DAVE KING is a keen runner who in 2007 embarked on a marathon running tour of the British Isles.
The challenge started in Milford, Derbyshire, at 11.55pm on New Year’s Eve, and finished there 12 months later on December 31st, 2007, during which time he competed in 80 races, a total of 672 running miles while travelling 22,448 miles around the British Isles.
Dave 44, is the former deputy editor of the Southern Daily Echo. He lives in Locks Heath and has three children and is currently editor of the Swindon Advertiser.
This is his blog tracing a gruelling year of running around the British Isles from as far north as Cape Wrath on the north-west coast of Scotland to Penzance. At the same time he was raising awareness for autism and the profile of the Hampshire Autistic Society.
Brampton to Carlisle 10-mile Race: The worst value race in Britain
AFTER 71 races I've had my fair share of race mementoes. Besides the usual mugs, t-shirts and medals, I've had a sack of potatoes, beer and a lovely towel thrown into a goody bag.
It's not cheap to enter the races either. The big races such as the Great South Run can cost £28, but ordinarily we're talking about up to a tenner to take part.
And for that, you expect a good race, sound organisation and a decent memento. Why should you have a memento at the end of the race? Well that's what is par for the course.
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On Saturday I raced in Cumbria for the Brampton to Carlisle Road Race. It is the oldest 10-mile race in the country and was in its 56th year. It's £8 to enter the race, £3 for the coach which takes you from a sports centre in Carlisle to the start, and another couple of quid for the car parking.
At the end of the race you get from the organisers....nothing! Oh, a plastic cup of water, and you could buy a t-shirt, but as for a post-race souvenir; nowt, zilch, absolutement zero!
The poorest value race I have run in this year? You bet. It wasn't a great race either.
On one side of the route was Hadrian's Wall which you never saw. On the other side was the River Eden which you crossed on the downhill run in to Carlisle.
But the majority of the route was spent traipsing along the laborious A69 with traffic lumbering past.
There was just one drink's stop and bizarrely that served warm water. That was a first and foul tasting it was too.
I surprised myself having dosed up heavily on painkillers to run 70 minutes for the race. That's the fastest I have run 10 miles for a year and was pleasing, bearing in mind I have had no speed training.
The following day I was in Manchester for a much more sedate race...and yes, there was a medal at the end of it. This was the Gill Pimblott Memorial 5km race at Tyldesley just outside of Manchester.
It's a small event which raises money for breast cancer and which attracted just over 100 runners. It was bitterly cold as we ran one small and one large loop on heathland where once coal mining was king until the local mine shut in the 1960s.
The atmosphere was friendly and I had a gentle trot round taking 23min 3sec to finish the 5km.
I'm still nursing a painful rib injury. I've cracked a couple of ribs and have been taking painkillers for it. But the end is in sight and I've now completed 71 of those 80 races.
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