Im in the Nottingham Post!

As promised, here is the link to the article written in the Nottingham Post

Image courtesy of The Nottingham Post

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Andy-s-year-long-run-marathon-hospice/story-20510503-detail/story.html

As usual with these things they get a few details wrong, like the 'amateur photographer' status (try telling that to the Inland Revenue!) but it is about right in the main and we are very grateful for the coverage.

Run 1 - Complete, 364 to go

I woke this morning feeling nervous, not sure why, it's only running. As the day progressed it looked less and less likely that i was going to be doing run number 1 of 365 consecutive runs in the rain, it did look a bit windy in the forecast, i could live with that. I tried to eat something early just in case i brought it back up! why was i so nervous about it? I'd run this distance lots of times, I'd even run this actual route only a few days ago.

I arrived at the Hospice at 1.20pm, after a quick telephone interview with a reporter at The Nottingham Post i found a loo to change in. The Post photographer arrived and we both went out in to the garden for a quick photo shoot. A bit of running on the spot and staged stretching (it felt very weird being that side of the lens) and we were at the front of the building where a crowd of staff and patients had gathered waiting for the off. They were all in coats complaining about the cold whilst i was in my shorts itching to get going, if only to get warm!

2pm - One last photo and i walked to main road while a small gathering followed behind and the photographer headed down the road to get a couple of action shots. I knew from the trial i ran last week that the route would be 5.1K as long as the run started from the entrance gate side of the car park.

This was the 'best' one eh?

Phone in hand - Endomondo on and I was off. 100 yards down Woodborough Road i passed the snapper, crouched by a wall. Another 100 and a beep from the horn of my partners car as she headed off for a meeting, then a hoot from Rebecca, the PR and marketing coordinator at the hospice as she drove to The Cornerhouse which was to be the end point of run number 1. The final blast from a car horn came as the photographer past me. I settled in to the run just as the freezing rain/hail hammered down. It was the coldest rain I've run in, i guess i'll have to get used to that. I turned the corner on to Huntingdon Street, aiming for the Capital FM arena with a brain freeze from the rain hitting my head. Hat... i have a hat.... just wasn't on my head.

freebee at the slug and lettuce

As i was climbing up Maid Marion Way i passed The Nottingham Post photographer again! "It's a small world" and as rhetorical as this usually is i felt i should acknowledge him with a "It certainly is". Of course what i should have said was "Yeah well, you ought to try running it mate." Up and across to Wollaton Street and down passed the Theatre Royal, then to make sure i run over 5k i had to run passed The CornerHouse and up Kings Walk, then on to The CornerHouse.

Donald and I at the Cornerhouse

Approaching the door at the finish and it was opened for me by Donald The Cornerhouse compliance manager. inside was Rebecca with a flag and Dan from Tank PR. I was soaked due to not having a waterproof on as i was wearing a hospice Tee shirt and i didn't want to cover it, a few more photos then Donald walked me down to The Slug and Lettuce to meet Ellen who kindly poured me a large coke on the house. As i stood there getting colder i joked about swapping it for a hot chocolate. a couple more photos then back to the hospice.

Ellen 'supervising' me with my freebee

So thats run 1 complete, see the route here,  just 364 to go.

Just great... my nose is now running more than my legs!

I have already raised £100, thank you all who have taken the time to donate.

So,  just four days before the 5k a day challenge starts and I've got man flu coming on! i have been running nearly every day for around  month, but I've decided to stop until Monday, a few days break before the 27th january should be enough to shake off the worst of it.

The trial route run went well and comes in at 5.05k so its perfect.

Outside the Hospice with Steve on wednesday before the test run.

The route starts at the Nottinghamshire Hospice Building on Woodborough Road and ends at The Corner House. Ill be running passed the Capital FM Arena, Broad Marsh Bus station, up maid marion Way and then past the Theatre Royal before making a quick loop to top out 5k.

The route i'll be taking on monday 27th Jan.

The Official 5k route for Run Number 1

Here is the official route for run number 1 on Monday 27th January.

 It’s just over 5k at 5.1k according to the app.

 After a few issues I have finally managed to get endomondo to tweet my runs. Twitter is now set to automatically post to my facebook page as well. After a good 30 minutes sat creating dummy runs on my phone and then checking twitter, only to see nothing appear, I did as all men do and refer to the instructions… What…? Well there no point wasting time reading when there’s swearing and all this switching off and on again to get through!

 I finally gave up and started looking for forums and the like, it turns out that endomondo has to see some form of GPS movement, or to put it another way – it will only post actual exercise! I got up and took the phone for a brisk walk and would you believe it, it works!

Ill be starting off at 2pm so should arrive at the CornerHouse at around 2.30pm.

The Hospice Blog

As well as being able to catch up with my challenge here on my blog, the lovely Caroline at the hospice has set up a blog on the hospice website too.

There is the short video also included there to start things off.

Check out Carolines handy work here

A few great reasons why you should donate to the 5k a day challenge.

When you donate to my 5k a day (#5kadaynh) challenge through Just Giving, you will be helping the Nottinghamshire Hospice directly.

Nottinghamshire Hospice is committed to ensuring the best possible palliative care for adults with a life limiting illness, and to give respite and support to their carers.

Day therapy, Counselling services, support for carers, bereavement service.

To read more about the services your donations will help to fund click here.

An interview with me about the 5k a day challenge filmed by me at the Hospice.

The first post...

I'm Andy Wallis and on Monday 27th January 2014 i will start a year long challenge to run 5k a day in aid of the Nottinghamshire Hospice.

Ill be using this blog to share my runs and experiences as i go. There is a film in making and once I've finshied the editing i'll be sharing here also. I've decided to kick off the new blog with a previous article written a couple of months back.

I took up running in 2010 after seeing Eddie Izzard run his mammoth 43 marathons in 51 days for Sport Relief. As someone convinced that they were not designed for running, seeing what he had achieved and hearing him say we 'were' designed for just that was very inspiring. That year saw me run the Robin Hood half marathon and a 10k race, not bad for someone who couldn't run across the road without gasping for breath! But I had a fall on an already dodgy ankle and it forced me to stop. At the end of last year (2012) I was the heaviest I've ever been, around 14.5 stone and I was feeling pretty ill. A combination of working late, eating badly and no exercise, what did i expect? 

Me and the Clan. Christmas 2012

I decided enough was enough and I started to cut out bread, cheese, oats, caffeine, crisps and even chocolate, all the things I love. I think I used to eat bread and cheese every day without fail. It was hard but I knew I needed to do something drastic to change the ever expanding me. I replaced them with water and real fruit and vegetables.

Within a couple of months I was feeling better and surprisingly, a little lighter. So I dusted off the asics and started to run again. Short gentle runs with plenty of walking thrown in, while all the time sending images of steel bars down to my previously damaged ankle just to be on the safe side. After a while those metal bar signals were working and were actually cramping my knee! OK time to relax about the joints...

Me at the finish line of the half
marathon in 2010

It's been fun getting back in to shape, and I have been amazed how quickly I've changed shape. I'm now around 12 stone. My decrease in size has caused a bit of a stir, some still ask if I have anything terminal and why I seem to have kept all my hair. Nice! My favourite one so far though is being called Chester Copperpot. The Goonies discovered Chester, well his bones at least! And remember the skeleton from the Memorex tape ads? I get that too.  "Re-record not fade away"

I am of course taking no interest in this incredible 'ribbing' no pun intended, as so far, i have never felt better. I am even having to buy smaller clothes (not so good). I haven't been 12 stone since I was 25, I'm 40 now. With all this good news and improvement i was bound to hit some kind of wall, and I have. Over the last month improvements have deseased and I'm running out of enthusiasm. As motivation is massive part of any exercise I needed something to help me to continue. What about a marathon? too far, i don't do huge distance. OK, a half marathon, yeah i have done one in 2010 so i know i can do that. The trouble with that is that so many people run a half  these days and do it for charity. I'm not belittling these achievements, its bloody hard work, but i wanted something that felt like a proper challenge, but suited the sort of running i do and something that people couldn't help but give up some reddies for.

Here we go then, I've been thinking about this for a while since I spotted a similar thing was being done for the Karen Green foundation by a guy called Brendon Birch.

So Ive decided my new challenge is thus, I'm running 5k a day, for a year, that's 3.1 miles for you old money types and I'm going to complete it on behalf of the Nottinghamshire Hospice. Its a really achievable distance as it stands on its own, i run that distance a lot, although my longest run has been 13 miles.

I already donate time and some profit as a pro photographer to the hospice, but this is the first time I will be actually raising funds and although we have yet to agree a start date, I'm really looking forward to getting started.  The Hospice offer a free service to patients and their loved ones which aims to take care of not only the physical needs of patients but also values their emotional, spiritual and social needs. They provide support to families and close friends, both during the illness and in bereavement. They have a Hospice at Home service and Day Therapy facility, complete with Complementary Therapy, Physiotherapy, Counselling and Bereavement services. They have 148 employees and around 300 volunteers. In order to run the Hospice need £3 million per year in which one third of this comes from NHS funding. The rest of the shortfall is raised through their retail division, donations, legacies, weekly lottery and fundraising activities.

one of my images from a hospice event.

All services are provided free of charge and offered regardless of age, gender, ethnic origin or religion. Each year they provide over 7,000 Day Therapy places for patients with a life limiting illness and their families through the Day Therapy facility and deliver over 36,000 hours of care through our Hospice at Home service.

They are a fantastic team and always appreciate the work volunteers like me do for them, i of course feel like a bit of a cheater as i just take photos for them. Its what i do, i really enjoy it and i don't feel like i put myself out to do it. Running the 5k a day challenge or '#5kaday' for you tweeters will allow me to be able actually generate some funds directly.

I'll be completing each 5k on foot obviously, but would love to hear ideas for locations and routes. So If you think you have an idea in mind, or feel you can help, please let me or the hospice know. I can't promise I'll actually do it but I'll certainly consider all your suggestions. 

To follow my progress, i'll be using the iPhone app 'Endomondo' you can see my profile page here, I'll be blogging too from time to time so please come back.
Follow me on twitter, find me on Facebook or email me at info@andywallisphotography.co.uk.

If you feel you could give anything at all to help me raise vital funds for the Nottinghamshire Hospice please check out my Just Giving page.