Tom’s charity challenge - running 816 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats
Ultra runner Tom Boother missed out on the London Marathon this year - because he was otherwise engaged.
He was running...
Tom, 35, from Ipswich, has been busy running from Land’s End in the south to the northern tip of Scotland - John O’Groats.
He started out on April 18 on LeJog, as he calls it, to run the length of Britain and raise funds for East Anglia Children’s Hospices and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
Tom, who describes himself as a runner, trainer and speaker, travels the world to find challenging runs.
He set off from the southern tip of the country on Monday April 18 aiming to run the length of the country.
Despite suffering from severe blisters, at Bristol, and running into strong head winds and rain, sleet and snow he is only just behind his target.
He had intended finishing on May 1.
His dad, Richard Boother, explained: “It has been very tough, a really hard challenge. We have hit some tough weather.
“We have had strong head winds and snow. Yesterday, through Crewe, it was snowing quite heavily and it was cold, only 3 degrees.
“Tuesday and Wednesday last week he was troubled by bad blisters, and saw a podiatrist, we lost a half day there.
“People have been very kind.
“He as been hoping to do 55miles a day, or two marathons, but yesterday it was about 51 miles.”
I spoke to Richard on Friday night, at their overnight stay at Dreghorn, near Irving, in Scotland.
He was setting up in the hotel - while Tom was running the final ten miles of the day.
As soon as he has finished running for the day, Tom eats in the car on the way to the hotel, then has an ice bath, before dinner.
Then it is to bed and he is up at 6am, ready to start again.
Richard added: “During the run Tom is fuelled by sugar and fluids. He takes plenty of water, jelly babies and biscuits.
“This is a big personal challenge for him. The longest he has done is 147 miles, Birmingham to London, and that was non-stop.”
They had hoped to be finish on Sunday, he said, but that had been put back a couple of days due to the weather conditions.
“We are hoping to finish Tuesday night,” he added.
To support him go to: www.tomslejog.co.uk
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