Challenge Stu

Just a quick one, forgot to put a link to the little video I've made on here, here it is... http://youtu.be/24nDq7GC69k I'll make a proper one when I have time, and if it's good enough you might even see it at ShAFF next year!

It was good fun today to go back to the Rony Robinson show on BBC Radio Sheffield, although he was jolly rude about it taking longer than I told him it would! The interview is downloadable here , along with the original one from before I set off. There's also a good article on the run in today's Sheffield Telegraph, and on their website here... http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/sheffield-s-stuart-s-on-a-high-after-running-across-the-alps-1-4667498 Thanks to both for your support!

So, here it is... A short summary of a very long run! I have been back for a few days and have many photos, videos and diaries to work my way through. There's a lot more to say, so maybe one day there will be a longer write-up or a nice video medley, but here we go for now... Big Alps Run – A month in tights... As some of you may know, this summer I was taking on another challenge to raise money for Water for Kids, in order to help their brilliant work in securing clean water for the world's poorest communities to continue. The challenge this time was to run  across the Alps, from Vienna in Austria in an easterly direction to Lake Geneva, then south to finish in Nice on the Mediterranean coast. It would be a journey of over 1000 miles, through six countries, running solo and carrying my tent and camping gear. I planned to run off road as much as possible, over cols, passes and mountain summits. I flew to Vienna and on the morning of 12 th May left t...

Right, tomorrow I set off. I'm having the usual nerves and thinking how much nicer it would be to stay at home for a month than to go off and do stupid things, but that was always expected! So this will be a short post, just to update anyone who's interested on how you can follow where I am... The easiest way to see where I am is to use the Big Alps Run website (www.bigalpsrun.eu), which has a Twitter box on the left hand side. Here you will be able to see when I update my location through Twitter. If you click on the "mrstuartwalker" words at the top of the twitter box, it will take you to a link with my tweets. Some you can click on and see a photo, and some will take you to a map showing where I am. I will be using a Nokia maps application to send a map position and (sometimes) photo to my Facebook profile. This will also appear on Twitter. However, your facebook account may or may not be able to show the map! If it can't, or if you don't have a faceb...

In this, the second of my final preparation blog posts, I'll quickly talk about what I'm going to wear on my feet... Shoes and socks aren't the most interesting thing in the world, but feet will be fairly important on the Big Alps Run! I expect looking after my feet to be one of the biggest challenges, and I've certainly learnt the hard way the consequences of not doing so, particularly on the Pennine Way when this happened: Bad. There will be some short road sections, but the vast majority of the run is off road, so I'll be wearing off road shoes. After spending a while running on the treadmill and trying a few pairs of shoes at Accelerate, I've chosen to wear New Balance 101s. These are called a minimalist trail shoe, they are really lightweight and don't have much cushioning to them but I'm told that this suits my feet, and they felt nice when I ran in them.  New Balance have very generously agreed to give me four pairs of these, which ...

So, here we go... It's just a couple of weeks till I set off now, so I'll be writing a few "final preparations" blogs, talking about kit, shoes, and route. Today, what am I going to carry? For the majority of the challenge I will be unsupported and camping, so I'll have a fair bit of kit to carry. Most of it is currently spread out in the spare room: (click for larger version) Most of it is, I guess, pretty obvious. There are a few things which are to be added (Shoes being a major one!), but some things are just not there because I'm not taking them... Spare clothes fall into that category. I'd rather stink than carry any more! The total pack weight, with water and having just bought a couple of days' food, will be about 9kg. So, a quick description of the main stuff... Camping kit: Tent - Coleman Rigel X2, single skin tiny wee tent. Weighs about 800g, quick to put up, and stays upright if the wind blows! I could take a Laser or Sup Air, bu...

There was much confusion over the past week about yesterdays racing - the fast fellrunners went to Coledale Horseshoe, whilst the plodders amongst us went to Calderdale Hike. I was running the long race (37 miles - there's also a 26 mile option). Calderdale routes are used for three years before changing, and this year was the first on a new route... One thing about Calderdale, compared to some other races, the time between registering and starting is pretty short... Even registering at the earliest time possible, you've only got 45 minutes! So there was slight panic from a few of us on the start line, but I managed to be ready before the start and had a moment's calm... Then we were off! I ran at the front with Martin Beale and Jim Mann, with Ian Shrimpton and Jason Stevens just behind us. I felt quite comfortable with the pace, as the three of us took turns to lead along the roads and tracks through CP1, up above Mytholmroyd and eventually round towards Stoodley Pike...