30/09/11 - We had a day off !!!!

It's going to be a quick blog tonight.....we were up at 05:00 UK time to undertake our little journey across the Atlantic.  Today reminded me of the Steve Martin film "Planes, Trains and Automobiles".....taxi from the hotel to the RER Station, 2 trains across Paris to get to Charles De Gaul Airport, a flight to London Heathrow and then a second flight to Atlanta, collected a hire car and drove to where we are running tomorrow.....we could have done with a boat to get pretty much every form of transport in possible....and maybe a horse and cart or a bicycle !!!  We eventually checked in at nearly 23:00 US time which is 04:00 UK time......as I write this it is midnight here and I have been on the go for 24 hours....and we are up at 05:00 tomorrow to start the run at 06:00 !


Whilst it has been a very long day, it hasn't been too stressful for Kevin.  Being a BA Gold Card Member he was able to get us both into the First Class Lounge at Heathrow and was sipping champagne whilst waiting for his flight.....this helped to ensure he also managed a bit of sleep on the transatlantic trip so he isn't looking too bad.  It will be interesting to see how his legs feel tomorrow after a day of not running.


My day, on the other hand has been a little tense at times.  Gary, my planning colleague from Atlanta dropped a little bombshell into an e-mail yesterday in that we cannot get access to the park where we were planning on running until after sunrise which is 07:30......the plan we had was that we would be heading in soon after 06:30 so I spent a happy couple of hours re-doing the planning for the first hour and a half of tomorrow's race to take in some loops around the streets near the Corporate HQ offices.  It is wonderful what you can do with a computer and Google Maps on the web.


Unfortunately, when we arrived here this evening and had a quick drive around this new route it became apparent very quickly that we had put far too much climbing up hills into the route and so I have spent the last hour re-planning for a second time !


Sorry....no pictures today, hopefully we will get plenty tomorrow to make up for it.


Distance travelled today:  7,200 km
Total distance travelled:  12,400 km


Distance run by Kevin today:  0.0 km
Total distance run by Kevin:  211.0 km

7 Marathons Challenge - Marathon 5; Grigny, Paris 29/09/11

Okay, before I write about today's race I just want to give readers a quick reminder of the good cause behind our challenge.....Kidscape are a UK based charity that provide support for children that have been or are experiencing bullying or abuse.  You can find out more about Kidscape in an earlier blog and donations can be made through Kevin's Just Giving Website.  

So.....back to the marathons !  Today we were in Paris.  It was hot.  No....that is an understatement.....it was extremely hot....about 30 degrees.  Our time in Dongen showed that Kevin, high temperatures and marathon running are not a good combination so we were a little nervous about how today would go.  The race was held at the Grigny Site on the southern side of Paris and we arrived on site at about 10am to meet Rachid, the coordinator of this event.  It was also good that Kevin's procurement team from France were also on site today....many to run and the rest to give moral support.

All in all there were about 35 runners taking part and they all congregated in the site canteen soon after 11am for a quick pasta lunch before getting ready to run.  We started the race soon after midday from outside the main entrance to the site offices and this was followed by a downhill 3km run through the town of Grigny to Les Lacs de l’Essonne which are some very pretty lakes and a nature reserve.  The race then completed 9 laps of 4km around the lakes before a final run back up the steep hill and back to the site.


Everything went well for the first 3 or 4 laps but slowly the heat began to take its toll, not just on Kevin but all the runners as well.  After starting out at about 4 hour pace the running speed soon dipped to about 4 hrs and 30 minutes pace which, given the temperatures, was probably a good thing.


The support from the staff at Grigny and France Procurement (all kitted out in the "Allez Kevin" race tops was excellent, cheering and supporting Kevin around the laps and he kept going well.....drinking plenty of Powerade and fuelled by a steady supply of bananas and sports energy gels!


After the 9 laps it was then time to tackle the hill back to the site......which was very steep, but with the support of about 10 runners Kevin soon made it to the top.  At this point we had a minor problem with the route in that there had been a major failure on a natural gas pipeline on one of the roads that we wanted to go do and this had been closed by the police.  There was traffic chaos everywhere, not helped but 11 runners, 3 cyclists an Ambulance and a couple of cars trying to complete their marathon !  After a diversion of maybe 1km we did get back to the site and finished in a very respectable time of 4 hours 45 minutes 12 seconds.


The huge turnout of runners and staff from the site at the finish was awesome and they put on a superb spread of food and drinks for all the runners, supporters and helpers.


Without doubt, France wins the prize so far for the hottest event, the most food and also the most runners taking part.....well done to Rachid and the team at Grigny for organising such a wonderful event.  


Well, that is 5 marathons in 5 days.....and both Kevin and I are exhausted !  Well I am....and I have only been doing the coordination and planning.....goodness knows how Kevin must be feeling !  The running has certainly taken it's toll on his feet with some extremely impressive blisters on his toes !


But tonight we have a chance to have a bit of a rest as we are staying over in Paris this evening before flying to Atlanta USA (via Heathrow) tomorrow.  We may even manage a beer or two ;-)



Distance travelled today:  25 km
Total distance travelled:  5200 km


Distance run by Kevin today:  42.2 km
Total distance run by Kevin:  211.0 km

7 Marathons Challenge - Marathon 4; Lørenskog, Oslo 28/09/11

Today we reached the halfway point with an excellent race in at the Site at Lørenskog near Oslo, Norway.  Today was an early start for me with a taxi to the site at 06:45 in order to meet up with Rønnaug Vinje, Jeanette Dejligbjerg and Hans Palmgren who were the local oragnising team for today's race.  The early start was to help get the route marked out and accurately measured, a task which took about 90 minutes to complete.

This having been done it was time to get the start and finish area arranged.  Without any doubt, the Lørenskog team win the "biggest start and finish banner" award so far with a massive, 10 metre wide inflatable branded banner...this banner had been used for the Oslo Marathon last weekend....and if it was good enough for 20,000 athletes there, it was certainly acceptable for us to use today ! 


The race kicked off a few moments ahead of the scheduled start time of 10:15 with Kevin supported by 4 guys from the site who raced with him for much of today's race.  The area around the site at Lørenskog is beautiful...forests and lakes and some nice residential areas to run through.....it also had some added features that have been absent over the first 3 races.....hills !!!!  The route headed out of the site along some nice pathways and down a steep hillside before picking up a very nice 4.7 km loop around the town.


Rønnaug and Jeanette who had planned the course had arranged for the first aid and refreshment station to be located next to a very picturesque swimming lake in the town which proved to be a very pleasant location from which to watch the race.  The loop did contain one quite steep hill that needed to be ascended.....okay for the first 4 laps but increasingly hard work for the last 4 laps of the 8 loops.


By the end of lap 6, Kevin had run out of pace makers and was running on his own.  At the end of lap 7, Kevin dropped his bombshell....."I have no idea of the way back to the site, I will need someone to show me" he said causally as he ran past. Gulp.....I looked at Rønnaug, Jeanette and Hans.....I was the one with running gear so it was down to me !  


At least I had 30 minutes to get changed and stretch before Kevin back into view after his last lap and we set off on the final 20 minutes climbing back up the steep hill to be met by a large crowd from the site cheering Kevin to his finish in a very respectable time of 4 hours, 5 minutes and 48 seconds.  The Norwegians were disappointed that Kevin's time was slower than yesterday in Sweden but immediately identified the hills as the cause....some good rivalry between the Scandinavians !!!!


Once again it was a quick round of thank you's and goodbye's before Kevin and I headed back to the hotel for the ice bath.  Today's ice bath won the "coldest so far" prize as the hotel provided the largest quantity of ice so far by quite some margin !


After the bath it was back on the road again, off to Oslo Airport for our flights to Paris and Marathon 5.



Distance travelled today:  1450 km
Total distance travelled:  5175 km


Distance run by Kevin today:  42.2 km
Total distance run by Kevin:  168.8 km

7 Marathons Challenge – Marathon 3; Jordbro, Sweden. 27/09/11

After the heat of yesterday in Holland it was nice that this morning dawned cool and clear and it promised to be a much better day for running.  After breakfast, I left Kevin in the hotel doing his stretching and took a Taxi to the site which was only about 10 minutes away.  I met up with Arne Dahlberg and Per Vikman who were the coordinating team for the day and then went with Per to have a look at the course and help put out the route markings.

Today's route was quite different from the last couple of days.  After the start there were 6 laps of the site car park followed by 16 laps of about 2.5 km along roads around the perimeter of the site.


Kevin arrived on site soon after 09:30 and a group of eager support runners congregated for the start at 10:30. As expected, the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday in Dongen and this made for much better running conditions and Kevin set off at a good pace.


After yesterday's tough running conditions, Kevin had asked that I provide him pace advice as he completed each lap.  The maths suggested a time of just over 18 minutes per lap was needed for his desired running time of 5 hours and as he passed the end of the lap for the first time he was 4 minutes up on this pace.  "Too fast" was my cry.....you need to slow down.


The second lap was also 14 minutes......"Too fast" I shouted.  The third lap was also 14 minutes....."Still too fast" I pleaded.  The fourth lap was....well, you guessed it, 14 minutes.  I gave up trying to pace him thinking that his legs would eventually slow him down a bit !!!!


The Jordbro team did us proud today with about a dozen runners coming out to run laps with Kevin....from one lap all the way up to Martin who ran the whole thing !  In the end, Kevin never did slow his pace and kept on pushing the laps out at 14 minutes per lap which resulted in an excellent time of 3 hours 54 minutes and 41 seconds for the full marathon distance.


After the race, Kevin suggested that the format of short laps had helped him keep a very consistent pace and  along with the cool weather, it had made the event really quite straight forward.  Certainly from an organisational angle, this format is the easiest to organise as it allows us to provide food, drinks and medical support at regular intervals without having to use loads of resources.


After the race it was, once again, back to the hotel for the oligatory ice bath and then catching the taxi to Arlanda Airport for more food and then our onward flight to Oslo.


Distance travelled today:  550 km
Total distance travelled:  3725 km


Distance run by Kevin today:  42.2 km
Total distance run by Kevin:  126.6 km

7 Marathons Challenge – Marathon 2; Dongen, Holland. 26/09/11

Day 1 was hot and hard….day 2 was hotter and harder!!!  After breakfast and a quick packing of bags we set off for the site in time to be there soon after 9am.  Kevin has an appointment with the site physio for a relaxing massage of weary muscles whilst I went over the final race plans with Jacqueline (the local organiser) and her team.

Today’s run was quite complex logistically.  We started on the Dongen Site with 3 laps around the site perimeter.  After this it was about 10 km along the country lanes surrounding the site and into the City of Dongen for a visit to the local Athletics Centre where we were met by members of the local council.  At the Athletics Centre, Kevin had to run 10 laps of the track before heading back out onto country lanes for a further 24km of running to return back to the site.

Kevin was joined by runners for Dongen and Londerzel Sites for various distances, from 1km up to the full marathon….about 20 runners in total.

To keep the runners safe we had a small convoy of vehicles….a lead car to close the roads, a chase car to keep Kevin and his co-runners fuelled with water and drinks, a taxi minibus to ferry runners to and from their relevant start and finish points and finally, the Site Safety Manager on his moped to coordinate the whole activity.  There were also a couple of members of the sales team positioned at strategic points with more food and drinks.  Jacqueline and her team had done a superb job on all this organisation and it all came together very smoothly.

However…..today was HOT.  The cars were reading 28 degrees and there was only a slight breeze to keep the runners cool.  Kevin also admitted after the run that he had let his machismo get in the way and had allowed the pace to be slightly faster in the first half of the run than he should have and, as a consequence, the second half of the run was pretty hard work.  However, he did record a very good time of 4 hours and 23 minutes, faster than yesterday!

I did also find one or two items that I had missed on the event risk assessment during today’s run as follows (fortunately these were only observations and not real accidents):

1.       Head injuries caused by falling acorns and nuts from the trees.

2.       Being run over by the chase car that gets too close.

3.       Being electrocuted by the electric animal control grids that cross the roads.

4.       Eating lunch on a moped!!!!

We made a quick exit after the run as we had quite a short time window to get to Schiphol Airport for this evening’s flight to Stockholm.  So after saying our goodbye’s and thank you’s we set off back to the hotel for Kevin’s ice bath and then for the run north to the airport.  In the end, we had plenty of time and managed a bite to eat at the airport before the flight at 20:15.

Add to this a 2 hour flight and a 1 hour taxi ride and it was a quite late arrival at the hotel this evening.....I think I will sleep well tonight !



Distance travelled today:  1300 km
Total distance travelled:  3175 km


Distance run by Kevin today:  42.2 km
Total distance run by Kevin:  84.4 km

7 Marathons Challenge – Marathon 1; Gent, Belgium. 25/09/11

After many weeks of planning we have arrived at day 1 of Kevin’s 7 Marathons Challenge and what a nice day it turned out to be….well, nice for the spectators, maybe a little warm for those running.  The day dawned bright and sunny and promised to be a hot one.  After an early breakfast, Kevin went back to his room to get ready for running and I took a wander out of the hotel along the banks of the river outside.

Kevin with colleagues from Belgium.

At 9 we were collected from the hotel by one of Kevin’s colleagues from the Gent Site who took us to the Flanders Sports Stadium to meet up with Eva whose privilege it had been to be the local coordinator for the Belgium Leg. Quite fortuitously, we had chosen to be in Gent on the same day that the Gent Marathon was taking place and it seemed too good an opportunity to miss running in this large event and a number of other employees from the site were joining in doing various distances from 5km up to the Full Marathon.  Others also came along to simply support Kevin and there was quite a party atmosphere as Kevin prepared to run.

Multi-tasking....stretching AND texting !

Kevin with Jackie and Marie Claire

10am was the start of the Full Marathon and about 400 hardy souls set off on this distance including Kevin and two of his colleagues from Belgium, Marie Claire and Jackie.

On your marks....get set....go!

Half way round.

The marathon course was made up of two loops around a 21km route which turned out to be a very pleasant run for Kevin around the streets of the Gent suburbs and along the banks of the rivers and canals that crisscross the city.  Being two loops we were able to support the runners as the passed the sports centre at the end of their first lap and Kevin reached this half way point in a very respectable time of 2 hours on 10 minutes.  With the day getting hotter and legs getting more tired, the second half was a little slower and Kevin came in to the finish in 4 hours and 33 minutes, well ahead of his target time of 5 hours…..hopefully he won’t pay for this extra pace tomorrow !

One race completed....6 to go!

After a warm down stretch and a large bowl of pasta it was back to the hotel for the dreaded ice bath to help the recovery of aching muscles.  Two large buckets of ice acquired from the bar, Kevin disappeared back to the room…..he claims to have stayed in the bath for 23 minutes but I declined the offer of timing him on this particular part of his adventures !

It was then back into the hire car for the 2 hour journey to Waalwijk in Holland where we are staying tonight.  Maybe not surprisingly, it was quite a quiet drive as Kevin slept a good portion of the way.  We are also beginning to confirm one of our pre event ideas that perhaps the biggest challenge we face this week is to get enough calories into Kevin to fuel him through his running and we are pretty much taking every opportunity we get to stop for some food….I need to be very careful, if I eat as much as Kevin I will be rather large by the end of this week and I am not burning quite the same number of calories.

This evening we met up with Jacqueline, the lucky coordinator of the event tomorrow at the Dongen Site.  Over a quick drink (and more food) we had a quick check over the plans for tomorrow before heading off for some well-earned sleep !


......and don't forget.....you can still donate here !!!!

Distance travelled today:  150km
Total distance travelled:  875km


Distance run by Kevin today:  42.2 km

7 Marathons - UK to Belgium

And so it begins !  Today was a travelling day....I set off from Cheshire at 09:00 and drove south to Camberley to pick Kevin up from his home at about 12:30.  After that is was some logistical car shuffling in preparation of the London race in 8 days time.....picking a hire car up from Heathrow and dropping my car off at Kevin's offices nearby.  By 2pm all this was done and dusted and we set off towards Belgium.....only to grind to a halt 15 minutes later on the London Orbital Car Park.....better known as the M25!


We were heading for the Euro-Tunnel at Folkstone for a 16:50 train and fortunately the delays were not too long and we pulled in nicely to the check in station on time at about 16:10....just enough time to grab a coffee and for Kevin to buy a paper and a pot of Vaseline....I don't know what the girl in W H Smiths thought when two middle aged blokes wandered in and asked for a large tub of Vaseline, we did get some funny looks....I'm not sure she was totally convinced by the "running a marathon tomorrow" explanation !


Today was my first trip on Le Shuttle and I have to say I was impressed with the speed and efficiency of the operation....35 minutes after loading we were pulling away from the train on the French side which is much quicker than the ferry.....although the views are no way near as good!


After this it was a 2 hour drive through NE France and into Belgium before we arrived in Gent and found our hotel, The Europa Hotel which seems very nice.


After checking in it was off to dinner for me to drink beer and Kevin to carbo-load on pasta.....I think I had the better deal !


So....all is now in place, the first marathon of our challenge is tomorrow morning at 10am....it is going to be a long week I think.  


There is still time for people to pledge some sponsorship for Kevin at his Just Giving Website, just follow the link.

Distance travelled today:  725km

7 Marathons Challenge - Ready to Go!

Well, all the pieces are in place and the game is about to begin !  We have plotted, planned, prepared and purchased the things we need....from this point onwards it is down to Kevin to get around his marathons and to me to manage any problems, hitches and hold ups that get in the way !  We start the adventure at 09:00 on Saturday morning with our journey from UK to Belgium....that is in 48 hours time.....just need to pack before we go !


At this point I would just like to mention some wonderful people who have helped tirelessly to make this whole thing happen, these are the 7 local coordinators (well supported by their teams) is each country:

Gary Thompson - USA.

Rachid Azzi - France.

Jacqueline Theuns - Holland.

Eva Lefèvre - Belgium.

Arne Dahlberg - Sweden.

Rønnaug Vinje - Norway.

Sharon Finch - UK.

Also in need of mention is Elaine Cole (Kevin's PA) who has done a fantastic job of getting us booked onto planes, trains, automobiles and into hotels....which has been a logistical nightmare as we have needed hotel rooms with baths (for Kevin to "enjoy" an Ice Bath after running) and late check outs.  I hadn't realised how many European hotels don't have baths....only showers !


And finally, I am sure that you will want to join me in wishing Kevin all the best of luck on this epic challenge.....keep checking back here for updates of each of the races....as well as updates from me as to what went well....and what went less smoothly on the planning front!


Remember, you can still contribute to Kevin's fund raising efforts for Kidscape through his Just Giving Web Page.

7 Marathons - 9 days to go !

It is now just over a week to go before Kevin starts on his epic journey of 7 Marathons in one week.  The plans have taken a huge leap forward this week thanks to the excellent input from the local coordinators in each of the countries in which we are running.


As mentioned in a recent posting, Belgium is the first leg and we are going to be running in Gent as part of the Gentloopt Marathon.  This will make a really exciting start for the event as it is a large organised marathon run with a large field running through the lovely city of Gent and surround areas.

After this we are off to Dongen in Holland.  The run in Dongen plans to take a long 35 km loop through the town and surrounding countryside.  After about 9 km we will call in to the town athletics centre where Kevin will run a number of laps around the track.  The event is scheduled to coincide with a Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Event being organised by the team at Dongen and we are expecting lots of support from the Town Officials and school children.




From Holland, we then fly to Stockholm where we have a lovely run around laps of a short 2.5 km loop route in the woods surrounding the plant at Jordbro, near Stockholm.









Following this, a short hop into Norway and a slightly longer 5km loop run around the quiet streets surrounding the plant at Lorenskog near Oslo.






It is then off to France where it looks like we will have ourt biggest event with something in excess of 50 runners joining Kevin for a run from the manufacturing plant at Grigny near Paris and around the picturesque Les Lacs de l’Essonne close to the plant.


We then have a day off the running as we fly from Paris, via London to Atlanta....so no real rest here !

Then things start getting really busy.  The run in Atlanta is at "Head Office" and takes in a lovely loop around the Chattahoochee River Recreational Area before finishing at Brumby Elementary School to tie into another Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability event.  The timing of the run in Atlanta is aimed to arrive at the school for 11am.....which means an early start at 6am for Kevin....and earlier for me to set things up.



After the run it is back to the airport to fly overnight back to the UK and our last run at Edmonton in North West London.  This one starts and finishes next to the Olympic Stadium and runs along the banks of the Lea Valley Navigation.  Once again we are tying in with a CRS event taking place at the site and hope to have lots of support from the staff at the site for Kevin.


As mentioned in my last post, this amazing feat is being attempted for Kevin's chosen charity Kidscape and we would welcome any support from anyone in the form of sponsorship through Kevin's Just Giving Website.

Keep watching here for lots more news over the next 2 and a bit weeks !!!!