From one end to the other

[sTrongFuse]

The accepted distance, by road, from John O' Groats to Lands End is 874 miles (1,407km). The straight line distance between the two is actually a 'mere' 603 miles but, since quite a lot of this route is through the Irish sea, which is not exactly conducive to running (and I'm a famously poor swimmer), I decided to stick with the road network for my virtual mission.

If you take Monday 11th March 2019 (when I commenced my Couch to 5k journey) as being the date I set out on my end-to-end odyssey, today I completed the final 10 miles that saw me traverse the full length of the British mainland from one end to the other.

Given the current lockdown restrictions in Scotland meaning I'm supposed to stay within 5km of my home, it's probably just as well that this has been a virtual challenge or I'd probably be in all sorts of trouble (although I could try and claim I was testing my new (at the start) running shoes to see if they fitted me properly as my justification for being so far from home I guess). Another advantage of it being virtual is I get to sleep in my own bed which, again, is handy as it would have been annoying to get there and not have anywhere to stay. Finally, it also means I can take as long as I like on the "return leg" which, I am hoping, will take significantly less time than the outward one.

The drawback is that there aren't any pubs open that I can treat myself to a celebratory pint, but we can't have everything I guess.

Stay safe...

[Buddy34 Graduate10]

Congratulations StrongFuse that's an amazing amount of km/miles. Loved that part about your excuse of trying out your trainers🤣

Just need to have a 🍻at home 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

[Grannyhugs Graduate10]

Brilliant effort, did have to check your profile to see it was march 2019 not 2020 you started, that would have been even more incredible. My challenge is to run a virtual NC500 this year - well on target to finish in the next few months. Clocked over 800k this morning since I bought my c25k graduation garmin in October. I hope you have counted up all the pub visits you e missed during the last 3 months of your journey and that in the meantime you gave a celebration tipple this evening. Slainte 🍻 happy running 🤗

[sTrongFuse Graduate10 in reply to Grannyhugs]

I've edited it to make that a wee bit more obvious; I'm definitely not superhuman.

500 miles should be doable in a year I think, especially since the virtual version will be a lot less hilly than the real thing would be.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

Congratulations on running the length of the UK with today's run, I thought it was 11th March this year but realised it was Monday 11th March 2019, nevertheless it had been an amazing running journey for you, well done.

[sTrongFuse Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

I think I'd have needed rockets in my shoes to have done it on three months. It'll be interesting given that I didn't have the first two and a bit months of last year, and that by the end of C25K two months later, I'd only run about 50km, it'll be interesting to see how far I can cover in a complete calender year.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to sTrongFuse]

I think I have only ran about 300Km since I began C25K, although not all of my earlier runs I have recorded, a run in the park compared to what you have ran.

[Mum22boys Graduate10]

That's an impressive number of miles! It will be fascinating to see how much quicker you can do the return journey...

[UnfitNoMore Graduate10]

Great job... congratulations on hitting that goal. Damn shame about the pubs... but when they are open there must be quite a lot of them on your virtual way back!!

[cheekychipmunks Graduate10]

That’s an amazing achievement. Well done! 👏👏 I wonder if anyone on here has ever done the real thing? Won’t be me, that’s for sure! 🏃‍♀️

[linda9389 Graduate10]

Live this post 😍

Congratulations- you aimed far.

Enjoy the return trip, hopefully there'll be a pub open at the end of that leg 😊

[Raspberrypink Graduate10]

This is a great post. Well done on your achievement 👍🏼