Just a quick blog post to pass on the message which I've been repeating endlessly on Twitter (I'm sure to the annoyance of many of the followers of @longestdayrun) for the past few days.
You can now register for the event by following the link on the home page of www.longestdayrun.com. This will take you through to the Daily Mile website where you can register for free and it only takes a couple of minutes and is extremely simple. You then follow a separate link and register for the challenge.
So, what are you waiting for? Get signed up now, think about your targets, train hard and then enjoy the challenge!
Please tell your friends, get family members to sign up too and have some fun in the process.
Monday 9 April 2012
Monday 5 March 2012
Charity begins at home
Hello fellow runners. I've just realised that it's been slightly over a month since my last blog post - oops!
I have been working on the website, which most of you will know is now live, and I'm trying to update it frequently so please keep checking out www.longestdayrun.com and don't forget to tell your friends. If they're not runners yet then what are they waiting for?!
The other reason which explains the lack of posts is also the reason why I've chosen to raise funds this year for The Stroke Association (www.stroke.org.uk). I wanted to share this with you to help raise awareness of stroke, how to identify it early, and what to do if it happens to you or somebody else.
People who follow me @mazymixer will know that in early February I had a few days away due to a family health matter. I didn't explain publicly at the time what that was, but I want to do so now.
I won't go into all the details, but on the 8th February, my 37 year old wife woke up with weakness in her right arm, leg and slight numbness in the right side of her face. We acted quickly and the fantastic Yorkshire Ambulance Service took her to the Stroke Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. It wasn't until the next day that we were told conclusively that she had actually suffered a mild stroke. I don't know about you, but I knew very little about stroke. However, after she had spent three days in hospital undergoing MRI & CT scans and various ECGs and Ultrasound tests and I'd scoured the internet for as much information as my brain could absorb, I knew much more.
She's ok now (touch wood), other than the need to take precautionary drugs for the rest of her life, and should make a full recovery. It was a very scary experience, and she was one of the lucky ones and we're appreciative for that. It's worth noting that she's in a low risk group: Doesn't smoke, eats well, exercises regularly & drinks in moderation. Many are not so lucky, and the facts below (taken from The Stroke Association website) highlight the sheer scale of this condition:
I have been working on the website, which most of you will know is now live, and I'm trying to update it frequently so please keep checking out www.longestdayrun.com and don't forget to tell your friends. If they're not runners yet then what are they waiting for?!
The other reason which explains the lack of posts is also the reason why I've chosen to raise funds this year for The Stroke Association (www.stroke.org.uk). I wanted to share this with you to help raise awareness of stroke, how to identify it early, and what to do if it happens to you or somebody else.
People who follow me @mazymixer will know that in early February I had a few days away due to a family health matter. I didn't explain publicly at the time what that was, but I want to do so now.
I won't go into all the details, but on the 8th February, my 37 year old wife woke up with weakness in her right arm, leg and slight numbness in the right side of her face. We acted quickly and the fantastic Yorkshire Ambulance Service took her to the Stroke Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. It wasn't until the next day that we were told conclusively that she had actually suffered a mild stroke. I don't know about you, but I knew very little about stroke. However, after she had spent three days in hospital undergoing MRI & CT scans and various ECGs and Ultrasound tests and I'd scoured the internet for as much information as my brain could absorb, I knew much more.
She's ok now (touch wood), other than the need to take precautionary drugs for the rest of her life, and should make a full recovery. It was a very scary experience, and she was one of the lucky ones and we're appreciative for that. It's worth noting that she's in a low risk group: Doesn't smoke, eats well, exercises regularly & drinks in moderation. Many are not so lucky, and the facts below (taken from The Stroke Association website) highlight the sheer scale of this condition:
- An estimated 150,000 people have a stroke in the UK each year.
- Stroke accounts for around 53,000 deaths each year in the UK.
- Stroke is the third most common cause of death in England and Wales, after heart disease and cancer.
- Stroke accounts for 9 per cent of all deaths in men and 13 per cent of deaths in women in the UK.
- At least 450,000 people are severely disabled as a result of stroke in England.
- Stroke costs the economy an estimated £8 billion per year in England alone and it is likely that it costs proportionate amounts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Stroke patients occupy around 20 per cent of all acute hospital beds and 25 per cent of long term beds.
- Stroke units save lives: for stroke patients general wards have a 14 per cent to 25 per cent higher mortality rate than stroke units.
- Each year over 130,000 people in England and Wales have a stroke. About 10,000 of these are under retirement age.
The F.A.S.T campaign which has been shown on TV and other media, highlights the key signs to look out for so that timely action may be taken. Further details can be found at: www.stroke.org.uk
I've always tried to use my running to good effect whilst trying not to take too regular advantage of my kind friends and colleagues, and have done many races for charity in recent years. I always like to choose one which is close to my heart, and although I'd rather that stroke hadn't come into our lives, I'm now motivated to give something back to help raise awareness and raise much needed funds to enable the charity to continue their fantastic work.
So, this is my charity for 2012. I'm proud to be running for them and hope that my small efforts and those of others add up to something worthwhile.
I hope that Longest Day Run gives those of you who wish to raise funds for a charity of your choice a great opportunity to encourage sponsors and help you achieve your goals.
Thanks again for reading, and happy running.
Simon
Wednesday 1 February 2012
Longest Day Run in press
It was an email out of the blue. Had someone passed on a message? Were we being followed by a runner who just happened to be a journalist? Was it divine intervention? Ok, I'm getting silly now.
Whatever it was, The Northern Running Guide thought that the Longest Day Run was interesting enough to write about, and today the article was published on their website. The logo (designed by our very own Twitter friend @cmmercer) looks great, but foolishly they also wanted an "action" photo of me too. I was at work, and all I had available on my laptop were the official photos of me from the 2009 Flora London Marathon. With the exception of my finisher's photo, the others were taken during the final mile of the race. By this stage my legs were so full of cramp that in each pic it looked as if I was standing still, hence the choice of photo!
If you haven't seen the article, well, here it is:
http://northernrunningguide.com/news.php/743/the_longest_run_of_your_year/full
My next plan is to email the editors of all of the running mags I can think of and anyone else who might have a few column inches desperate to be filled.
The plan after that is to get a simple website set up. Well, there's no point having all of the domain names bought up and not using them now is there?
Alongside that I need to find a method of getting people to sign up & log their times other than me setting up a huge spreadsheet. Although, I'm not averse to a huge spreadsheet.
I still need to find time to think through the charity options so that we can have something tangible to show for our efforts on 23/24 June other than blisters and sunburn.
That's all for now folks, but I think I'm getting the hang of this blogging lark. I have never had a problem in waffling on aimlessly so please forgive me for the lack of a concise writing style.
I hope you're all running well & looking forward to the challenge ahead.
Cheers
Simon
Whatever it was, The Northern Running Guide thought that the Longest Day Run was interesting enough to write about, and today the article was published on their website. The logo (designed by our very own Twitter friend @cmmercer) looks great, but foolishly they also wanted an "action" photo of me too. I was at work, and all I had available on my laptop were the official photos of me from the 2009 Flora London Marathon. With the exception of my finisher's photo, the others were taken during the final mile of the race. By this stage my legs were so full of cramp that in each pic it looked as if I was standing still, hence the choice of photo!
If you haven't seen the article, well, here it is:
http://northernrunningguide.com/news.php/743/the_longest_run_of_your_year/full
My next plan is to email the editors of all of the running mags I can think of and anyone else who might have a few column inches desperate to be filled.
The plan after that is to get a simple website set up. Well, there's no point having all of the domain names bought up and not using them now is there?
Alongside that I need to find a method of getting people to sign up & log their times other than me setting up a huge spreadsheet. Although, I'm not averse to a huge spreadsheet.
I still need to find time to think through the charity options so that we can have something tangible to show for our efforts on 23/24 June other than blisters and sunburn.
That's all for now folks, but I think I'm getting the hang of this blogging lark. I have never had a problem in waffling on aimlessly so please forgive me for the lack of a concise writing style.
I hope you're all running well & looking forward to the challenge ahead.
Cheers
Simon
Sunday 29 January 2012
World domination?
Good evening all you lovely runners out there. I hope the running's going well so far this year, and that any injuries are only minor niggles.
I promised a new blog this weekend, but after "one of those weeks" it's been "one of those weekends" where spare time has been scarce. I did manage to fit in a 12 miler this morning though which temporarily reinvigorated me after a late night last night. As I have only a few minutes now to post a quick blogette I thought I would just quickly announce some news and then promise faithfully to apply my mind this week to something a little longer and more worthy of a read.
I decided to register the following two domain names and am now the proud custodian of:
www.longestdayrun.com & www.longestdayrun.co.uk
What I'm going to do with them is still to be decided, but I thought that now we've reached a very respectable 237 followers in just over one week since launch, we should prepare ourselves for world domination!
Please keep spreading the word about the Longest Day Run. The feedback & enthusiasm so far has been excellent.
Back soon.
Happy running.
Simon
Monday 23 January 2012
The Longest Day Run. What's it all about?
One week ago I had this little idea; it was inspired by a charity event I'd completed a couple of times a few years back. That event was called the "Longest Day Challenge", and involved playing 4 rounds of golf on the longest day of the year. Three mates and myself spent the best part of 16 hours on the golf course, and managed to raise over £5,000 for a charity very close to our hearts.
So, why the "Longest Day Run", you may be wondering? Well, since my golf challenges, most of my fundraising & indeed sport has been through my running. My football career (in the loosest sense of the term) was ended at age 34 due to a broken leg & ruptured ankle ligaments, and I used running to get myself fit again & also to satisfy my competitive nature. In most cases I'm competing against myself, the clock, the hills, or the weather. I do, however, enjoy taking part in races; it helps me focus my training, and the sense of achievement & enjoyment is always great, especially when getting a new distance or time PB.
I realise that the previous paragraph didn't actually answer the question, so let me try again.
In recent years I've met many great people through Twitter and also through joining a running club and entering races. The best thing about running is that you can set your own targets & goals, and everyone has it within them to improve. I have a daydream that one day I'll get a team of runners together and we'll run from John O'Groats to Lands End and back in a big relay. I haven't gone as far as planning the route yet, but it's definitely on the bucket list.
I've still not answered the question have I?! This writing thing's not as easy as some people make it look. Right here goes:
The Longest Day Run is whatever you want it to be. It has no rules and no boundaries, no minimums & no maximums. It's for each of us to get out of it what would make us happy. I want Ultra runners to attempt to run over 100 miles & I want novices who have never run before to run at least one mile. I want people to challenge themselves & each other to achieve a new milestone, to do something they haven't done before.
This is not a fixed distance, it's a fixed time. This is unusual for runners, we obsess about distance & how quickly we can get from start to finish. I'm hoping the planning & strategising brings a new element to people's training and gives them the opportunity to attempt a running challenge which they otherwise wouldn't try.
Here's the plan......
Between 12 Noon on Saturday 23rd June 2012 and 12 Noon on Sunday 24th the aim is quite simply to run as many miles as you feel you can.
You can do one long run, 10 shorter runs, or in fact any combination of runs over that time period. The aim is to set yourself YOUR challenge, and for everyone who takes part to encourage each other and help them to achieve their goal.
What if you can't do it between those times and on those dates? Then do it when you can. This is intended to include as many people as want to take part.
Run with friends, run on your own, run wherever you are in the world. There's no need to be on Twitter, to upload your data to the internet, or to blog live from the open road. All I ask is that people state an intention to take part, and then provide me with details of the miles they manage to amass during their chosen 24 hours.
I don't know how many people will take part, or how many miles we'll cover as a group, but let's see where this thing can go. If at the end of it people have enjoyed the challenge, possibly raised some money for a charity that means something to them, and made some new friends, then it will have been worthwhile.
This is not MY event, this is OUR event. I just had the crazy idea (unless somebody else somewhere in the world is doing the same thing!) Let's show people why running is so great, and why runners are great people. If we could each encourage a non runner to take part then we are spreading a great message.
The charity angle is something I've not fully formulated in my mind yet, but I am open to all suggestions. There's probably a clever way for people to communicate via this blog, but as a novice I've no idea how, yet.
Those on Twitter can chat via @longestdayrun or to my main account @mazymixer. Anybody who wants to email me can do so at longestdayrun@hotmail.co.uk
This is still very early days, but I just wanted to get the concept out there and see how it develops. Please feel free to customise YOUR Longest Day Run and to suggest any ideas which will make it more fun/challenging/rewarding for all of us.
Thanks for reading my waffle (assuming you got this far!)
Until the next blog......
Cheers
Simon
P.S. Please spread the message as far and wide as you can. Thanks.
So, why the "Longest Day Run", you may be wondering? Well, since my golf challenges, most of my fundraising & indeed sport has been through my running. My football career (in the loosest sense of the term) was ended at age 34 due to a broken leg & ruptured ankle ligaments, and I used running to get myself fit again & also to satisfy my competitive nature. In most cases I'm competing against myself, the clock, the hills, or the weather. I do, however, enjoy taking part in races; it helps me focus my training, and the sense of achievement & enjoyment is always great, especially when getting a new distance or time PB.
I realise that the previous paragraph didn't actually answer the question, so let me try again.
In recent years I've met many great people through Twitter and also through joining a running club and entering races. The best thing about running is that you can set your own targets & goals, and everyone has it within them to improve. I have a daydream that one day I'll get a team of runners together and we'll run from John O'Groats to Lands End and back in a big relay. I haven't gone as far as planning the route yet, but it's definitely on the bucket list.
I've still not answered the question have I?! This writing thing's not as easy as some people make it look. Right here goes:
The Longest Day Run is whatever you want it to be. It has no rules and no boundaries, no minimums & no maximums. It's for each of us to get out of it what would make us happy. I want Ultra runners to attempt to run over 100 miles & I want novices who have never run before to run at least one mile. I want people to challenge themselves & each other to achieve a new milestone, to do something they haven't done before.
This is not a fixed distance, it's a fixed time. This is unusual for runners, we obsess about distance & how quickly we can get from start to finish. I'm hoping the planning & strategising brings a new element to people's training and gives them the opportunity to attempt a running challenge which they otherwise wouldn't try.
Here's the plan......
Between 12 Noon on Saturday 23rd June 2012 and 12 Noon on Sunday 24th the aim is quite simply to run as many miles as you feel you can.
You can do one long run, 10 shorter runs, or in fact any combination of runs over that time period. The aim is to set yourself YOUR challenge, and for everyone who takes part to encourage each other and help them to achieve their goal.
What if you can't do it between those times and on those dates? Then do it when you can. This is intended to include as many people as want to take part.
Run with friends, run on your own, run wherever you are in the world. There's no need to be on Twitter, to upload your data to the internet, or to blog live from the open road. All I ask is that people state an intention to take part, and then provide me with details of the miles they manage to amass during their chosen 24 hours.
I don't know how many people will take part, or how many miles we'll cover as a group, but let's see where this thing can go. If at the end of it people have enjoyed the challenge, possibly raised some money for a charity that means something to them, and made some new friends, then it will have been worthwhile.
This is not MY event, this is OUR event. I just had the crazy idea (unless somebody else somewhere in the world is doing the same thing!) Let's show people why running is so great, and why runners are great people. If we could each encourage a non runner to take part then we are spreading a great message.
The charity angle is something I've not fully formulated in my mind yet, but I am open to all suggestions. There's probably a clever way for people to communicate via this blog, but as a novice I've no idea how, yet.
Those on Twitter can chat via @longestdayrun or to my main account @mazymixer. Anybody who wants to email me can do so at longestdayrun@hotmail.co.uk
This is still very early days, but I just wanted to get the concept out there and see how it develops. Please feel free to customise YOUR Longest Day Run and to suggest any ideas which will make it more fun/challenging/rewarding for all of us.
Thanks for reading my waffle (assuming you got this far!)
Until the next blog......
Cheers
Simon
P.S. Please spread the message as far and wide as you can. Thanks.
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