I first came up with idea of this challenge while lying on a yoga mat in 2019. In that moment of zen calm the world was a very different place and I thought that all we’d need to do would be to get some running shoes, a bike, a toilet costume then pick and date and get on with it (slightly simplified). As we began to get ready in early 2020 the news from China about a new disease soon became the news from Italy and then the news from our doorstep and we were all being told to stay safe and stay home. It seemed hard to believe that running across the country was suddenly off limits.
We stayed hopeful and found ourselves in the fortunate position of isolating on a farm in the Vale of Evesham while so many others were confined to tiny spaces in big cities. The roads were quiet making them lovely places to cycle and the trails were put to good use for my daily dose of exercise. With the London Marathon cancelled my attempt at the world record for running a marathon dressed as a tap was also put on hold. Instead I decided to run a marathon in the shape of a tap around our farm. A fun event that became less fun by about the 30th of 46 laps. All good training for Bog LEJOG that we still hoped to be able to do later in the year.
But as the pandemic dragged on (and on) it became clear that 2020 was a write off so we rolled over our plans to Spring 2021. Surely it would be over by then? As we all know that was sadly not going to happen either so the date was moved again to 2022. And here we are: getting ready, getting fit, getting triple jabbed and keeping all fingers crossed that it will be third time lucky and we can finally begin our journey. We plan to set off at the beginning of April to be up at John O’Groats by mid May. Hopefully you’ll want to follow our adventure through this blog or even better out on the trail!
One of the many things the pandemic has shown us is that WaterAid’s work is needed now more than ever. How many times have we been told to wash our hands more regularly as an important step to prevent the spread of the virus? All well in good when you have several taps in your house but not so easy when water and sanitation are hard to find. Please support our challenge by donating whatever you can afford and hopefully more people will be able to have access to the basics that we take for granted: clean water and decent toilets: justgiving.com/fundraising/boglejog
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