Marathon Day 3, Friday 18th March - Hull, East Park

An exciting day for me - back to Hull and home ground AND I will be seeing Ellie & Benji!!

An early wake-up and Skype to home followed by quick breakfast and loading up before departing for East Park.  The other 2 "normal" support vehicles actually left the DST Barracks before me but guess who arrived at the Marathon venue first!  Neither Barry nor Nicky could understand how that was possible!

The chaps from DST Leconfield had done a marvellous job of organising the event, giving expert positioning advice and assisting in any way that they could. Set up was so easy!!

Ellie arrived shortly after 9am and I was chuffed to see that she was able to drive again, despite her shoulder problem.  It was wonderful to see her and catch up on events at home (and Benji) even after such a short time away.

Setting the pace, 2nd lap

Plenty of runners to accompany Andy on this one with the race progressing on schedule and according to plan. (I know that it's not really a race but it's just so easy to refer to it as that.lol) Ellie begged a couple of recumbent trikes for us to use for the day and great fun was had by all - Nicky even wanted to take one of them home!!

Ellie all suited up and ready to go!

Lots of family and friends came to visit and support during the day.  Thank you Sam, Emma, Mel, Jeannie, Val, Jayne, Kathryn, Rory & Elly - it was great to see you all.  Thanks also to Pete (PT Pete) for coming in the morning and returning in the afternoon to run a few laps with Andy. Special thanks to Steve & Tracy for bringing along our little man Benji, all dressed up as a clown for Red Nose Day and an excited Finlay too.

Only negative was Benji falling off the recumbent trike and giving himself one heck of a shiner! Ellie may have already posted pics of him.

I managed to run the last full lap with Andy and he persuaded me to continue with him for the final half lap to the finish.  I must admit to feeling a bit of a fraud as we crossed the finishing line but it was also a good feeling!

Andy's finishing time was 6:47:05 and as I said earlier, on schedule.

Great coverage once again by BBC Look North and local press.

After a swift pack up, onward too our bivouac for the evening, Old Rectory Sproatley, where the challenge of reversing the RV into the drive awaited me.  Thanks to some excellent overseeing by Barry and judicious use of mirrors (and crossed fingers) this was accomplished without incident.

Considering the state the house was in due to the decorating schedule when I left on Tuesday, Ellie had done a fantastic job of knocking things into shape - Well done, sweetheart!

Ellie & I prepared the evening meal, which we always enjoy doing together, and after cleaning all 3 project vehicles, which coincided with the end of Andy's physio, sat down round the kitchen table to eat.

Finally, what a wonderful job Ian and his team from DST Leconfield did for us. The days "on the road" are extremely long and such help makes them so much easier for us.

And so to bed, MY OWN,  for the last time for a few weeks!

Tomorrow's another day and we're in Wakefield.

God Bless Ellie and Benji X

Benji's Blog

Hi there Angel,

It was lovely to see you today and you looked so great in your clown costume.  Hope you liked "Daddy's bus" and were pleased to see that Champ and Shine were looking after me.

I think that you enjoyed the fitness play area as well and I just know that the best bit for you was the swings and slides and all of the other good things that you went on.

I hope your poorly eye and cheek soon get better - what a Shiner you will have!

I love you very, very much and will be talking to you on the computer very, very soon.

With lots of love from your Daddy

XXXXXXX .

XXXXX

Marathon Day 2, Thursday 17th March - Bradford, Lister Park

And so a new day dawns, if you can call it that at 6 o'clock in the morning!

Shared a room with Marathon Man Andy last night. I believe he has a preference for peace and quiet whilst sleeping rather than being serenaded by the rasping nasal tones of a certain gentleman who shall remain nameless! Whilst doing our morning ablutions, a brief discussion concluded that this arrangement was mutually satisfactory and that it should continue for the duration.

So a quick continental breakfast and on our way to collect our RV. Then on to Lister Park , a magnificent area of parkland in the centre of Bradford, made all the more beautiful by the glorious early morning sunshine.

Set up and almost ready for the start

Having practised a few 3 point turns and numerous positioning exercises, we finally stationed ourselves adjacent to the beautiful building around which the park was developed, Cartwright House  (the history of which I do not know!)  Our set up time was much improved today (practice makes perfect!) and we were well prepared for the local dignitaries and press who arrived prior to the start.

The Runners, ready for the off

10.00hrs sharp and a lucky schoolboy pressed the button to start the timer on the countdown and instruction of the Lord Mayor.

5,4,3,2,1 . . . . . Go Andy!

Andy was running once again in the company of several other dedicated individuals who would attempt the full marathon with him.

Housekeeping and admin work kept the rest of us busy for the next couple of hours with the delightful sound of the generator purring in the background . . . . . . then, suddenly - Silence!!! Oh No, not again!  A check on the fuel guage revealed a reading over one quarter full but a confirmation call to the owner revealed that the guage may not be that accurate.  So off to the nearest garage again for 25 litres of fuel.
This fixed the problem and we were soon working on mains power once again and I resolved to fill the tank at the earliest opportunity - This was NOT going to happen again.

Andy's run today required that he completed 25 circuits each of 1.26 miles to claim an Ultra Marathon and on his 12th or 13th Lap, I decided to join him.  So I joined in and was extremely surprised to discover how hilly the course was - the change in elevation must have been in excess of 100ft and was quite gruelling.  I decided during the lap to try to lighten Andy's mood and maybe lift him a little and so I took the next lap off and did a quick change into a ridiculous Leprachaun costume in preparation for running with him again.  My surprise and sudden exit from the RV certainly brought a smile to his face when he next passed by and we completed a couple of circuits, to the amusement and incredulity of those that we met on the way!  It would appear that not many knew that it was St Patrick's Day!!

Would you run in the company of this man?

I have to tell you that whilst I have been training and running for a couple of years now, this was the first time that I have had the opportunity to run with Andy and I felt quite honoured and  in awe of this man who was still giving advice and encouragement to others as he quietly suffered his own aches and pains!

Nicky ran the next lap with him, followed by another lap with a now sedately dressed yours truly and Sophie ran with him for most of the remainder, with Barry acompanying him on the final lap - a real team effort I thought!

Congratulations to Russ, one of the original starters, for completing his first marathon and ultra marathon today - inspired to finish by the encouragement and advice given by Andy as they ran together.

A good finish time of 6hrs 39mins saw a much relieved Andy cross the line with a big smile on his face.  2 down now - only another 64 to go.

Pleased that this one's over!

Packing up was completed at record breaking speed and we were soon on our way to DST Leconfield for a meal and overnight stay in the officers mess, calling at a service station to fill up with in excess of 200litres of fuel. At last I have a full tank!!

Arrived safely with a weary and sore Andy and  after a very warm welcome and lovely meal, settled for an early night (he says, still typing his blog at 00.12hrs!! lol).. Andy presumably suffered a remedial session at the hands of Sophie, know known as his physioterrorist!

East Park in Hull tomorrow - and a flat circuit for Andy to run - should be fun.  AND ELLIE IS COMING TO SEE US!!!

'nite all.

Benji's blog

Hi sweetie pie - bet you thought that I'd forgotten you.  I hadn't - I was just very busy helping Uncle Andy today. I got a bit fed up too but I gave Champ a big squeeze and I heard you talking to me. What a lovely idea it was to build a bear for me.

You can see that Champ has a friend with him now - now what's his name? Oh yes, it's Shine.

I will be home tomorrow for a little while and it will be good to see you and hug you again.  Mummy tells me that you have been a very good boy and that makes me very happy.

I think that you will like the big bus that we drive around in - I like it very much.

See you tomorrow sweetheart.
Love you

Daddy. XXXXX

Marathon Day 1, Wednesday 16th March - Leeds, Briggate & Hyde Park

Our first proper Marathon Day!  Despite the excitement of yesterday, I slept surprisingly well and instead of being woken by my iphone alarm at 6am as expected, I had the pleasure of being woken by Ellie's phone call some 5 minutes earlier than this!! Ellie usually only knows about one 5 minutes to 6 o'clock  per day but today, she was booked on an early train to Leeds to enjoy the day with us!
So down to breakfast at 6.45am sharp followed by a (somewhat unnecessary) guided tour of Leeds to our Marathon venue, courtesy of navigator Andy!
Successfully placed RV in desired location and managed to start the generator in preparation for all sorts of laminating, lap topping and other power consuming activities, including perhaps most importantly providing a 13 amp supply for the Rock Group who were at that moment en route from Harrogate, courtesy of Kevin, the second RV driver.  Well . . . . . . . . the generator died after about 2 minutes - Horror!!!  A quick check of the fuel gauge showed it to be just on the borderline of quarter full, too low to run the "genny"!  A hurried phone call and explanation to Kevin directed him into the nearest garage to purchase fuel cans and fuel.  He arrived 10 minutes later complete with 20 litres which yours truly carefully decanted into the beasts fuel tank at a frustratingly slow rate of about 4 minutes per 5 litres expecting at any time to have a little old lady tap him on the shoulder with a "Eh, you won't get far on that love!!".  Despite the 20 litres and the desperate pleas of our project director, the generator still refused to start and Kevin and I returned to the garage to purchase additional fuel (another 25 litres) which we believed was still the problem.  We gratefully accepted the use of the Group's vehicle and I think I was on a bit of a high by the time we returned to base! lol.
This additional fuel still didn't resolve the problem but the opportune arrival of the RV's owner did much to reduce our anxiety.  In the meantime, Kevin, in his own inimitable style, had approached the staff of phones 4 U, who were located immediately adjacent to the RV and they kindly allowed us to plug in an extension lead to their mains supply.  Unfortunately, we merely succeeded in blowing an extremely well hidden circuit breaker somewhere on their premises and switching off two of their TV's / Monitors for the day!
To conclude this episode, the ABF "girls" worked their persuasive powers on HSS who very generously loaned to us a small commercial generator for the day.  This was hooked up and working by about 1pm, allowing the Group, "Kassiuss" to start their first set and also solve our generator problem which had been diagnosed as an extremely flat leisure battery!  By 4pm we were running under our own steam again.
Phones 4 U and HSS - we can't thank you enough for your understanding and generosity.

Andy, in the meantime had been subjected to numerous press and TV interviews before the Mayor of Leeds started him on his way at 10.30am for the 1st of his 66 ultra marathons.  I am sure that the official Challenge66 blog will provide full details of Andy's marathon experience so I shall not dwell on this  save to say that he ran it as expected but  in very cold and damp conditions.  With details of Andy's progress being relayed from Hyde park, interspersed with visits to the park and performances from Kassiuss, the afternoon soon passed  and we were expectantly waiting for Andy's appearance at the head of Briggate. 

The cheers and expressions of joy that rang out when he first came into view were amazing and I believe made for a quite emotional end to this first epic.  Andy crossed the line, in the company of several club running friends, in a time of 6 hours, 36 minutes and 11 seconds. Special thanks to these runners for their support.

After packing up, Andy accompanied me in the RV back to our overnight parking at 4 Para Barracks in Bradford. We battled the horrendous Leeds traffic in miserable drizzly dark conditions and I even managed to push aside a couple of flexible lane separators with the RV whilst driving through some particularly narrow and restrictive roadworks! Still - no harm done, Eh!
Interesting manoeuvre to get into the Barracks but exercise completed without incident and Barry drove us onward to our hotel.
The day concluded with a wash and brush up for us all (except Andy who had a cold bath and massage, which was expertly and I believe somewhat enthusiastically performed by Sopie) followed by a lovely meal, courtesy of Catherine, one of Challenge66's most dedicated supporters.

Then to bed and look forward to our 6.15am breakfast to start off Day2!!

Benji's blog

Hi little man.  A long day for daddy but mummy was with him and that was lovely.  It was very nice to talk to you on the computer today and I will try and do it every day.
Uncle Andy did his first big race. He did very well!
We had a band that played very nice music for us and daddy bought a CD for mummy to listen to later.
I know that you had a lovely day with breakfast at Solomon's and tea at Frankie's but I think you must have been tired as well.
God Bless, Son - give mummy a kiss from me.
Love you. Daddy XXXX

Final Preparations

Well it's finally here . . . . . . . and how do I feel?

It's a blend of excitement mixed with a little apprehension; of warmth for the Challenge and the whole team and a little sadness for our loved ones who we've left at home; of determination to fulfil  my own duties to the best of my ability and of gratitude at being given the opportunity to participate in this amazing venture.

Waking up early, my thoughts immediately turned onto the events of the day and my first "hands on" experience with the Battle bus".

Final packing, always rushed, yet made so much easier by Ellie's help - well, Ellie's "doing it all", actually - what a star!!  She's organised my clothes, toiletries, "todo" lists and everything that I need to make my life on the road as comfortable as possible.

My initial departure time of 10.30am was deferred by a couple of hours because the RV would not be avaliable for collection from the livery company until mid afternoon so 1pm saw me at Hull Paragon Station boarding the train to York.  A fairly uneventful journey, memorable only for a crowd of extremely boistrous, drunken yet fairly inoffensive Geordies who were esconced at the other end of the carriage. They were actually no bother to anyone.
Met up with Kevin, our second driver for the first week and travelled to Signarama who had done a splendid job of transforming our relatively ordinary looking leisure vehicle into an appropriately liveried mobile Race Headquarters!  Pictures to follow tomorrow.

Under Kevins experienced advice and guidance we made our way to Barry's house  to load up - I very quickly came to realise, however, just how easy it would be to lose the offside wing mirror to an overenthusiastic HGV driver travelling in the opposite direction!  Driving an 8ft 8ins wide, left hand drive vehicle on UK roads takes a little getting used to!!!

A couple of hours transferring supplies and equipment from Barry's  house and garage and some fairly innovative packing techniques found us ready to travel to the overnight RV park at the TA  Barracks in Leeds.  So lesson 2 - "Driving an 8ft 8ins wide, left hand drive vehicle in the dark on UK roads was undertaken (and completed uneventfully).

By the time we parked up for the night, we had successfully negotiated 2 busy city centres, Wetherby and Leeds, had reversed and turned round the vehicle on a relatively narrow housing estate road and managed to mostly control (and dominate) our position on the road with respect to other, perhaps less tolerant traffic.  Thanks to Kevin, a hugely experienced HGV driver, for his invaluable hints and advice given, I must say, in an exemplary manner.

The day finished in a bit of a blur - Kevin went back to Harrogate so that he would be available to pick up the group and drive them to tomorrows venue, and the rest of the team enjoyed a wonderful Tapas meal before retiring for the night.

And for my little boy Benji:

Benji's Blog

Hi sweetheart - Mummy tells me that you are being a very good boy for her and helping her lots.  Daddy has been driving the big bus today and has put "Champ" in a special place, right at the front where daddy can see him all of the time.  Everyone thinks that he is lovely.
I will take some photos tomorrow to show you where he is sat.

Mummy is coming to see me tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it very much.  And I will be home to see you on Friday with some new friends for you to meet.

I know that you are fast asleep now, sweetheart, so God Bless and I will see you soon. Love and kisses, Daddy. XXXXXX

So I look forward to tomorrow; to an early wakeup and 6.45am breakfast!  Then down to the start line to prepare for the day's events.

I wonder how Andy's feeling right now?  His hard work begins at 10.30hrs tomorrow and I, along with the rest of the team wish him all the luck in the world!

More later . . . . . . . .

Challenge66 is very real now!!

So just how the hell did I get myself into this situation?

Some considerable time ago, our very dear friend Andy McMenemey talked to us about a project that he'd like to undertake - something about world records, marathons, charities . . . . and more of the same!  These ideas and concepts gradually matured into the mammoth task that he has now set himself and is about to undergo next week. 

As details of Challenge66 emerged, it seemed quite natural that Ellie and I should participate in some small way and we therefore determined to run the Hull marathon with him - or at least run it and complete it in our own time. Ellie was always going to complete it and I always said that I would just do my best and hopefully finish.

However . . . . . events conspired against us and Ellie's injured shoulder seriously restricted our training programme and precluded our participation in this way.

So . . . . our focus on such a level (perhaps quite naturally) diminished until we read a post on Facebook (FB) asking for a retired  HGV driver to drive a 36ft American RV around the UK as the main support vehicle for Challenge66. Thoughts of  taking a "crash" course (excuse the pun)  to get an HGV licence immediately sprung to mind and after much discussion with Ellie and some Google research, I resolved to ring Andy for clarification of the qualifications required.  So on Monday 28th Feb, I spoke to him and believe it or not, this 36ft RV is apparently classed by the DVLA as a "large motor vehicle" and can therefore be driven by anyone with a licence category of up to 7.5 tons weight on their licence. So legally, I could drive it.

Events then moved on apace!

On Friday 4th March, I met up with Andy and Barry, the project director and saw "the beast" for the first time.  BLOODY HELL - IT WAS ENORMOUS!!  I have driven a 32ft version in the US on previous holidays but then the roads over there do cater for larger vehicles with associated parking and refuelling amenities, etc.  But what a magnificent vehicle - Talk about "King of the Road"!

Barry & Andy with the "Battle Bus"

So I am now officially the main RV driver for the duration of the challenge - and I am absolutely delighted. Not even the thought of navigating this monster through central London and Westminster phases me - although I do think it might be quite interesting!

Seriously folks - How many opportunities do you get to participate in such a fabulous event?  How many times are you likely to get involved in a World Record Challenge?  Well - I am truly honoured and feel  privileged to be part of it.

So now I am in the process of packing  my bags (well, Ellie is ) and frantically working with Google Maps and Autoroute to address the various stages of the journey (Oh, and pestering Barry for routing information in the meantime!). My objective ( apart from having fun) is to  ensure that Andy is free and uncluttered of  any issues other than those enabling  him to complete each leg of his epic journey.

This man is a star! - and deserving of nothing less than 100% support! If I can contribute to that, then I will be truly happy.

So there remains now the domestic issues - bills to be paid and processes / procedures that I normally do and that Ellie is going to have to do for the forseeable future - bless her.  On one side, I am so excited and have such a buzz about this "adventure" and then suddenly there is the aspect of leaving my family - without doubt the most important people in my life - to exist on their own for 2 months - my God, that's a life time!!  All I can say is God Bless Ellie - what a woman!! . . . . . . More later.

Benji's Blog

How do you communicate with a 5 year old boy and explain that you are leaving him for a time - actually  for about 2 months!  This little man is the light of my life - he is such a gentle boy and craves the love and attention that both Ellie and I try to give him all of the time.

So this is for him . . . . .

Hi Benji - I love you very much and I am just about to start my big adventure with Uncle Andy.

Mummy has been helping you to stick pins in the map to show where I will be every day so when you wake up each morning, you will know just where your Daddy is!!

Uncle Andy will be running a long, long way, and Daddy (and Mummy) have said that they would help him to do this. While I am away, I will talk to you mostly on my computer and tell you what I have been doing every day. I know that you will be looking after Mummy  and think that you are a very big boy for doing that.

I will send lots of pictures and stories to you but sometimes I might be a bit  busy looking after Uncle Andy so this might not happen every day.

I love you so much, my son - Give mummy an extra kiss and squeeze from me when I am away.

Big Hugs and Kisses

Daddy
XXXXX