Challenge over

Five months ago, when I set up this blog, I asked the question of whether it was possible to complete Offa’s Dyke on foot in 3 days. Unfortunately, at 5pm on the 3rd day I ‘pulled up lame’ after completing 151 miles. My left foot and ankle had started to cause me problems on the 2nd day and I battled on during the final day when every step was very painful. When it got to the point when I couldn’t move my left foot up or down as it was so swollen, I knew the challenge was up.

Having had a couple of days to reflect on this I’m not as disappointed as I thought I might have been. Before the challenge, I thought through all the possible eventualities and I was always aware that injury could cut the challenge short. I could never be certain how my body would react to such prolonged periods of walking and jogging over very challenging terrain. Being so close to the finishing line with time left is frustrating, but I know I couldn’t have carried on with the state that my ankle and foot were in.



Day 1

After months of training the challenge finally started just after 4am on Saturday. The day went as well as I could have hoped. I had good energy levels throughout and managed to cover 71 miles by 11.40pm.

After completing the first five hours on my own, Nick and Hamish then took it in turns to join me for about 3 hours at a time for the rest of the day. It was a great help to have them there and they did a good job in keeping the pace up and pushing me on.

The final part of the day became very tough for a few reasons. There were some steep climbs when my legs were starting to tighten and then once it was dark, Nick and I came to a part of the path that led us across fields filled with cows. At one point we were charged by about a dozen angry/scared cows and I got stuck on a barbed wire fence trying to get away! Luckily I only had bloody hands to show for the incident.

Once at our accommodation I had a shower and food and then, unsurprisingly, feel asleep very quickly around 12.20am.

Day 2

Four hours of sleep later and I was up again and, after some food, back on the path. Whereas on the first day the weather had been just about perfect (warm, a gentle breeze and cloud cover), the second day was cold, wet and windy.

Other than a long steep climb after about 3 miles, the first few hours of the day were generally quite kind on the legs. That was soon to change as Nick joined me for a 12 mile section of steep ups and downs on very slippery and muddy ground that slowed us down considerably. It was around this time that my ankle started to cause me pain and the rest of the day became quite hard work trying to make up for the time lost earlier on. Another friend, Jonah, joined me for the afternoon and evening and also did a great job in difficult conditions to keep me going at a good pace.

Unfortunately, I didn’t reach my target for the day and as it was getting dark we made the decision to stop rather than to head up into some more hills.

Although I hadn’t walked for as long or as far as the first day, it had been far tougher. The wet conditions underfoot on the hills had made it very difficult and my ankle had caused me a lot of pain for over half of the day. 47 miles in 16 hours was a lot less than I had planned to do and, ultimately, it was the effects of this day that I believe prevented me from completing the challenge.

Day 3

As soon as I woke up at 3.40am on Monday I knew that it would be a real struggle as my ankle and foot had swollen significantly overnight. At 4.15 I met Nicky, a colleague from school, at a rearranged location and started at a steady pace. Every step on my left foot was now causing me a lot of pain, particularly when going downhill. At the first stop after 15 miles, I changed the strapping on my ankle and it was now noticeably bigger than it had been when I had woken.

The next 18 miles were gruelling. The range of movement in my left foot was gradually becoming less and less and one of my toenails had come loose and was digging into my toe!

At the 151 mile mark I made the decision to stop. I had gone as far as I could, thought about it carefully and was realistically not going to be able to complete the path in 3 days.

Nicky had done a fantastic job in keeping me going as long as possible, but she too realised that I couldn’t go any further.




It has been good to look back on the whole challenge and what I’ve gone through over the last five months. Converting from rugby fitness into endurance fitness was a long process, but one that I enjoyed. As the distances I was covering increased so did the length of my training sessions and this meant sacrificing whole weekends to training and missing out on some social events. Cutting out drinking almost completely was not too difficult and being sober at two weddings, a stag do and my 30th birthday was actually not bad at all!

Of course, it has not just been about the physical side of the challenge. Organising the fundraiser and raffle was a new experience for me and I have been astonished at the levels of generosity that people have shown. I still have some money to pay into the justgiving account which will bring me to within £100 of my £5000 target. I never thought that I would reach it and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to this cause. I really appreciate it and I know that everyone at ‘fordementia’ will as well.

Finally, I would like to thank some people who have helped with the challenge.

Firstly, Sholto, who came up with the idea of the challenge and who I know was devastated when he was forced to pull out with a broken foot in February.

Hamish supported with me for the whole of the challenge and did an incredible job in keeping me going. He walked some sections with me on Saturday and the rest of the time met me every few hours so I could ‘refuel’. He also got up incredibly early to get my food ready and make sure I had everything ready for the day. Thank you so much, big fella!

Nick and Jonah also did a great job in walking with me on Saturday (Nick) and Sunday (Nick and Jonah). Being a personal trainer, Nick used his motivational skills to good effect and he also turned up with a huge range of natural remedies which he assured would help me with energy levels and recovery! Jonah arrived when the weather was horrendous and he ploughed on regardless and kept me going on a difficult day of walking.

Nicky joined me on the last day and in her usual optimistic and energetic way kept me going when I was really struggling with my foot. I also would like to thank her husband, Greg, and children, Alice and Sam, for giving up a day of their holidays to help support us.


Oli.

50 miler

Last Saturday (June 27th) I reached the 50 mile mark for the first time in my training. Having started off with 15 mile walks/jogs, I have worked my way up to 20, 25, 30, 40 and now 50 miles in a day. Nicky, who is joining me at the end of July for the 3rd day of the challenge, and I set off from Salisbury at 6am and walked/jogged the Clarendon Way to Winchester and back. We made the most of the cool conditions in the morning and covered the first 25 miles in 5 and a half hours. We were slower in the heat on the way back, but were very pleased with our overall time of 11 hours and 45 minutes for the 50 miles.

With 2 weekends of training left, the challenge is getting ever closer. It was great to get a 50 miler under my belt and, apart from bad blisters, my legs felt good at the end of it. The thought of doing another 16 miles on top of the 50 (as I will be doing on the first day), and on more challenging terrain, makes me realise even more how difficult my task is. I'm also hoping that at the end of July it won't be as hot as it has been recently!

Next weekend I'm going to head down to the Purbecks for some hill training and the weekend after that I aim to do 80 miles over the 2 days.