I was having a re-read of this blog, recently and realised that I’d been jotting down thoughts on walking, running and cycling for nearly ten years.
My first entry was way back in 2013 when I started to document my journey to complete the 100k Thames Path Challenge.
That first foray into blogging (originally on the Blogger platform) introduced myself with a brief history of my discovery of challenge walking which all started with me walking to and from work.
In May of 2013, I took part in my first proper walk, the Walk for Kids around Birmingham. This twenty four miler (officially 26) roughly followed the outer circle and was similar to the BRMB Walkathon from a few years earlier.
Wanting to tax myself a little more, I decided on a walk of 100k (sixty two miles) and chose the Thames Path Challenge to be held in September.
The event was a big budget affair. There was an eighty pound entry fee and I also had to commit to raising at least £400 for my chosen charity.
I chose to walk for Mcmillan Cancer Trust and set about promoting myself and raising some dosh.
Luckily, I have some generous friends and colleagues and managed to raise the full amount by mid July. I went on to raise over £600.
As training I completed a few events in the run up, including the Dovdale Dipper and the Sandwell Six Towns.
I did plenty of research much of which I documented in this blog along with gear reviews.
Mid way through I switched from Blogger to Blogspot. For walk tracking I used, the now defunct, endomondo which I had been using since 2010 for my dabbles into the world of road running.
At the end of August, I changed jobs meaning that my commute rose from around three and a half miles to five and a bit.
Come September, I made my way down to Henley-on-Thames from where I caught trains to London for the start of the Thames Path Challenge.
On the morning of September 14th, I made my way from Chelsea to the start at Putney Bridge. Fifteen and a half hours later I reached the end at Putney just after midnight. Once recovered, I made my way to the B&B where I’d left the car the day previously.
I really enjoyed the experience and went on to walk Where Ravens Dare ( 26miles ), Rowbothams Round Rotherham (50 miles) and the day after ran the Birmingham Half Marathon (13.1 miles).