight! As well as begin to put some ideas together…you’ve always got to have future challenges in mind right?!

Here’s a final reminder of why I put myself through this over the last 31 days:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/tomfanthorpe2