These are challenging times we are living in and I, along with many others, am missing the mountains and countryside, running ultras and even just being able to plan my latest crazy challenge somewhere remote away from home for a few days… so I’ve decided to make my own challenge up. If you know me well then you’ll already expect it to be a bit bonkers and also for it to be something I’m emotionally invested in.

For a number of reasons I’ve decided to do this challenge in the last week of May.

• I have some time off work
• Lockdown restrictions have been lifted slightly (which helps with the logistics)
• It’s mental health awareness week and I’m supporting a mental health charity
• Centurion Running are organising a community event encouraging runners to achieve various distances during the last week of May

So here goes… my challenge is to run a route I’ve planned which takes in loops of the Millennium Cycle Route (13 miles) and various other landmarks within Milton Keynes followed by a clockwise loop of the Milton Keynes Boundary Path (62 miles) encircling the whole of the unitary authority area of Milton Keynes. A total of 102 miles! Details below:

• From midday Mon 25th to midday Wed 27th May (48 hours)
• Starting and finishing at home
• Approx 34 miles per day for three days totalling 102 miles
• Running solo, observing social distancing
• Staying local… I won’t be leaving the boundary of Milton Keynes at any point (See what I did there? 😉)
• Route to be completed over three days but as one continuous challenge (i.e. I’ll sleep in my bivy bag out on the trail if I can safely do so, if not I have backup plans in place)

I’m just planning the final logistics but for now here’s a sneak preview of my route and please sponsor me if you can. I’m raising funds for Mind, the mental health charity and will also make a contribution to NHS Charities Together.

Route fly-through

Please sponsor me if you can. I’d like to raise as much money as I can for Mind and the NHS Charities.

My sponsorship page is here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/smilersteve

I’ll post more updates including social media updates and my tracking links later in the week. Watch this space!

Steve