Nov/Dec/Jan Update

Winter time and a time to reflect on my biggest running year yet.  And what has unexpectedly become the penultimate year of the challenge.

Unexpected as the UK has officially left the EU and therefore my planned final race in London, April 2021 is now obsolete to the challenge of running in all member states. I can't begin to explain how disappointed I am that this adventure is now ending up in Croatia and not in my home country amongst friends and with maximum media coverage for our cause.  Anyway, I can't wallow there's still a lot of running to be done and below is a quick update on what has been happening over the last 3 months.

Porto Marathon (no.24!)

On November 3rd I managed to clock up marathon 6 of the year in Porto.  It rained pretty much for the entire trip apart from the 4.5 hours of the race(!).  The race was very well organised and had some fantastic views and an uphill tunnel with screens showing Chariots Of Fire which was brilliant.

Trotting the many bridges of Porto

For full race report please click here.

£3500 in 6 weeks, £7K Year

2019 haul (Gloucs Half, Cyprus, Bratislava, Riga, Budapest, Bucharest, Porto)

I honestly didn't know if my injured hip flexor and tired legs could get through 3 marathons in 6 weekends.  Budapest was a real test and the first one I've done where I genuinely didn't know if I was going to be able to finish.  Getting through that and then a really hot race in Bucharest left me with Porto to finish the year.  I was hoping for a cold wet race as there has been in previous years there but again it didn't really materialise.  I was a bit faster in this one (not much) but overjoyed to have got through the hardest physical period of my short running career.

6 more crossed off

Seeing the messages flood through on Twitter, Facebook and my website kept me going and the many JustGiving email alerts of donations coming in was incredibly motivating.  I couldn't quite believe that £3.5K came in for the 3 races, I was so happy with that.  To get to £7K for the year and £21K for the entire challenge with just £5K to go was really such a boost.

Invest in ME £500K pledge

In December, Invest In ME put out a press release pledging £500K for research activities at the Quadrum Institute in Norwich.

UK Charity Invest in ME Research is pledging £500,000 for continued research into the disease myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS) in Norwich Research Park, UK (NRP).

In a press release issued 2nd December 2019 the charity confirms a renewed commitment from the charity to developing a UK/European hub for high-quality biomedical research into ME.

This major investment builds on the foundations already made for a UK/European Centre of Excellence for ME research hub in Norwich Research Park.  The pledge covers joint funding of a PhD position in partnership with University of East Anglia and over 70% of the required funding for a clinical trial of Faecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) being performed alongside other high-quality biomedical research at the Quadram Institute (QI).

Invest in ME Research will now have funded or part funded five PhDs performing research into ME and working in partnership with researchers to initiate a foundation of high-quality research in one of the largest and most prestigious research parks in Europe.

I'm delighted to see the money I've raised go towards such promising research and the FMT trial and look forward to seeing what they come up with over the next few months.

There's more information through clicking this link

Xmas runs

We had Christmas in Haywards Heath this year with my sister Suz and family which was great fun for everyone, especially Lucy. 

                             

                    Icy start to Xmas Day                                                             Usual baby mayhem

I got out on Christmas Day morning before the kids woke up to their presents.  I had to be careful not to disturb Santa's footprints and I got out for a casual 6 miles which I found a bit tough after a lot of beer and cake the night before!

Christmas cracker 

Once in Jan I really got going and my times and weight started to drop. I had a 74 mile December and a 128 mile January, bigger is to come for February where I'll be running 35-40 miles per week.

Newport Half

Decent medal

Last year I ran Gloucester Half in the winter as part of training for Cyprus Marathon. I really enjoyed the chance to push myself over a shorter format in cold temperatures, raise more money and awareness for M.E research and also to meet the Gloucestershire ME Friendship Group.  To break up the brutal training plan and see if I can have the same success as last year with fundraising, I decided to enter Newport Half.

I'm not sure I can beat the PB of 1hr 40 mins from last year but it will be great to get another half marathon race under my belt to add to Bath, Devizes, Frome, Bridgwater and Gloucester.  The race is on Sunday March 1st and if anyone is in the area then you're more than welcome to come along.

Millions Missing Italy

Ahead of Rome Marathon in late March, I've had some amazing support from Italy from a variety of places.  I hope to have news of an incredibly generous donation to Invest In ME towards my target and I'm looking forward to having lunch with supporters the day before the race.

I've been interviewing patients over in Italy and will be featuring their take on what life is like there with M.E over the next few weeks.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some media coverage for them if we can get round the language barrier.

M.E Awareness Hour

It's great to see ME Awareness Hour back after a couple of years and it's been great to see it trending as high as #26 in the UK.  It feels like there's real momentum with this digital awareness advocacy and hopefully it'll soon get mainstream attention and the real-life stories that are featured are read by people who have misunderstood the illness.

Thanks for all your support, if you're feeling generous please leave a donation to M.E research for a cure to my fundraising page below....

www.justgiving.com/mikeseumarathons 

Total Sponsorship Raised: £21389
Social Media Followers: 2483
Miles Covered: 228
Average Temp: 9C
Lessons Learned: A quick break and back to it works for me.