JDRF – Page 2 – Circles of Blue

JDRF Walk to Cure – Meetups, tweetups & eat-ups

By Kev | October 20, 2013 - 5:39 pm |October 20, 2013 event

Warming up before the walk

A tale of two cities

Each year JDRF organise Walk to Cure sponsored walks around the globe, with this year’s falling on 13th October for both the South and South-west & Wales regions. Right from day one I was torn as friends of mine (Becky, Helen, Sarah) were going to the event in Netley near Southampton – merely a 10 minute drive from me – and others (Annie, Mark, Chris and more) were going to the one in Bristol – a shade under 2 hours away.
With apologies given to my local friends we signed up for the Bristol Walk to Cure.

“Luke, use the force”

As we neared the university campus where the walk was starting from we saw a couple of Star Wars Stormtroopers. It seemed a bit bizarre but maybe that’s what people do in Bristol each Sunday morning…oh no, hold on, this where we’re meant to be.
*brakes screech to halt*

One hug too far

Walking up to registration and Annie spotted us, greeting us with the customary hug that we’ve become used to when meeting Twitter friends with whom I speak to more regularly than family or local friends. I looked around for Izzy, who I’d been wanting to meet for ages; there she was waiting with another hug for me.
Annie pointed me towards Rufus – JDRF’s 6 foot tall bear – who was walking towards me. “Don’t forget to kick him in the shins” she said as inside the costume was her husband.
The handshake wasn’t working between man and bear so with outstretched arms Rufus demanded a hug. It worried me how pleasingly cuddly Rufus felt but worse how long he held me for, a little too long in my opinion. 🙂

Expected and unexpected meet-ups

Recovering from my bear hug I walked into registration and was recognised by Chris who’s young son Alfie had been part of Gav’s GBR30/30 that Amy and I had been involved with earlier this year.
After, we met Mark – whom we’d met many times – and Danielle who’s on Twitter too.
Before the walkers went through a warm up routine a speech was made by Colin Rowland, whom I last saw at the JDRF Discovery Day in April. Colin and I had spoken a fair bit since April and it was great to see him; I had no idea he’d be there.

Walking to Cure

These walks are short, being aimed clearly at the youngest kids, and we opted for the longer 5km walk.
At this point the rain started. Typical!
Amy was walking in front with Annie’s kids, whilst Jane and I walked round with Colin and his wife, having a great chat about diabetes, Amy, pumps, CGM, the future, running and cycling.
At the half way point we left Colin and waited for Annie/Mark/Izzy/Danielle who never appeared. I suspected they’d employed the old school cross-country cheat tactics of waiting behind a tree somewhere until everyone returned.

Post exercise carbs & protein

As any athlete knows you need to make sure you take care of your body replenishing lost carbs and taking on protein. With this in mind I polished off a huge slice of Annie’s superb chocolate cake and we planned a trip to Nando’s… that’s an okay post-exercise recovery plan right?
Nando’s was great, with 10 of us there, adults at one end, kids at the other and me getting to sit next to the wonderful Izzy and hear all of her future plans.

Today had been brilliant.

Rufus’s finest moment

Just before the walk the walkers were put through a warm-up routine, so I’ll leave you with a video of Rufus’s finest moment:

httpv://youtu.be/zrMbDl3nhis

Gav’s GBR30/30 Challenge – the final day

By Kev | June 19, 2013 - 9:46 pm |July 1, 2013 event

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Gav’s GBR30/30 Challenge poster

This article is about my involvement with Gav’s challenge, where I cycled next to him during the last four days of his challenge, whilst he ran 30 miles or more each day for JDRF and DiabetesUK.
If you’re expecting to find out about how Gav got on with his diabetes or running you’re going to be disappointed, you’ll have to wait and buy the book or attend one of his talks. Sorry but his tale is his to tell, not mine.

Donation, donation, donation

If you’d like to donate to Gav’s GBR30/30 Challenge fundraising pot please click this: http://bit.ly/gbr3030donate

Sunday, 26th May 2013 – St Agnes to Land’s End

Today’s route was going to be a tough one, at least 35 miles and having a 500ft hill towards the end.
Early on whilst planning this route I tried to convince Gav to start from somewhere further south, maybe Portreath or the Hell’s Mouth Cafe, so as to shorten the distance and make it easier on himself. Gav was having none of my advice and replied to one email with “If I’ve made it that far on the GBR30/30 then nothing will stop me, I will conquer any hills and any distance”…or something like that.
I felt for Matthew (Wood), Gav’s friend who ran with him on day one of the challenge starting at John O’ Groats; I don’t think he knew anything about this; I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about this. I knew Matthew had completed marathons but 35 milers, up big hills. I decided my best policy was to keep quiet about the route as Matthew followed me on Twitter.
Personally, I was never going to start from St Agnes as I was camping down near Leedstown, near Hayle, so I’d always planned to start from me, which meant I’d accompany Gav and Matthew for the last 20 miles.

Gav’s (planned) route, my route and elevation

Gav’s planned route was as follows – I say planned route as Gav decided that he hadn’t seen enough of Great Britain on his travels and decided to take a wrong turn, turning this planned 35 mile day into 40 miles!. I joined them at Hayle, roughly where the green triangle is shown:

Feeling guilty, getting nervous

Waking up to a glorious sunny day at the campsite my family and I chilled out around the pool, before I headed of to meet Gav and Mat shortly after lunch. In a way I felt a little guilty about this but in honestly laying by the pool felt great. After doing over 80 miles on my bike so far I, or more to the point my bottom, was glad of the break.
I was starting to feel nervous, a strange feeling that I’d not had on any of the previous days. I knew why: I’m no cyclist or athlete and I really didn’t want to muck up Gav’s big day by being too slow etc.. It was stupid really, I knew it was but I couldn’t do anything about it.

The “Where’s Gav?” Game

Jane drove me and my bike to the meeting point as we’d had no word from Gav. This was no surprise once we found out he was lost. Jane drove me up country lane after country lane trying to find the missing runners but we never did find them, so we went back to the meet point and eventually Gav and Matthew turned up, looking pretty fresh considering they’d already run about 20 miles.

Off we, erm I, go

Setting off from Hayle I felt supremely confident about the route: I didn’t really need a map; I consider this part of Cornwall as like a second home having spent so much time around these parts.
Along the Hayle estuary, onto the A30, off to Penzance, up the hill past Drift and then Land’s End. It couldn’t have been simpler I thought, forgetting that these guys who had already run 20 miles still had 20 to go. I was on a bike and much of it was downhill, so on came the (slight) guilt again.
Whilst much of it was on the A30 the route was generally beautiful, with Kites and Buzzards flying around us, sea alternating from this side to that and back again.

A chance meeting – this is what GBR30/30 is all about

On the A30 we stopped in a lay by for Gav to test his blood glucose. A random Land Rover pulled up and out go two people and walked over to us. It seemed a little strange at first.
“Hi” they said and told us that they’d followed the GBR30/30 information on Facebook and just wanted to come and meet Gav and say hello. They lived in Truro where the female was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes within the last year, aged 29. She was inspired by Gav and his challenge and just wanted to say “hi”. This to me epitomises GBR30/30: to bring awareness to people diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes so that they can see that the can achieve great things, they may need to work around/with diabetes but it need not stop them. It was fitting that this encounter happened on the last day of the GBR30/30.

Water, water, give me water, says Gav

The route I’d planned would see Gav running into Penzance around the beautiful bay, in front of the mighty St Michael’s Mount. Things changed though when Gav saw the sea and he decided to go in for a little paddle, to help soothe his legs.

Gav stands proudly in front of St Michael’s Mount, with 12 miles to go until Land’s End:

So much support

At Penzance we met with everyone else before the final push. Well, I say push as it was nothing, it was still TEN MILES. That’s a distance I couldn’t run in a week, let alone one day where 30 miles had already been run. Knowing how slow I am at going up hills and not wanting to slow Gav/Matthew down I put my bike on the car and got taken to the next meet point and cycled on from there. In my mind the hill was too steep for me but as I drove up it I was truly gutted I didn’t attempt it.

Growing Oceans

Gav powered on towards Land’s End whilst I stayed at the back cycling behind Matthew, who had already run one of his furthest distances ever but still had 5 miles to go. I tried offering some encouragement but stayed away from the “just one more hill” comment as I could never be sure. Gav was on a mission, there was no way we were going to catch him up and I knew at this point that I wouldn’t get to see Gav finish at Land’s End, yet it didn’t matter as Matthew seemed to need my support more than Gav did at the moment.
The oceans grew bigger and bigger as the horizon opened up in front of us. We could see clouds on the horizon, or was it, no, actually, that’s the Isles of Scilly. Wow!

The last push

Safe in the assumption that Gav had already finished, Matthew strode on, passing the first/last pub in England, going through Sennen and finally on the straight towards the Land’s End Visitor Centre.
Gav’s Dad Vince was waiting with the Olympic Torch for Matt to pick up and run with.
Matt strode on, we could hear cheers getting louder and louder pulling Matthew towards the finish line.

Fantastic end

Everyone celebrated together, one big team, those that had done it, those that had supported it, all happy together. Gav looked knackered but elated, drenched in champagne. Now it was time for the photos at the signpost and this seemed to go on forever.
Other kids just there for the day saw the Olympic Torch and had their pictures taken with it; anyone we told about what Gav had just completed was amazed, many saying “ran, did you say ran?” to me; the photo taking went on and on.

Gav’s last day run video

A short video of Gav’s run, with some of the photos at the end

Matthew’s last day run video

Much more footage of Matthew, because I stayed with him for support

And finally…

Gav’s GBR30/30 Challenge – Day 29 to Gav, day 1 to Amy, day 3 to me

By Kev | June 16, 2013 - 8:57 pm |February 11, 2019 event

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Gav’s GBR30/30 Challenge poster

Saturday, 25th May 2013 – Bodmin to St Agnes

Today was my 12 year old daughter Amy’s big day: she’d cycle her longest distance ever (27 miles); meet an inspirational athlete who, like her, has type 1 diabetes; raise lots of money for charity; run with Gavin into St Agnes carrying his Olympic Torch. My wife Jane would also be cycling with us today.

The planned route and elevation

Late the night before I changed the plan slightly so we’d join Gavin about 3 miles in, halfway up a 500ft hill. Why? Well to be honest I’d had enough of hills by this point and I didn’t want Amy’s big day to start with a 500ft hill climb, knackering her out with still 27 miles cycling and a run to the end with the Olympic Torch.

Setting off from Bodmin Jail, or Gaol to ye olde rascals

Gav was going to depart from Bodmin Jail and although we weren’t going to cycle from there we went to see him off on his run, to then join him 3 miles later. When we got there everyone was downstairs in the old jail checking out the cells, we ventured down there too but I knew Amy wouldn’t last long, she hates things like that.
Afterwards it was photo time and Gav had a little issue to sort out before we could start his run:

Our journey begins

Meeting Gav three miles in we parked the car in a country layby and left it there, hoping it would still be there 10 hours later. We were halfway up the hill we were trying to avoid but actually it didn’t seem to bad, probably because yesterday’s gales weren’t there any more, leaving a lovely sunny day for us to enjoy.
After a couple of miles Gav’s sister Kaylie joined him running and Amy warmed to her straight away, cycling next to her for the next few miles.
We passed by a road sign for a town which made me smile, especially whilst on a diabetes-related trip.

Lovely countryside, quite roads

For the next few miles we cycled on cycleways, the Goss Moor trail (where people on horseback rode past) and very quiet roads. The sun was shining down and I only was pleased not to need the fleece+jacket I’d worn on the previous two days.
Amy and Jane were enjoying themselves too.
httpv://youtu.be/Q5-pgPmXt1s

A great support team

Throughout the day Gavin’s family met us at different points, giving Gav a cheer as he neared them, motivating through the next stretch.
httpv://youtu.be/LtrLYHkEZaM

Gav in “Countryside Meltdown Shocker”

On the way to the final checkpoint, Gav laughingly had a bit of a breakdown, longing for tarmac and concrete. Watch it happen:
httpv://youtu.be/3fl3tJjzNcc

A cock-up of a finale

With 6 miles or so to go we stopped at the New Inn at Goonhavern for a quick drink, meeting up with Matthew Wood and his wife Clare – Matthew ran the first day with Gav and was going to run the last too. Gav’s Dad Vince bought me a refreshing pint of shandy and as he passed it to me Gav said “right, I’m off to finish this thing”.
“Erm, ok, Gav, I’d better drink this first.”
Matthew was staying in St Agnes and told have which way to run, but it differed to the plan I’d done previously, but I hatched a plan where he’d go one way and we’d go the other and get in front of him, to be in St Agnes ready for his arrival. Amy would then collect the torch and run with Gav to the end point, the St Agnes Hotel.
If only it had worked out like that!
Leaving twenty minutes later than Gav we sped down the first hill – at 35mph for me: “woohoo…yeah…damn, that hill goes up…and up…oh kak”.
The series of hills kept coming and coming, downhill then uphill and downhill again.
After cycling over 23 miles already the last 4 were killers to our tired legs.
This was broken by calls from Emilia, then Gav, then Vince (Gav’s Dad) then Emilia again; all asking us where we were and when we’d arrive. I had no clue.
Finally, St Agnes neared and Gav met us, gave the Olympic Torch to Amy and ran up the hill with her bike, whilst Jane and I followed, slowly.
Amy was elated, but sadly for Jane and myself we’d missed seeing her finish with the torch.