Challenges of a lifetime

WE had just run a marathon. My older brother, Mark, was getting sick. My legs were throbbing and my feet were aching. And we were only halfway there.

Halfway through just one of 12 Ultra-Marathon races which we had agreed to run last year.

The whole challenge arose from nothing. One moment we were chatting over dinner and the next my brother and myself had promised each other we would run 12 Ultra-Marathons (races of 35 plus miles generally run over mountains and trails rather than roads) to raise money for charity.

We chose two charities to support – Cancer Research because both our parents had suffered from cancer, and Football Action because we both helped to run it.

The full extent of what we had taken on hit us with a vicious bang in our first race when we attempted the Moonlight Challenge – a 35 mile night race scheduled for the coldest weekend of the year.

Standing in the dark on the start line in temperatures of -7 we thought this was pretty extreme. It was

?¦but worse was to come. About three hours in a snowstorm hit and everything got a lot tougher. On the exposed parts the wind whipped the snow up stinging our faces and freezing our hands while even in the sheltered places the water stations were frozen solid.

Even if we could ignore the pain of our faces the feeling in our legs was something else. After hours of running the pain was so bad it drowned out everything else. And still we ran on.

We had signed up for this, and we were going to do it, no matter what the cost. Eventually, after over five hours, we finished the race and were able to collapse in a heap before fighting our way back through the snow to our warm car and a rest.

After that we thought the races could only get easier. We were wrong. Very wrong. In fact, looking back, that race was one of the easier ones.

It was certainly easier than the 44-mile trek across Cornwall’s coastal path, which involved a 3am start, ridiculous numbers of steps and almost nine hours of running. It was also easier than the Gower Ultra-Marathon, which, after 4,500 feet of climbing and 30 plus miles of running finished with a three-mile trawl across an actual bog, which swallowed our legs up to the ankle with each step.

However, even that did not compare to the epic Brecon Beacons Ultra which was a 42 mile run (46 after we got lost) in December, in conditions well below freezing, in the mountains where the SAS train, during which we would climb and descend the equivalent of Croagh Patrick three times!

Each of the 12 Ultra-Marathons had its own challenges and each had its own adventures. From participating in a 40-mile bike race (without any bikes!) in the Lake District, to running through onion fields in Northampton, from being lost in a gorse field on the Wicklow Mountains to wading across rivers in Wales, every race was an amazing experience.

Our bodies suffered through the year. I sprained my ankle during one race and had to grit my teeth through the pain to make it through the remaining 20 miles. My younger brother ran the second half of a race with a stress fracture in his foot while in a third race he lost eight of his 10 toenails. Each race was tough but we had agreed to do this and if it hurt, well, that just made it more of a challenge.

Gradually we ticked off more and more races. Then, finally, on December 22, we crossed the finish line in our last Ultra-Marathon and we were done – 12 Ultra-Marathons in 12 months.

In the process we had raised over e5,000 for Cancer Research and Football Action (further donations are still being taken at www.justgiving.com/teams/2012shannonchallenge).

It took a lot of sacrifice, a whole load of determination and a little bit of luck to complete the challenge. But, despite the pain, suffering and sacrifice it was a truly incredible year and we loved it. Without any exaggeration I can honestly say it was the best thing I have ever done. It has changed our lives and we are better and much happier for it, and to be able to say that about anything is truly beautiful

?¦even if you are missing all your toenails!