Mad, silly, out of my mind…..I could be any of these during 2017 when I embark on probably the biggest challenge of my life so far.

This will be the year when I’ll run a minimum of 5km every day for the whole year. The challenge will also see me do much further distances, for example half and full marathons, with the Dartford half marathon in March and the Brighton (full) marathon in April.

So why does a normal family guy want to run every day next year in snow, rain, heat and cold covering an annual total of at least 1825km (1134 miles)?

Also taking into consideration work, doing family activities (and chores) along with all the usual stuff we have to do??  Basically, I want to inspire people in the same way this running bug helped turn my life around. Each one of us can inspire other people – my friend calls it ‘”the ripple effect”.

I’m privileged to have been asked to present details on how and why I’ve made big and positive changes to my lifestyle during wellbeing week at my place of work (South East Water) later in October.

I will probably put some key details of these changes into future blogs but too cut a long story short for now I’ve reduced my weight by 38lbs. That’s through being sensible with what I consume and running pretty much when I can. Parkruns and other events help spur you on, as does running with your wife, kids and friends…and a dog called Bear!

This run will not just be a personal challenge but also the opportunity to raise money and awareness for Kent Sports Trust (KST) (http://www.kentsportstrust.org/). The charity has a purpose to foster relationships with families to encourage participation, create positive health outcomes and provide opportunities for the Kent community to connect through sport. The core aim will be to provide local communities within Kent either affordable or zero cost sport options in areas where the need arises. One of the things KST are trying to kick-off for 2017 for example is asking every Kent primary school to encourage their kids to walk a “daily mile”.

As I get nearer to January 1st 2017, I’ll provide more details on the training I’m doing to get ready for the challenge (I think some people have already noticed the weight loss) and once I’m into the challenge I will aim to blog every month of 2017.

Just as a flavour of the training I’m currently doing, it’s on average 5km to 15km most days which could be a single run within that 24 hours or two runs spread across the day…plenty of 5am and/or late night runs included. Deep down I have set a target to beat the minimum of 1825km by quite a margin…but I won’t tell anyone that target just yet!

Can you be involved in this? You certainly can, I have a JustGiving page for donations and also a Facebook page for regular updates on my progress. The links are found below. Also, running on your own can be very lonely, so if anyone wants to run with me please do give me a shout. Any distance will be fine, and I’m happy to help along anyone who wants to start running.

On the donation front I’ve had some personal donations by some people already which is great and it’s thanks to those people who have helped get the ball rolling. Within the last fortnight I’ve also managed to secure some great corporate sponsorship from Advance FM, Bermad, MTS Cleansing, Saint Gobain PAM UK, Teekay Couplings and Trimble. It’s a nice feeling knowing that great and well-known companies such as these are backing both myself and the charity.

Just one last thing from me for now. I’ll be running with a special guy by the name of Ben Smith on Wednesday 5th October in Bristol. This will be the day when Ben will be completing his 401st (and final) marathon in 401 days.

I, my wife Nicola and a few close friends (Ben Smith and Steve Wolfe) have decided to run the entire marathon with Ben. I’ve been looking forward to being involved in what will be an historical day and a wonderful/emotional celebration at the end.

I was fortunate to run with Ben back in April of this year at Hildenborough and his inspiration certainly caught hold of me. Ben’s aim is to raise £250,000 to support ‘Stonewall’ and ‘Kidscape’, two great charities.

To run this challenge Ben had to give-up his work career to allow him the time to fulfil his dream and he also had to sell his house in order to fund his costs. A huge part of these costs have been travel, as rather than run in one town or county Ben has travelled all over the UK, running with thousands of people and also taking the time to visit schools to talk about anti-bullying.

I could go on and on about Ben, but further details can be found here http://www.the401challenge.co.uk/about/401-challenge-and-man-behind-it-all

 

Pictured below (left to right): Ben Rogers (currently midway through doing 365 marathons in 365 days, Ben is based in Malling), Ben Smith (401 challenge), Lee Allen, Steve Wolfe (CEO of Kent Sports Trust).

 

 

 

JustGiving page link: https://www.justgiving.com/lee-allen13

 

Facebook page link: https://m.facebook.com/Leeallenkentsportstrust/

 

That’s all from me for now. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog……