I can’t believe this is actually happening! We’re getting ever closer to to the big day when these two kind souls run a marathon for Children’s charity e.a.c.h. AND it’s up a massive mountain. UPP have been watching on from the side lines and cheering these great fellas on. Fortunately they have some months of training left which is good as I overtook Kieren in the local Asda frozen meat aisle and he couldn’t keep up. In his defence, he wasn’t out for a run and no one is catching me on reduced steak day!
James Jenkins

Colin and Kieren’s Story

Kieren went straight into the new year with plenty of gym sessions and an interval half marathon, while it was a very slow start for me. Got to love the cold and flu season!

I managed a couple of parkruns, including on the 10th, running with my brother on his 40th birthday while he completed his 100th parkrun. The following day Kieren and I were joined by Doug, Danielle, Emily and Katie on a 14½km run. Despite it being a very early run on a Sunday morning, everyone was in great spirits and it made for a very enjoyable run.

Thursday 15th saw us join the Harmonious Society for a very wet interval track night in Colchester. This week’s runs had us both fully prepared for our Finsbury Park Half Marathon on Sunday 18th, with Kieren still determined to reach the sub 1hr 30 minutes. I was just happy to complete the distance and the hills – approximately 275meters of elevation gain.

Initially I was a little disappointed as the atmosphere was polar opposite to the Ipswich Half Marathon, zero crowds and only about 200 participants. The thought of doing 8 or 9 identical laps was enough to put anyone off.

We had travelled down with Josh, Joe and James, and lucky enough for me Josh is of a very similar ability so we decided to run together. This kept me motivated and with Josh keeping an eye on the pace, we secured a new personal best for me.

Kieren confidently lined up at the start and paced himself nicely to 1 hour 30 minutes and 26 seconds, also a personal best. He finished in 11th place overall and 3rd in his age category.

We continued the month with a selection of 5 and 10km runs, making sure to get enough hills and trails in as possible.

To top the month off Kieren joined a few others for a 50km ultra run from Colchester to Felixstowe, finishing in 5 hours 15 minutes…but that included a stop at MacDonalds at 32km!

We know things are pretty tight. Even if you are reading this then we already appreciate your support. But if you can spare a few pennies to support this great cause, it would be greatly received. If not, how about sharing this story with someone else?

Thank you! From all of the Pigs x

https://www.justgiving.com/page/colin-woodgate-1?utm_medium=FRu0026amp;utm_source=CL