No more km's left to run!

In the beginning....

Sometime back in December 2011 I remember thinking to myself if I should run 1000km or not. I had two worries which were; Will I have the time and will anyone sponsor me?

I then thought about the reasons I had for taking on 1000km. I wanted to run them simply because I know how hard it is to come to terms with cancer, for an entire family, and how hard it is when someone dies. These are things that happen day to day for people across the world. So I thought if I could just raise some awareness, and a little bit of money at the same time, that would be a very good thing.

At the end of my first run

The circuits.....

Getting motor racing circuits involved was something I was willing to try and achieve. I would like to thank my husband for  helping me email and enquire around the circuits. When I was unable to run Spa he who contacted Circuit Zolder, who at the very last minute welcomed us to run the track.

I was so pleased to discover that a lot of circuits were willing to help me out and let me run on their tracks.  I would like to thank the following people for their help in this;
Pat Blakenly at Thruxton Motor Circuit, Pascal & Yves at Circuit Zolder, Anne Mich & Suzzane Schmitz at Rad um Run at Nurburgring, Kate Wingfield at Goodwood, Carol Watts at Silverstone, Sarah Thomson at Rockingham Speedway and Jen Darby at Donnington Park.

You are all fantastic people, representing really beautiful circuits. To run on ground where racing legends have been meant so much to me, and my Grandfather would really have marvelled at this.  

Thruxton

Goodwood

Silverstone

Zolder

Rockingham

The Nurburgring

Donnington

The hard parts....

All of Challenge 1000 was hard however some particularly difficult moments were; mild hypothermia at Goodwood - thanks to a sudden drop in temperature, running in the heat in Portugal and nearly fainting at the end of each run there, those hills round the Nurburgring and the knee and toe pain. I think my knees are pretty damaged, hopefully they will have time to mend now that they can rest a bit more! 

Getting the word out to the national audience.....

It was great to have articles written about Challenge 1000 by local and national sources. These include The Bucks Free Press/South Bucks Star, Cookham Crier, The Link Magazine, Lacey Green Windmill, Runners World and MSN Online http://cars.uk.msn.com/news/woman-to-run-1000km-on-racetracks

Thank you to all of the above for your support. 

Also a big thank you to my Twitter buddies for RTing my tweets about Challenge 1000, and for their kind sponsorship. I would like to thank Tom Ingram and Jack Goff for helping me to spread the word to their many followers also. Best of luck to you both next year in all your racing ventures :-)
@VictoriaKYoung 
 

How did it end??? 

Challenge 1000 ended with a 10km run on a dark winters night on Sunday 23rd December. I ran round my local area, which is Cressex in High Wycombe. It was certainly no motor racing circuit, scenic beach or amazing countryside.....but for the final km's it was lovely to finish them back at my front door. 

There were no tears or elation.....in fact this feeling is only just happening for me now. All these once in a lifetime experiences have come out of pure hard work and I am so proud of the support I have received.  

The result......

£839 at minimum, seeming as people can still sponsor me up until March 2013, will be split 50:50 between Child Bereavement UK and Cancer Research UK.  During the time I have been running Child Bereavement UK and Cancer Research UK have seen many positive developments and have helped and supported even more people.  

Thank you to all of my sponsors - you have been amazing. 


The final plea......Please help me to reach £1000!!!! 

If generosity comes into your New Years Resolution if you could help Challenge 1000 reach £1000 so each charity can be awarded £500 I would be most grateful. 

Sponsor me via virginmoneygiving.com/Challenge1000 

Remember to share the link to my blog with your Facebook friends and your Twitter followers.

Rule Britannia at Silverstone

Today I was lucky enough to have the Silverstone track all to myself, and of course I shared this with my husband who throughout this challenge has run every km with me. I tell him that he doesn't need to however he has taken on the official role as Challenge 1000 manager. Between us we have been approaching different racing venues, and getting this circuit was down to all his doing. So thank you very very very much to him.

And the crowd goes wild!!!

New podium @ Silverstone

We drove right up to The Silverstone Wing. Which is their international pit and paddock building which incidentally looks like a giant wing. When we drove up we saw Cal Crutchlow (Moto GP rider) driving away, then we saw Steve Parrish (Moto GP commentator for BBC) and Matt Roberts (Moto GP presenter for BBC) packing stuff into their boots and driving away!!! For those who watch Moto GP you will know who these people are. For those that don't you wont have a clue - sorry.

A lady called Carol greeted us at the wing. She made us feel like VIPs. She asked about what charities I was raising money for and also asked if she could take a photo so they could tweet about Challenge 1000.  This was the warmest and best reception we have had so far. Thank you to Carol at Silverstone.

On the start line

It is a bit surreal running on a race track. You can see all the tyre marks, bits of loose tyre rubber, dents and scrapes where crashes have happened. At Silverstone today I got to see every bend, bump and elevation of each bit of the track. I can see why this circuit is such a great one.
I ran 3 laps in total. As we were finishing at the end a workman who had seen us go by lap by lap asked us "Are you tired yet?".....well we had run 17.3km (10.75 miles)....so erm yes I was.

So far I have raised over £300 for the Child Bereavement Charity and Cancer Research UK. I have £1,700 to go. Let's keep it coming! Click here to give what you can. Thank you.