Ok, so technically it won't be a single day as it is likely to take around 36 hours but it will be an attempt at running the 140 mile width of the country from Whitehaven on the West Coast to my hometown of Sunderland non stop. So the first question I guess is why do I want to do this? Well, its an interesting question and one without a simple answer. Ten years ago I was pushing 16 stone and leading a dreadfully unhealthy lifestyle, drinking too much, living off takeaways and junk and generally being a complete slob. Back then I would have considered an endurance event as being answering the door when the takeaway delivery driver rang the bell.

(Not only did I eat all the pies, I ate a takeaway afterwards and washed it down with a few pints too)

In 2008 I decided that enough was enough and I needed to get fit so started "running." To be fair my first run actually turned out to be a 20 yard jog followed by a 3 mile walk as I was simply too fat and too unfit to run. Over the next few months I walked daily, then a mixed my walks up with a few short sections of jogging before eventually being able to jog the whole 3 miles. That summer I built up my stamina and in the Autumn ran my first ever race, a half marathon in Keswick. I loved every single minute of it and had got the running bug big time. That summer was also noteworthy because sadly it saw the end of my 13 year marriage. While not going into the ins and outs of that my running became my escape from the stresses of that situation and soon I was running a half marathon a day as I found it allowed me to get my mind into a good place, if only for a couple of hours. Of course with no endurance background, running 80 miles a week was a recipe for disaster and before long the inevitable happened and I suffered a serious injury (Planta fasciitus) that would see me unable to run for over 2 years. During that 2 years, unable to run, I returned to my old ways and piled the weight back on.

Then in 2011 I happened across a book titled "Ultra Marathon Man" by an American runner called Dean Karnazes. This stuff absolutely blew my mind. Here was a guy running multiple back to back marathons in races exceeding 100 and sometimes 200 miles of non stop running. Karnazes and those of his ilk sparked something inside of me that I have never been able to let go, the idea that ordinary people are capable of achieving things that to most people seem impossible. After a little research I realised that this underground movement of Ultra Marathon runners also existed in the UK and that there were a number of "Ultra" distance events in the UK. One such event was the Frostbite 50, a 50 mile trail run over the rugged North Yorkshire Moors in January 2012. It was 6 months away and I decided that this would be my first Ultra. During that 6 months I returned to full fitness, dropped my weight back to a manageable level and competed in my first ever marathon at Kielder in Northumberland. I finished the race in 4hrs 01 minute which considering I was still carrying a fair bit of chunk I was happy with. But I was exhausted and simply didnt know how I would manage a race nearly double that length in just 3 months time.

(In the home straight of my first ever marathon at Kielder in 2011. Absolutely exhausted and needed help from St Johns ambulance at the end)

The Frostbite 50 was an absolutely epic experience and despite it resulting in me having to drop out through injury at 45 miles of the 50 in freezing temperatures (after spraining then respraining my ankle 3 times), I had been well and truly bitten by the Ultra Bug. Unfortunately the injury would see my running and training be sporadic at best as I suffered ankle sprain after ankle sprain before finally breaking it in late 2012. Despite the injuries I did complete a number of trail marathons in 2012 at Coniston and Northumberland and finally completed my longest run to date, the 100km Hardmoors 60 over the North Yorkshire Moors.

Links to previous blogs I did for the British Trail Running Podcast on both my failed Frost Bite 50 attempt, The Hardmoors 60, Coniston Trail Marathon and my first ever top 10 finish at the Northumberland Trail Marathon

http://blog.trailrunner.org.uk/2012/01/phill-turton-shares-his-yorkshire-ultra.html

http://blog.trailrunner.org.uk/2012/10/hardmoors-60-redemption.html

http://blog.trailrunner.org.uk/2012/07/preparation-it-is-interesting.html

http://blog.trailrunner.org.uk/2012/08/phills-northumberland-coast-trail.html

(A beach finish at The 2012  Northumberland Trail Marathon. Despite my 9th place there is still no disguising the extra poundage that has defined and blighted my running over the years.)

The recurring theme of all these events and blogs was injury and in late 2012 I would suffer yet another injury, this time an ankle break that resulted in a 9 month lay off from running. Indeed the lay off was so long I had pretty much accepted my running life was over and I started making plans to do other things, even resigning my role as presenter on The British Trail Running Podcast. Bizarrely just as I accepted I could no longer run I started attending runners Yoga (stretch and repair) class which had a profound effect on my injured ankle and knee. Within weeks I was back running and continue the stretching exercises and foam rollering to this day.

Now, you may have noticed a theme in the photos I have included on this blog (hard not to). That theme is the amount of weight I am carrying. I have managed to run a number of Ultras and Marathons over the last 3 years but I have done this despite my awful physical condition. While no longer the 16 stone beast I was at thirty, I had been running at around 13st 7lbs for most of the last 5 years. During my injury lay off I read a lot and listened to more experienced runners a lot and it became clear that most of my injury problems were being caused by the fact I was still massively over weight for my height and for what I was asking my body to do. I decided to take advantage of my lay off and set about shedding the pounds and by the time I returned to running in September I had dropped down to 11st 11lbs. Dropping weight has absolutely transformed my running. Not only am I able to train consistently for the first time in years I have also found that I can actually run faster than I thought I was capable of. Despite being out for 9 months I finished off 2013 by setting 2 huge PB's firstly in my local Park Run where I ran a 19.06 5k but followed up quickly with probably my best competative run ever, when at Lancaster Half Marathon I broke my old PB by a massive 8 mins, finishing 23rd in a field of 700 in a time of 1:25 mins.

(Finally starting to look a bit more like a runner) 

So that is the background, what on earth has it got to do with my 40th and the C2C attempt? Well, it has been a mental few years both in terms of my running life but also in my personal life and I guess my health. I am on the eve of my 40th year and I finally seem to have found some balance, peace of mind and fitness. I credit much of this to my running which, despite the injuries really has transformed my life both physically and mentally. To me, making my 40th a celebration of running, incorporating a running challenge that at this moment still scares the living daylights out of me seemed a no brainer. The plan is to set out from Whitehaven at day break on Saturday 19th of July and finish (hopefully) sometime on the Sunday. I hope to set up some kind of electronic link via the web so friends, family and running pals can track the progress of the run over the weekend as I have done this with other runners (most recently Jon Steele's epic Hill Run) and it is great fun. I would also like to invite anybody who would like to run or cycle a mile, few miles or a large section to join me on this event, be it for the first miles, a few miles in the middle or the final section at Roker Beach. Whether you are friends, family or Podcast listener, I would love to see you at some point on this run and to make this a real celebration of running, movement and just being alive. I also intend to use the event to raise money for a number of charities and will post details nearer the date. So there you go, the first blog post of Phill's 40th Birthday Bash is over. I apologise for the lengthy and I guess indulgent nature of this first post but it is something I want to look back on in years to come that really captures and reminds me of the whole experience of this event from beginning to end. I hope it has been of some interest on some level to you and that you decide to drop back in for a look over the next few months.

Regards

Phill