Our half marathon. Our challenge. Our way

On Sunday 3rd October when people were running marathons or virtual marathons. My eldest son and I undertook the equivalent of half a marathon - 13 miles. This was our challenge. The Maidenhead Boundary Walk, organised by Maidenhead Rotary Club which enabled us to raise funding for Parenting Special Children - a charity I have the huge privilege of being a trustee for, who support children and families across the Thames Valley where they need extra support - whether it is trauma & attachment, Autism and ADHD support etc.

Our Challenge is our Challenge

For some people this may not be a massive distance and compared to the 50km walk I did two years ago, it isn't. But this time the challenge wasn't for me but my son. He observed the furthest he had walked was 10 miles before. Apparently that was under duress and it took 8 hours due to frequent stopping for snacks, lunch, snacks, toilet breaks and snacks. So our challenge was to do this in 5 hours and 13 miles and for both of us to do it without moaning. This was our challenge (the physical and the not moaning) and less snack breaks and one lunch break.

If you say you are going to do it - do it

If you don't know the Maidenhead Boundary Walk its an interesting walk by the river, through National Trust commons and past a couple of pubs. However, being a circular walk, there are options for short-cuts. Weather dependent this could mean avoiding stretches of the common by the river or chopping off large corners of the walk. For my son, who short-cuts consist of avoidance tactics, I was expecting him to chose the path of least resistance. However, on the choice between 3 paths in the last mile - he had the choice of three different lengths only one was true to the original boundary walk. He had the choice. His response was "I signed up to do the boundary walk, not half the walk. I am going to do the full and proper walk". Grit comes in many guises.

Retracing your steps is not losing time

Blame the squirrels on this one. Watching the squirrels in the tree line we missed the turning we should have taken and ended up walking another half a mile through a bog. We realised this mistake when we ankle deep in mud, the path had overgrown with brambles and a small check on sat nav we realised our mistake. Going back the way we came was a further 1/2 mile resulting in us doing a 14 mile walk at the end not a 13 mile walk. But we saw squirrels and pheasants so the wildlife alone was worth the detour. Tracking back made us more clued up to the route and whilst we lost some time, the ability to stop and look at nature made it worth while.

Fear can improve your outcome

We had been lucky with the weather for most of the walk until the last quarter of a mile. Walking under the canopies of the large redwood trees, the wind picked up significantly and the rain came hurtling down. There was a loud crack above our heads and a large tree branch came down. Followed by another crack and more branches. Being half way through we had no choice but to press onwards, pausing for any further cracks as we made our way through. Odd that that part of the walk gave us the quickest split time by over 3 mins as I think we fled. As we emerged from the trees the sun popped back out again and the most beautiful rainbow went across the River Thames - it was all strangely still and hauntingly quite simply a chance to take a breath and reflect as we had the last bit to go.

If you don't have a finish line, make your own

My son was disappointed on the return that all that was there was a check in tent. He had in his head imagined a finishing line, with people cheering him on. As we walked into the car park, there was a barrier, he ran the last part of that as if he was a fresh as when he arrived. 50m at full pelt. He raised his hand in the air and the marshals around him clapped him in. He felt that he had run the London marathon, was jubilant in his celebration and the smile over his face, despite his sore legs was wonderful.

Family time is precious

Spending such a huge amount of time with my son, was one of the most precious things, I took away from this. All to often the week is crammed with school runs, homework and work and the weekends running the kids to rugby, cricket, swimming etc. Taking some time to spend some one-to-one time together, talking, laughing, chasing squirrels, squelching in mud, facing moments of fear and celebrating the successes was without doubt one of those moments for the memory bank.

Our donations page will be open a little longer, but any donations would be appreciated as we can go onto support more families facing their own challenges, every day. Toby and Sarah - the big 21k Walk | Localgiving. We will have raised ￡1200 with matching from Microsoft - a huge thank you to our supporters!