The Great World Race - 7 Marathons 7 Days 7 Continents

 Total Running Time 28:32:38

Average 04:04:40

Total Elapsed Time 6 days 4 hours 53 minutes

I first flirted with the idea of The Great World Race in January and made some basic enquiries. My plans for 2024 were centred around doing the whole of the T100 triathlon series with a view to winning my age group as I would be aging up to 60 – 64 category. I had a habit of picking up running injury niggles, so I had put the idea of doing GWR to one side as a realistic option for 2024.

In March we were in Tignes and the training was going well, no injuries and fitness was starting to build nicely for the first race in April in Singapore. On the 23^rd March my world changed. Without any warning, during the night, I suffered a catastrophic brain haemorrhage, rendering me incapable of speaking and unable to even sit up. It was by my cerebellum which controls speech and balance, and I found myself quickly in intensive care undergoing multiple scans to identify the root cause and monitor the progress of the swelling. It was close to the brain stem and if the swelling continued then matters would become even more serious. Fortunately, by day 3 the swelling had stopped, and the immediate danger was averted.  Nevertheless, my speech was still difficult and may ability to just simply stand up was absent. After a week in the neural unit in France I was stable enough to be moved to the hospital in London, just. I had a battery of the top level of scans to search for the root cause of the bleed, but they call came back negative. 

Frustrating in a way as there was nothing in my lifestyle or family history to point to the potential for this and no event when it happened that might have triggered it. I was discharged and travelled home to continue the recovery. My speech was by and large back although I had to speak slowly to avoid becoming tongue tied however, my balance was dreadful and fatigue extremely high. I have learnt that severe fatigue is a very common feature of brain injuries as the brain works exponentially harder to keep you up right and also repair. Walking was difficult and exhausting, I spent most of my day lying down, often asleep. 

Throughout this whole episode my mental capacity remained 100% which actually made it much tougher to come to terms with where I found myself. I had gone from a high level of fitness to someone who struggled to walk across the room and found stairs a huge challenge.  Anyway, this isn’t meant to be an account of my brain injury but simply the background to answer the question “Why did you do 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents?”

In May I celebrated my 60^th birthday but with a very small c, I felt more like I was 80 and the outlook for my long-term health was very uncertain.

By this time, I was able to walk a couple of hundred metres without the use of a stick, but my fatigue was still very high. I had to eke out the energy I had such as it was and choose how to spend those reserves during my day and when to opt out and rest. My walking was still very wobbly, but I discovered that I was actually more stable whilst jogging as my body’s momentum in a forward direction was much better. I had my final scan at the end of May and my consultant gave me the green light to get back to a normal life albeit managing my fatigue.

Out of the blue to race organiser got hold of me and said spots were selling out and asked if I was still interested in joining the race. By this time, I had tried riding a bike, but my balance was so poor it was a non-starter so running was about all I could contemplate exercise wise. I told the organiser of my medical situation and asked them to pencil me in and to get back in touch when they needed a commitment. I had 6 months to build from wobbling 1km around the garden to 294km around the world. This would not be the text book brain injury rehab plan as the jogging generated extra fatigue but for my mental well-being it felt like what I wanted/needed to do. I didn’t tell anyone of my plan as a public declaration would make dropping out that much harder and at this stage, I put my chances of taking part at less than 30%

I started to run every day, sometimes 6km, sometimes up to 12km but all very slowly at a very low heart rate. I targeting increasing my total kms every week, if only by a few km but nevertheless, more than the previous week and making my longest run a little longer. Running at 06:30 minutes per km meant I was controlling the induced fatigue and hopefully building a body that could cope with running and avoid injury. If I was to hit my goal, I couldn’t afford any time off my feet nursing an injury. In my mind I had planned to build my volume to a level that simulated the race fatigue but early enough that I could judge if I would be able to cope with the event or pull out.

Fast forward months of training and wrestling with managing my fatigue and I was on the plane to Cape Town with a suitcase of 7 running kits labelled by continent, four pairs of running shoes and enough race event nutrition to get me to the end. I made an effort to avoid calling it a race and refer to it as an event as the only way I was going to complete the challenge was by metering out my effort and controlling fatigue at every opportunity.

 

It felt good to be in Cape Town running along the sea front on a very familiar route.  We arrived a few days before the event so I could get myself in a rested state to tackle the event with my reserves at maximum levels. The race briefing was on Wednesday, and we were due to fly to Antarctica on Friday to start the first marathon. I had Thursday planned in as total rest day and give myself a last chance to faff and double check everything. Anyway, at the briefing they announced they had pulled everything forward a day as the weather was closing in Antarctica and the window would be closed by Friday.  Whilst inconvenient for me I couldn’t imagine the logistical nightmare the organisers now faced.