Runderbolts 496km December Challenge
Today is the 1st January 2023, Happy New Year 🥳 The day after completing the 496km challenge. Today has been all about resting and spending quality time with the family. Perfect timing to write my first ever blog sharing with you my experience of this challenge.
Day 24 Christmas Eve
Day 31 "The big finale" with the Runderbolts
Of the 496km I ran 284km
Of the 496km I walked 214km
Let's start from the beginning.
How did I find out about the challenge?
In September 2022 I ran the Ealing Half marathon with my bro Shak, a week before running the London marathon. I had with me my speaker which I sometimes have with me to play those classic choons to have fun and motivate fellow runners. One of those runners was the lovely Prabina Talary who loved my music and ran with us for a bit before pushing on ahead. Prabina is a member of Runderbolts who I followed on Instagram shortly after.
What is the 496km December challenge?
What made me decide to join this challenge?
I love challenges and as I read about this I thought wow this sounds interesting. Without any hesitation I signed up as I do with most things hehe. I had never done anything like this before and knew this would be a great mental and physical test for me so let's do this.
My initial thoughts about the challenge?
I knew I was never going to run the whole distance so careful strategic planning of running/walking each day would be required.
I was more concerned about how I would fit in the longer distances around working full time, having a 2 year old son and other family commitments.
The launch
On the 30th November, Ruden Bhutia, CEO of Runderbolts created a WhatsApp group for all 40 participants involved in the challenge. He reminded everyone of the rules so everything was clear ahead of Day 1 😊
The First Week
Nice easy week to settle into the challenge.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Roundshaw Downs parkrun
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Prabina showing a cooler seven 😜
The Second Week
This week I started splitting my runs/walks throughout the day which helped big time. There was also snow so I was very careful to avoid any kind of slips.
Day 8
Ran 5km in the evening as part of Lululemon run event "Set Joy In Motion" with fellow 496 team member Stephen D'Souza who I met for the first time.
Day 9
Day 10
Walked the whole 10km
Day 11
One of my best days of this challenge as I ran with my bro Eric of @keep.it.movin.k.i.m.tv who filmed my Runnamentary AKA My running story which you can watch here My Runnamentary
Day 12
A special day as it was my son Sherif's 2nd bday ❤️
Day 13
Day 14
My first trilogy splitting the distance between morning, afternoon and evening.
The Third Week
This was the week where I had a couple of tough days to get through but managed to succeed and move forward.
Day 15
Day 16
Walked the whole 16km
Day 17
This was my first tough day of the challenge as I had 11km to do in the evening. I felt tired physically but the inspirational 496 team got me through it, seeing all their posts in the group gave me the motivation to go out and get the job done 👍
Day 18
A lovely run with Omar who also lives in Croydon now as I took him on a tour of Croydon. If anyone fancies a running tour of Croydon then you know what to do.
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
My second tough day of the challenge. A busy day at work meant I had to skip my afternoon run leaving me with 16km to do in the evening after 10pm. I was tired mentally but my determination and strong will power pushed me through it.
The Fourth Week
This week is where my body started to feel it, from Day 25 my hips were telling me hello there you are crossing the line now lol.
Day 22
The day we passed 50% of the challenge with 253km completed and 243km to go ✅
Day 23
The day I got absolutely soaked during both my run and walks but that didn't stop me 👍
The day a big milestone was achieved 300km woohoo ✅
Day 25 Christmas Day
Completed my 20th parkrun at Lloyd park (my first parkrun was here). Once again careful manoeuvring required to avoid falling at the mudslide, if you have done this parkrun then you know what I mean. Good to catch up with James of Croydon Harriers 😊
Day 26
Day 27
The day I walked 2km in IKEA 😜 every step counts so why not. I also challenged our Captain Ruden to see what distance he can cover in IKEA by walking the whole floor space of IKEA so watch this space as he has accepted the challenge to be completed in 2023 👊🏼
Day 28
Long run from Purley to Leicester Square.
The fifth week
Day 29
The day I thought it might be all over for me. During my 12km evening run I felt pain at the lower part of my tibia just beside my ankle. This was clearly a strain due to the intensity of this challenge. I feared this could be it as walking even was a struggle. I put ice on it and deep heat as soon as I got home.
Day 30
Following the strain from yesterday I knew I needed to avoid running today at all cost to have any chance of finishing this challenge. So I walked the whole 30km ✅
The best day of the Challenge. They do say save the best to last and this was certainly the case.
I wasn't sure how the last day would go but my tactics on Day 30 worked out perfectly. I met up with the Runderbolts at Hounslow Central to join them for the 31km run heading towards Fulham and back again. So pleased my foot injury didn't play up and completed it with them ✅
Such an amazing day to meet so many of the 496 team who I had been in contact with throughout the challenge. We had so much fun and ofcourse the speaker made an appearance to guide us through the run with positive vibes and singing. We were also joined by The most electrifying running entertainer in the World AKA keep.it.movin.k.i.m.tv for the run to Fulham ❤️ always a pleasure to have him around.
Statistics
December was my most active month ever with a huge step up from November.
Final words
A huge thank you to Ruden for organising this challenge, it has been such a memorable experience for me. Would I do this again I hear you ask me, hell yea 😜
Thank you to all the Runderbolts family who have welcomed me with open arms and been a huge support. The power and love of this community is so strong. I can't wait to do more challenges with you again and meet the rest of the Runderbolts family. One love to you all ❤️
Being a mathematician and accountant my strength is in numbers so do let me know what you think of this blog. Trina you have been pushing me for a while to do this and have to say I really enjoyed writing this blog so thank you.
