Throughout the year our very own Michael Bridge aims to complete 202 10k runs, making for a total of 2020km in 2020. Michael has taken up this challenge in aid of Sarcoma UK and in memory of his Dad, Martin Bridge.
Michael has already completed 39 out of the 202 10K runs and so is well on track to hitting hit goal. As part of this he will also be taking part in Sarcoma UK’s 500k in a year challenge. Read more about Michael’s story and challenge down below. Don’t forget you can show your support by donating to Michael’s fundraiser here.
What do you do at S&G Response?
I work in IT Support helping people with all their IT issues.
How did you come up with the idea for 202 10k runs in a year?
Around 18 months ago I spoke with my uncle who wanted to start running again, I wasn’t really a runner, but I was starting to stop playing football. Initially we started to help him lose weight and I needed a replacement for playing football. As we got a bit of a routine and got used to running along the way we would set challenges such as 5k every day for a month and last year I did 250 5ks in the year.
After doing the 5ks I thought I would do 100 10ks in a 100 days. So, I thought this would be a challenge, but I thought why not double it! I liked the previous years challenge across the whole year and thought if I did double it I would have extra time to do more if needed. The main reason for doubling it was 2000K would do over 1000 miles for the year and it reminded me of a few songs that say about doing a thousand mile for a loved one. And then a colleague pointed out that if I do 202 10k runs it’s a total of 2020km which seemed appropraite given the year is 2020.
How are you getting on with the challenge and how difficult has it been so far?
Up to now I’ve done 39, some outside with my Uncle and the rest in the gym. They’ve been a mixture of runs and walks, but I’ll to do more runs than walks. I’ve done my faster runs on the treadmill, quickest being 38:40, however on the road with my uncle we aim for under an hour. So, an hour a day is a small sacrifice for such and amazing cause. We usually go after work in the week and in the mornings over the weekend.
I am a person who has a lot of drive and when I say I’ll do something I’m a person of my word unless something pops up that makes what I’m doing impossible (I get this from my dad). It’s not been too difficult up to now, as I try to look after myself, however I have a slight injury at the moment, which is adding a bit of a stumbling block but I will keep going!
With the changes made getting in to running, I would say there have only been more minor changes. My uncle and wife have been so supportive and without their assistance it would make it much harder.
Why did you choose Sarcoma UK as your charity?
My dad passed away due to this specific cancer coming up to 4 years ago and although Christies were very helpful, not much was known in regards to how to treat my dad specifically. I’d like to donate this money to raise awareness of this specific illness and help them work out a better and more effective treatment!
My dad’s name was Martin and he would help anyone with anything. He was good at absolutely anything he did, so if you needed anything he would be the first person you would go to. With how amazing he was, it was too easy to ask for his help, which meant maybe I didn’t grow up as quickly as I should have. This challenge is to show I can do something for him after all the things he’s done for me. My wife says I’m very much like my dad and I see this as such a complement. This challenge is a way of starting to re pay him, which I’ll never be able to do. It’s a small start but I’ll try and make him proud of me.
