I enjoy keeping fit, and I am a member of
British Military Fitness (BMF). BMF is an
outdoor fitness class run by serving or
former members of the armed services.
It is a bit like circuit training much better,
outdoors, with mud, and plenty of
laughter.
Earlier this year before one of the BMF
classes I was congratulating instructor
Dave Cumins (or “Little Dave” as he is
known) for completing a 100-mile ultra
marathon. Little Dave is an ex Royal
Marine so he’s double hard and ripped
(although I reckon I could take him in an
arm wrestle). I asked Little Dave what
his next challenge was and he told me
it was a 51 mile walk over the South
Downs called the “Sussex Stride.” With
my tongue firmly wedged in my cheek I
proceeded to verbally abuse Little Dave
for lowering his standards to a mere 51
mile “walk” before merrily going on my
way.
Within a week Little Dave had very kindly
posted a message on my Facebook
wall telling all and sundry that as it was
such an easy “walk” he would happily
pay my entrance fee just to see me cry
with pain at the finish line -if I made it
that far. Now, I may not be the biggest
roughest toughest guy in the world (well,
I may tell my girlfriend I am!), but I don’t
like to be called a chicken and I don’t
like to shirk any challenges. So, before
I thought it through I accepted Little
Dave’s challenge and this is where the
journey begins.
I signed up for the walk, which was
organized by the Long Distance Walkers
Association (LDWA) and managed to
bag the penultimate entry. One of my
friends, Victor, who is equally as bonkers
decided to sign up too and keep me
company.
As we had taken on this challenge at
such short notice, we had no time to
properly train for this, so the longest walk
we managed to fit in was about 14 miles.
Quite a long way short of the target
distance! We only managed two training
walks together….
The walk itself was almost entirely off
road, and we were given details of the
route in advance. Not a typical race
oute where everything is marked out
with cones and marshalls. All we had
were a set of written instructions: “Take
a bearing of 180 through the field and
turn right at the fence post…” and other
28