Fred Scriven
Weight Watcher
26/01/2018
120 days to go
Once again then has been quite a hiatus on the blog front, but as we are now approaching the 100 day mark posts are sure to be more frequent on numerous social media accounts.
D-day no longer seems on the horizon and 120 days seems all too short; Johnny and I are having more and more sleepless nights in the build-up, and finds ourselves permanently questioning why exactly we signed up to this...
Good news is that training is progressing well. Johnny has put one foot infront of the other and discovered, much to his joy, that all the days running around the market stall have done him good; fitness is at an all-time high and he can now make it all the way down the driveway without stopping. 2018 is looking good so far for JK.
Will is getting evermore excited about the run as he now has an excuse to raid the kitchen at any opportunity and declare that his eating habit are all in aid of charity. Its that burning passion which makes him a great captain for our motely crew as he continues to pressure and encourage us (JK and myself) into more and more reluctant training. With Patch aerodynamically slicing through the air beside him, the leadership of the team is looking in good nick.
Grace still speaks French. Good stuff Grace, keep up the good work!
Whilst updates on how far we are running may not be top of your agenda for reading at any time, keep track of the blog to see how badly some of us (no prizes for guessing who) are struggling and our comical attempts at doing this ridiculous challenge..
First team run tomorrow (30km).. We'll keep you updated with the struggle.
Fred
William Hudson
Boss
02/01/2018
144 Days To Go
As Fred kindly reminded us all today, it has been almost 100 days since we signed up to this and started the blog. So far, only the six of us have seen the website and we have not started our fundraising (Except Fred, well done Fred).
New Year, New Me kinda stuff and we are ready to start the fundraising.
Most importantly we are all running on a regular basis (Jonny?!?) and have started to increase the mileage. The weekend team runs are in the diary, and we are looking to slow down the pace and up the distance week by week. The majority of my Christmas presents revolved around this, and so investment into it continues to build, both in terms of money and time. No regrets.
Patch is on the lookout for some matching running gear to make sure we look the part when slumbering 100km round the French countryside. The kit list seems to be ever growing, but at least the accommodation and travel plans are starting to take shape (update*, this is not true).
Long dark days attempt to hinder the training, but with every day getting lighter it’s harder to use that excuse. The inevitable Christmas lull took its toll, but with eagerness we are looking to get back at it in 2018. The Christmas eating and drinking got to us all, especially Fred, and so the New Year seems like the ideal opportunity to get it all back on track.
Setbacks have been a plenty; my ‘self-diagnosed’ plantar Fasciitis, Patches strained back, Jonny’s silence, and Fred’s Christmas weight have all been of concern. But a bit of conditioning and we will all survive, let’s hope the bodies can handle the increasing distance. May seemed like a long way away a few months ago, but is now seemingly fast approaching.
The updates will start to be more regular and we will attempt to keep you updated in a light hearted manner, pictures to be included, and spamming to a minimal.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.
W
William Hudson
Boss
06/10/2017
Probably a terrible mistake
Some of us have been in London for a few years, some more recently moved and some moving towards London in the foreseeable future. Slowly we are all starting to call London our home, and so escaping to the countryside/highlands where we are all from becomes a necessity. Everyone knows the saying 'you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy', we are finding this all to relatable.
During the summer of 2017, Grace and Will (meee) had the pleasure of working in France for a lovely family who treated us like one of their own. We ate extremely well, we drank extremely well and were introduced to a beautiful region of France, Bourgogne (Burgundy). We were staying in a storybook Chateau in Orbigny, in the hilly countryside within the Morvan national park, a few kilometers outside of Avallon. Towards the end of the trip, we were looking for every reason to return to this beautiful area, and on one of our last days, we were told about an annual race that takes place in Avallon. A 100km race. We almost brushed it off as a passing comment, but the idea stuck with me...
In previous months, Patch and I had flirted with the idea of competing in an ultramarathon, but had no idea where to start. After hearing about France's Oxfam Trailwalker, which started as a walking race but has developed into an ultramarathon, it seemed like the ideal starting place. Not only this, but the event is to be run in a team of four, where all members are required to run the 100km as a tight-knit unit. The challenge basically fell on our laps, and we have wholeheartedly taken it up. As well as four runners, the team also includes two support team members, and as things would have it, we had the best two people on board from the get go, Kirsty and Grace. This left us with finding two more runners, and after very short deliberations (genuinely) between patch and I, the first two people on the list were Mr Jonny Kemp and Mr Fred Scriven. Finding people willing to put themselves through running two and half back-to-back marathons in the hilly countryside we imagined would be very difficult, but how wrong we were... They were in, and within a few days we had assembled a team. A team who very much had no idea what they had signed on for...
We are all advocates of the app 'Strava', using imaginary competitions to help keep us fit and motivated, and as we find ourselves increasingly behind desks, the yearning to go outside and excise becomes ever more prevalent. With a handful of marathons, the cycling of the UK's coast to coast and a cycling trip from the UK to Holland between us, we feel as though this is the next (il)logical step. It's a challenge that none of us can relate to and one which at this moment in time is daunting to say the least. We don't know what to expect, we have to buy kit, we have to find accommodation and we have to google 'how to train for a 100km race'.
Team assembled, entry fee paid, training begun, 232 days until race day. This is all becoming very real...
Oxfam France est membre de la confédération Oxfam, une organisation internationale de développement qui mobilise le pouvoir citoyen contre la pauvreté. Nous travaillons dans plus de 90 pays afin de trouver des solutions durables pour mettre fin aux injustices qui engendrent la pauvreté. Votre don nous aidera à poursuivre nos actions et contribuera à la construction d'un monde plus juste pour tous. D'avance, merci.
Pour en savoir plus sur Oxfam France : www.oxfamfrance.org
