Steve's Coastal Challenge for a Cause!

The Challenge

The Wales Coast Path - 870 miles long with about 64,000ft of elevation (Everest is 29,000ft) and I am going to to attempt to beat the current Fastest Known Time for the route and run, walk and if need be crawl the entire route in less than 19 days, starting 03/08/2024.  That's an average of around 46 miles every day!

About me

I'm Steve, over the past few years I have completed many ultramarathons so it only seems natural to me that in choosing to raise funds for causes very close to my heart it is a crazy running adventure that I decide to take on.

I deeply understand the challenges faced by young people in care and those struggling with mental health.  Having spent time in the care system myself as a teenager, and then fostering children myself as an adult, I have experienced the difficulties and witnessed the impact that being care experienced results in from both sides.  Voices from Care Cymru's work resonates deeply with me, and their mission to give care experienced youngsters a voice is vital and needs our support.

As an adult, having never really dealt with the emotional impact of having spent time in the care system myself, I have battled constantly with anxiety and depression which in recent years came to a head leaving me in a very dark place, having panic attacks at the thought of going for a run and anxiety attacks when I did manage to get out.  It left me seriously contemplating options to end it all and seeking professional help to get through it.  It was at this stage that I discovered just how difficult it is to get help when you need it. 

Fortunately, I had people who supported me and was eventually able to get the support I needed to move past these dark thoughts and start moving in a more positive direction.  The goa

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I have been crazy busy the last few weeks which has severely limited training and updates but it is what it is. 

One update that does need to be shared however is that the nature of the attempt has changed.  I had hoped to have support along the route which meant I would be able to travel light, have logistics taken care of for me and just generally leave me to focus simply on keeping moving forward.  It became obvious however that I was not going to have enough support to make this approach viable and so a decision was made to change to self supported.  What this means is that basically I can no longer have anyone provide support that is specifically for me on the challenge, I can't have a crew, I can't accept free accommodation, I can't have supporters come out to cheer me along the route, bring me supplies or run a section with me.  I have to figure it all out myself, I can use shops and hotels etc as these would be available to any member of the public.

As a result, I will be carrying all the kit I need on a day to day basis and having to restock along the way.  In my pack I will have a tent, sleeping mat and bag, snacks and hydration, first aid supplies, the clothes that I take and any supplies I feel I will need.  What is consumable or I don't take I will need to source on the route.  This makes the challenge much more difficult, asides from the extra weight of the items, I will need to figure out all logistics myself during the challenge, where to sleep, how much water do I need, where to resupply, where can I charge my phone/tracker etc.

I have been getting my kit ready (yet to check it fits in my pack) and putting together some nutrition options and I do have some thank you's in this regard as I am permitted to accept support before I have started and some very generous companies have stepped in to provide me with some great options, a huge thanks to Paul at Sole Mate for facilitating this and for throwing in some extras as well.

A huge thanks to:

VOOM for an amazing selection of their energy drink powder, recovery shakes, electrolytes and energy bars.

RawVelo for a fantastic selection of bars and gels

Hammer Nutrition for Gels.

I will be stashing some of these along bits of the route that I can access in advance and also carrying some from the outset.  They are all very much appreciated as this is a self funded challenge with the donations from this fundraising page going straight to the causes, none is used towards the cost of the challenge so you know your donations will be well used.

Also a massive thank you to those who have already donated, these donations have already been passed on to the two causes (split 50/50 less small fee from fundraising site) and so are already supporting them in their important work.

I have been a bit slack the last few weeks updating this, had a few quite weeks due to other commitments which was a little disappointing, din't mind so much the first week as I was due a recovery week anyway so a 20 mile week was not the end of the world but to only fit in 30 miles the week after with very little elevation simply isn't going to get me very far.

I have put that behind me this week and had a 53 mile week with 4000ft of elevation and a few interval sessions, so from an effort point of view a far more productive week.  I have a plan for next week so all going well will be more miles, adding in some walking, more effort and more elevation.  Aiming for a very solid block of training to take me up to the start of the challenge.

A thank you to those who have donated so far, it is much appreciated to see a donations coming in and they will be put to good use by the amazing causes I am raising funds for.

Another week of training done and while not the week I had planned still a step in the right direction.  A few runs with company and a family cycle ride all adds up and I can feel myself getting a little stronger.  An awful lot more work to do but small steps will get you a long way.

I have my first donation so a huge thank you for that but a long way to go to hit the target so please, if you can donate and share the link for my fundraising page far and wide.  The more people aware of the challenge and the causes it aims to help the better.

It's been a reasonable week of running this week completing about 52 miles and just shy of 7000ft of elevation but to put things into perspective that's roughly one days worth of running during the challenge over the course of a week.

Feeling more positive having finally got a decent week of training in although I have managed to bruise my foot somehow, probably through trying to get a bit of extra life out of worn out trainers, I guess I'll have to buy some road ones soon.

The challenge now is to build on this over the next week.