On a beautiful Sunday afternoon yesterday I completed the recce of the 12 Cafe Walks which Phil & I plan to run as part of our Reach Out for Nepal charity day on 25th June. It was an exhilarating run (up Moel Siabod) but I did get a little carried away & ran all the way up to the Daear Dhu ridge before settling into a pace more in keeping with what I should be doing on the day. Despite enjoying Myself there was more than one occasion where my thoughts turned to ‘this is a decent test in itself let alone adding the other 11 routes to it…….!’

Back at the Cafe some time later I sat down to assess the collective recce’s with John & Marion looking on, the Maths began to speak for themselves, 12 Runs varying from 2.02 miles to 14.95 miles, total distance 92.3 miles, total ascent 4,939 metres (16,200 ft), total time taken 18 Hours & 40 Minutes (probably a bit too fast at that pace), oh dear!!

Now that may all sound O.K.ish if my goal is to do them all within 24 hours from dusk to dusk between Friday 24th & Saturday 25th but then what about that 13th one which at least now only needs to be 7.7 miles, what about breaks to re-fuel, attend to feet…., what about slower pace where I’ll be walking some of the steeper climbs? What about….??

Discussing all of this with John & Marion it became clear that Phil & I might fail in our goal but would that really be failure? Last year we simply had a loose goal of keeping going for 17 hours, should summit at least 6 or 7 times but wouldn’t double figures be great. People sponsored us irrespective of what we’d achieve they simply knew we were going to give it our best shot. So why should 2016 need to be any different, we concluded it didn’t!

Yes we have a more specific goal this year, 12 runs with a possible 13th, in aid of a great cause, the Melamchi School. We will simply need to give our best for 24 hours & if we come up short due to lack of pace, injury or total fatigue it won’t be for the art of trying & giving our all. Please help us be it financial, physical or practical or of course get involved in one of the Day’s other activities/events.

Now to recce that 13th, may it be the flatest 7.7 miles that the wonderful Snowdonia landscape allows!!