All Aboard the 401 Train!!

Afternoon all and Happy Friday!

Some of us run for cake, some for wine, some for crisps,
some for beer, some for fitness, some for sanity and some even claim to
actually ENJOY it!

There are some people who run for other reasons.

I want to take this opportunity to give you all a little bit
of info about the 401 Challenge which concludes in October this year - if you haven’t
already heard about it then you must have been hiding under a rock somewhere
for the past 11 months!!

Ben Smith is undertaking to run 401 marathons in 401 days – initially
the challenge was 401 consecutive marathons in 401 days but an umbilical hernia
and significant back injury forced Ben to take a 1 week break from running and
adjust his goals slightly – this means that for the remainder of the challenge
he has to run an ULTRA MARATHON every day!

I strongly urge you to read about the challenge that Ben set
himself and the reasons why he is doing it – he is a truly inspirational man
and would also like to let you know that you can be involved!

http://www.the401challenge.co.uk

We were priviledged as a club to host Ben for Marathon
number 62 way back in November last year – a great route planned in advance and
navigated on the day by Chris Hine I might add – and he returns to the local
area on Friday 23rd September to run with Reading Road Runners on a
route that is yet to be announced.

I appreciate that this is a work day for most people and you
may have other things that you wish to do with your annual leave but if you
would like the opportunity to be involved, this is the easiest one to get to! You
don’t have to run the full route by any means – last time out I did 8 miles and
we had club members join in for everything from 1 mile to the full 26.2. I am
awaiting further info from RRR regarding the start and finish points and the
route itself and will pass it on as soon as I have it.

The final marathon – number 401 – takes place on Wednesday 5th
October and I know that there are several BFR members (including myself) who plan
to run at least part of the route with Ben on that day – again I will keep you
updated as and when I have further info.

Finally Warrington running club have set up a ‘petition’ to
the BBC to show support for him to be nominated for the ‘Special achievement award’
at the BBC sports personality of the year award. If you believe this to be a
fitting tribute to Ben’s dedication to charity whilst simultaneously breaking a
world record for consecutive marathons the you can add your name to the campaign
here:

https://www.change.org/p/bbc-get-ben-smith-401-challenge-on-sports-personality-of-the-year-2016

 

Have a great weekend running all - no matter what your reasons for doing it Smiling

Niki

Mme Sec Eye-wink

PS: Stay Hydrated kids!