Trans-alpine challenge by doc_s

Well, I suspect this shall be one of my last blogs until I reach the alps and I must say, it's a very strange feeling. I've had a fantastic week, and aside from having very little time left to get things done, I'm feeling very optomistic about the next few weeks.

I had a fantastic hill run on Tuesday and it's really my last big run before the trans-alps. I chose Ben Narnian and Ben Ime, and it was lovely, very quiet and peaceful and not as hard as my slog at the weekend and I hardly saw another soul for the whole outing.

Last night was my charity night to raise funds for the LHM. It was a great night, we had a quiz, bingo and a raffle, and a friend did a bit of DJing after. These things are always a bit of a hit or a miss, and thankfully it really came together well. My biggest fear was that people wouldn't turn up but the pub was full and I was blown away by peoples' support and generosity, in particular, the other staff from the Sandyford have been amazing, what a fantastic team. I shall be eternally grateful to them as I couldn't have done it without them. I also managed to finally sort out some decent raffle prizes- very stressful trying to persuade people to give you stuff but at the end of the day, I think I managed to pull together a fairly decent bag of prizes. We raised about £500 bringing my current total to about £2200, which I am delighted with. Now comes the easy bit.... I just need to actually run the 200 miles over the alps, a minor point really. I'm so excited about my Kenyan holiday first that it'sdoing an excellent job of taking my mind of the pre-race nerves, next time you hear from me, I'll no doubt be in a right old state!   

When I think about it, this is really a once in a lifetime opportunity, the stuff of my wildest dreams. As I was being interviewed the other night the girl asked me if I'd always been into fitness, if I'd always been a runner. It has really set me thinking over the past few days about what running has done for me and how I got here. When I tell people about the trans-alps, or they find out I am 'into running' they often ask why. I simply cannot put it into words. For most of my life I was a lazy wee toe-rag, not in the slightest interested in fitness or sport. A few years ago I found myself miserable, stressed out, smoking, drinking too much, eating junk and although I wasn't hugely fat I was carrying some extra weight and was generally fed up with myself. I did jog occasionally but my only real forray into running had ended with the Glasgow half-marathon in 2004 (my only race until summer 2008) when I ran a 1 hour 55 but promptly passed out as I got over the finish line, and until a couple of years ago, had never considered racing again. A severe attack of the guilties did force me out to pound the pavements occasionally, but it was more like abject torture that had to be endured, than an enjoyable hobby.

So what changed? Who knows? Was it joining a running club? Unearthing and dusting off that old competitive streak as I ventured into racing for the first time? Was it finding out you don't need to be a top athlete to take part in races and enjoy them? Was it finding out there are a hundred different ways to train and just as many terrains to run on? Was it meeting others with a similar passion? Was it the steady improvement in times and new records set that kept me coming back for more? Was it knowing that this was somehow 'my thing' and somehow something no-one else could take from me? Was it the inner peace and quietness I can find when running, leaving all the day's stresses behind? Or is it just because I can? Just to feel the power of my legs striding beneath me, the wind on my face and the pure unadulterated joy and freedom that running can bring? Yes, it's all of the above, and more, and as I ran across some of the mountain tops earlier in the week, I realised it's not the winning, it really is the taking part that counts.

Cheers fellow bloggers, hope to catch up soon x