Aug/Sept/Oct Update

It's been 3 months since my last quarterly update and I've chalked up another 2 marathons and a half marathon along with another £1400 to help Invest In ME with their biomedical research projects.

Sturminster Newton Half

Way back in August I completed a half marathon in North Dorset.  It was a warm day on a mostly flat course which was good Summer training for Tallinn Marathon.

Hot half out in Dorset

I got round in a decent time and although there weren't any medals or t-shirt, it was good to get a little press and more race experience.

Blackmore Vale Press

I worked with my friend Helen Buckland-Luck from Yeovil on an interview piece for a local paper who published a half-page article on M.E and my challenge.

Back in print

The paper gets a wide readership across Somerset and Dorset and they were very happy to support our cause.

JustGiving Twitter

A bit out of the blue, I was tagged into this twitter message which went out to their 122,000 followers!

11 in a month?  Behave!

Thanks to whoever engineered this!

Tallinn Marathon Instagram

I couldn't quite get a spot on their website or Facebook as they had contractual obligations with other charities but Tallinn Marathon were very good and popped the below onto their Instagram.

That flag again

This went out to their 2160 followers and had 70 likes.

Kelly Holmes Twitter

For the second time on the challenge I got a comment from Dame Kelly Holmes!

Kelly's a true inspiration.

Klara Wilson

Ahead of the trip to Tallinn I had some sad news that Klara Wilson had passed away after a short battle with cancer.  Klara had M.E for a long time, she was a great supporter of my challenge and helped me raise awareness for patients in her native Czech Republic when I ran there in 2015.

Klara's sister Marketa, mother, husband and family in Prague.

Prague was my first race of the challenge and I'll always remember meeting Klara's family the day before the race where hearing about her struggle and the situation there really re-inforced my decision to try to help.

Tallinn Marathon

After a really good Summer training plan and smashing through new 5K, 10K, Half marathon, 20m and 22m PB's I arrived in Estonia looking to beat last year's PB in Vilnius (3.55)

Great medal, great race and loved the Estonia football shirt too!

The weather was warm but cloudy and I enjoyed the variety on the course.  I couldn't quite get to PB on this one having gone off too quick again and hitting a big wall at 18 miles.  Nevertheless it was a really good trip and a fabulous little city.  You can read about it further here.

Baby

So pretty big news!  In October I announced that Cat and I will be expecting a baby daughter at the end of the month.

I'll aim (money permitting) to bring her with us on the remaining marathon trips.  Hopefully I'll still be able to get out and get the training runs done though I expect it's going to be a big challenge finding the energy on limited sleep but hopefully will work out. 

The major change to the marathons is the additional cost of checking bags and our extra passenger which will push the trips up another £200 each marathon. We'll need to be getting her a passport ASAP as I have flights to book for Latvia and the other 3 after that before the seats get too expensive.  I'll also potentially need to stay abroad for a day longer on each trip so there's costs and considerations there too.  Out of 9 remaining I'm sure there'll be at least one where the baby will be too ill to fly so we're going to have to roll with the punches a fair bit.

Anyway, will do my best to keep to the schedule and get the challenge done!  Fair to say there'll be some pics to show in my next update!

Karina Hansen

I've been following Karina's story since 2014 when I got involved with fundraising for M.E research.  Some background below:

Karina Hansen is a young woman living in Denmark who was was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) as a teenager in 2008. She was cared for by her parents in their home using treatment that she chose. After attempting graded exercise and becoming worse, Karina and her parents chose to follow the advice of an ME expert. However, a psychiatrist that had become involved in her case chose to disagree with Karina’s own decision.

At the age of 24, Karina was forcibly removed from her home in Feb. 2013 by a team of police officers, social workers, and medical professionals. She was taken to Hammel Neurocenter and placed under the treatment of Nils Balle Christensen and Per Fink as a de facto psychiatric patient. Her family were not permitted to visit her. After three-and-a-half years of forced institutionalized, Karina finally came home in October of 2016 much worse than when she was taken from her home. 

In early October news came out that she was no longer under state guardianship.  Whilst this is undoubtedly good news, it's a scary thought that there could be many others across Denmark and other parts of Europe who could face the same fate that we're not aware of.

Sofia

Mid October and I managed to run my fastest marathon of the year out in Bulgaria!  On their 4 lap city centre course, I got round without any real problems thanks to Mike Ward for being an able substitute for Cat who was too pregnant to fly out this time.

Another one done!  Not sure what the lady to my right is doing; the race is over!

For full race report and pics you can click here!

Cochrane Review

It was great to see last week that Cochrane (a leading scientific journal) has decided to temporarily remove the PACE trial recommendations for CBT and GET treatment of ME patients.  Unfortunately a heavily biased and poorly researched article from Reuters delivered the news and gives unfounded opinion that scientists have been subject to harassment over the trial rather than them actually read the criticism outlined on the disastrous trial.

But this is a victory for the scientists, academics and patients who have worked hard to show how flawed the trial has been and how dangerous it's legacy of recommended treatments continue to be.

You can read more here.

2019 Plans

Now I've finished my running season for 2019, I'll be taking a couple of weeks off and then getting back to it ready for Cyprus in March.

Eek

Beyond that I've chosen to try to complete 6 races next year.  I want to take advantage of infants (0-2 for most airlines) flying for a discounted rate and Cat's maternity leave.  Also with 3 races at either end of the year, with at least a fortnight break between races it should be possible.

I wanted to try for Berlin but unfortunately it appears to be the same day as Budapest, which I need to do as if it reverts to the 2nd week of October in 2020 then I could have find myself having to be there and in Zagreb on the same day! 

Hopefully Brexit won't hurt my challenge too hard and the planes will be allowed to land!

Thanks for your support and for reading.

Mike


If you'd like to sponsor me you can do so below!

www.justgiving.com/mikeseumarathons or text 'IIME82' and £1, £3, £5 to 70070

Total Sponsorship Raised: £14430
Social Media Followers: 2209
Miles Covered: 223
Average Temp: 22C
Lessons Learned: Run more! Plenty of PB's just not the marathon one sadly.

May/Jun/July Update

Another hot one

Summertime!  I've had a busy 3 months, conquering another country (#17 Denmark) and another Half Marathon (Yeovil, Somerset) so here's a quick review....

ME in Denmark

Ahead of the trip to Denmark I interviewed Rebecca Hansen from the Danish ME Association and also patient Kamilla Thomsen who told me more about M.E. there.

Interviews in English and Danish here (thanks to Helle Rasmussen for organising translations).

Bristol Cable

Lorna Stephenson interviewing me in my local pub

In May I met Lorna from the Bristol Cable paper who was keen to feature my challenge and help further raise awareness for ME.  Lorna has written about M.E before and the PACE trial farce and it's great to have such strong local support.  The full piece she wrote isn't online yet but you can read it below...

AOK 

Thanks to Helle for securing some great press coverage on the AOK website ahead of the Copenhagen race.

http://www.aok.dk/byliv/millionsmissing-moed-marathon-mike

MillionsMissing video

I was keen to support the Danish ME Association and the Copenhagen demo on May 12th to raise awareness for people with M.E.

I recorded a message of support to the people of Denmark urging them to do whatever they can to help push for biomedical research and a change in perception.

Video message here

MM Copenhagen

We flew out on May 12th to Copenhagen and were really pleased to be able to be a part of the protest by the Black Diamond.

Honoured to be part of the demo and meet so many nice people.

I had some really nice messages of support for the race and it was great to take a boat trip and visit the Little Mermaid.

Copenhagen Marathon - Denmark race report

Last few moments of a tough but beautiful race

Copenhagen Marathon was warm with a light breeze, I enjoyed the course, in particular running with fellow EU marathon collector Tim Teege.  I struggled a bit after the halfway point, mainly as it had only been 3 weeks since the race in Vienna but I was delighted to finish in just under 4 hrs 30.  Full race report here.

Euromast Rotterdam

Cool huh?

I was really bowled over to have the Euromast in Rotterdam lit up on ME Awareness Day (May 12th) in my honour and in dedication to the amazing work that Invest In ME are doing.  Thanks to Celine and the Dutch Millions Missing team for this!

Vienna Marathon post

Really kind of Vienna Marathon to put up a post about my challenge a few weeks after the race, they were also kind enough to post a number of messages on Facebook which had over 100 shares.  Top stuff, much appreciated.

Ah, Vienna.

Playa De La Concha - San Sebastian

Had a long weekend break in San Sebastian in early June to re-charge the batteries.  Fantastic to eat pinxtos and wander around Bilbao and San Sebastian for a few days without a race to run.

Breathtaking morning run in Spain

Enjoyed a really great run on the amazing beach there and around the old town, always like to get a run done when I go abroad as you know!


Invest in ME Conference

On May 31st I was very lucky to be asked to attend the 13th Invest In ME Conference in London for the second time.  It was great to hear from so many amazing scientists and researchers as well as meeting up with friends that I've made across Europe.

Helen Oliver, a fantastic fundraiser herself

Although the process is painstakingly slow when it comes to good science, the week of presentations and colloquiums continue to give hope that a biomarker and successful treatment can be found.  All I can do is keep going, raise a bit of money and awareness on my way around this challenge.

Heron Half Marathon

On June 10th I ran the RNAS Yeovilton (Heron Half) raising over £200 for Invest In ME and posting my second fastest time on what was a mostly flat and cool race (nice change!)

Helen Buckland-Luck who has been a great supporter since 2014 and my first challenge

50% of Target

Mid June saw me hit the halfway point in my target to raise £26.2K for Invest In ME research projects.  A huge boost, only 11 races left but I'm optimistic I can get close by the time the challenge ends in October 2020.  

Thanks to all 482 of you!

Westminster Hall Debate 

On the 21st of June, ME was finally given a decent amount of time for discussion at Parliament.  A cross-party group of MP's came together in agreement that more biomedical research needs to take place to help patients in the UK.

Led by Carol Monaghan MP the 3 hour long debate drew a lot of attention

Hopefully there will be follow up sessions in the chamber but this felt like a good start with some passionate speeches on behalf of constituents and their families who continue to be neglected and struggle.

Steady Improvement

As of early July, despite the heat I've been posting some really improvements in my short and long run times.  For a good couple of weeks I was scratching my head as to why but having looked through the monthly mileage I discovered that it was merely down to running more miles per month.  Not exactly rocket science but running more means that you get better at running, who would have thought it.

Still a bit of room there

June was tricky to fit in the runs with the World Cup on and so many evening trips to the pub to watch England progress further than expected.  But July has been really positive as I've been injury free and although having to stop a little more to get water/not hallucinate in the heat, it feels like I'm doing some of my best running.  New PB's for 5K, 6m, 7m, 16m, 18m have given me renewed confidence that despite being 35 that I can keep improving as the challenge continues.

Hopefully keeping an eye on diet, more hot weather running and a big August will mean that I turn up in Estonia in good shape to have a go at my 3.55 PB from Lithuania last September.  That and another £2-3K by the end of the year on top of the total will make it a pretty satisfactory year.  It's been an eventful and profitable year for raising awareness with terrific support from Malta, Austria and Denmark.  I know I won't be expecting anything from Estonia and Bulgaria but I'd like to post some times to be proud of to round off the year.

Upcoming Plans

Next up for me race-wise over the next 3 months will be the Sturminster Half (Aug 5th) in Dorset followed by Tallinn Marathon, Estonia (Sept 9th) which will be number 18 of 28.  The race will take place on Estonia's 100th birthday so it's sure to be an amazing atmosphere!  Then it's on to Sofia for the last race of the year on October 14th.

From North Dorset to Estonia to Bulgaria!

Very keen to hear from any M.E patients who would like to tell me their story from either Estonia or Bulgaria -please do get in touch.

Thanks for your support and for reading.

Mike


If you'd like to sponsor me you can do so below!

www.justgiving.com/mikeseumarathons or text 'IIME82' and £1, £3, £5 to 70070

Total Sponsorship Raised: £13150
Social Media Followers: 2146
Miles Covered: 297
Average Temp: 22C
Lessons Learned: The importance of rest and consistency

Feb/Mar/Apr Update

May has arrived and the challenge is now 3 years old!  I've run 2 more marathons and 1 half-marathon since my last post adding an additional £1600 for Invest In ME.

Here's a quick re-cap on how things have gone......

Malta Marathon (No.15 of 28)

On Feb 25th I ran my 15th EU Marathon starting in Mdina in the Maltese countryside and finishing at the coast in Sliema.

                    

         Flying the flag in sunny Malta!                                                                 Ben, Jay and I with our medals

It was a tough race with a very early start with the temperature hotting up from 14 to 23c by the end.  I got round safely despite a really bad cold and two bad calves.  Full race report here.

Belfast

I can't tell you how cold it was here

A couple of weeks later I flew over to spend St Patrick's Day in Belfast with my buddy and fellow Invest In ME marathon fundraiser Ben Scott.  After taking on a lot of Guinness we went for a bit of a run as part of the East Antrim Marathon Series, both earning ourselves a fantastic giant bottle opener medal for running the minimum required distance of about 4 miles!  

We had a beer on the way round in bitterly cold conditions and stopped to cheer the proper runners under a bridge, joyously finishing joint-last!  This was the weekend when it snowed loads over in England, we got stranded in Belfast for another night.  Not a major problem as there were plenty of pubs to shelter in!

Devizes Half Marathon

Cheeky Half

Getting back to proper training for Vienna, I told my Facebook page that I'd run Devizes if they could help me round up my sponsorship total to the nearest hundred.  They duly obliged and I entered the hilly, chilly Devizes Half.  It was a well organised and supported course which I really enjoyed, lots of uphill but equally some really fun downhill and I was pleased to come away with my 2nd fastest Half time of 1hr 49 mins.

After the race I met with Roger and Michelle Bourlet from Devizes and their family.  They very kindly let me use their shower and fed me delicious cake.  I heard more about their daughter Maddie who is bedbound with ME and I got to pop my head in to say hi.  It was really shocking seeing and hearing how the illness had affected her and I really hope she improves soon and wish the family well.

Bourlet family

Roger and Michelle very kindly donated £500 to Invest In ME's biomedical research projects and I was pleased to hear that Michelle would be at their conference in June, hopefully we'll meet up.  

Danish ME Magazine

Big in Denmark!

Some nice coverage in Denmark ahead of my trip there in May for number 17.  Thanks to Helle Rasmussen and the Danish ME Association for the interview and 2 page spread in their monthly magazine.  I'm working closely with them to see if we can take advantage of the May 12th ME Awareness Day and get some exposure for their work in Denmark and highlight the necessity for biomedical research.

ME in Austria

I spoke to Sebastian, Barbara and Sonja who are 3 people with ME living in Austria.  Click here to see what they had to tell me.

Back in beautiful (and crazy hot) Vienna

It's clear that like much of Europe, there's a real lack of knowledge and understanding about M.E. in Austria.  More stories of patients being misdiagnosed, told there's nothing wrong with them and being denied basic human rights.  But at least the new Facebook group CFS Hilfe is uniting people and starting to make waves over there.  I wish them the best of luck as they've been really supportive to my challenge.

Pendine Sands

Over Easter we went to Pembrokeshire and I decided to get in some beach running on the 7 mile long Pendine Sands.  Pendine is the stretch of beach where Malcolm Campbell broke the world land speed record (146 mph in 1924), it was great to be running in his tyre tracks.  I got 11 miles done, having to turn round when the sand got very deep and the tide started coming in!

On your marks. Won my 1 man race

We stayed at Pendine Sands B&B who very generous and sponsored me as well as posting on their Facebook page about the challenge.  It then occurred to me that I need to leave more of my 'business cards' where I stay and meet new people in order to get more donations and publicity for ME research.

Wiltshire Gazette

I got a little bit of press in the Wiltshire Gazette just before (and after!) Devizes Half.  No picture and they were a bit abrupt but hopefully someone saw it and maybe changed their mind about M.E.

Mr Harley indeed

I also had a nice 'retweet' from the organisers of the half marathon and BBC Radio Wiltshire got in touch for an interview, then went quiet on me -something I've become a bit used to on the challenge at times.

Summer Halfs

After a couple of successful halfs last year and one this year so far, I thought it would be good to keep motivated with a couple more hot, hilly halfs until Estonia in September.

Heron is the nickname of RNAS Yeovilton and I'll be running the half marathon there on June 10th.  It looks like a decent race and there's showers and a bbq happening afterwards so hopefully will be fun.  As ever I'll try to reach out to local papers and see if we can get some more donations in.

Sturminster Half in Dorset on Sunday August 5th is a nice little half in the countryside and should be a good challenge.  Looks like it's organised by a friendly running club and it's got good reviews so more than happy to give it a go for the first time too.


Half thoughts 

Before last year, I was quite indifferent to running Half Marathons as part of my marathon training.  I didn't really see the point of paying c£50 to run them when I was already running further around the streets and cycle paths near my house.  I ran Bath Half a couple of times before I started the challenge and both experiences left me a bit cold really.  They were large, over-subscribed and poorly organised races that were expensive and frustrating.

But I've had a bit of a change of heart more recently.  I ran Frome Half and Bridgwater Half last year and felt good about them.  I was able to meet supporters and patients, post some decent times and take advantage of challenging conditions (Frome; hilly.  Bridgwater; torrential rain) which could have only been positive for my training.  

Some positives that I've found which have driven me to book some more....

• The smaller half marathons are fairly local (within 1 hr commute) and cost around £15-25 which isn't too bad.  
• I only run my marathons abroad so this is a great chance to meet people who have supported me.
• I usually am able to get a bit of local media press for Invest In ME and raise awareness for people with ME.  I've had sponsorship from new people as a result which has boosted the total.
• Most are very well organised and often have showers there too.
• I get a nice Sunday pub lunch afterwards.

I've got a new shirt to wear at the halfs.  Carefully designed so that those running behind me can educate themselves on M.E.

                      

From a training point of view, 13 miles might not be as far as say a 17 mile run that I have on the plan but in a race situation I will inevitably work to a higher intensity which again is good training.  Also as I always seem to struggle at the end of marathons, it feels good to finish a half marathon, it's more my kind of distance and I can drive for wet weather/flat/hilly/hot PB's.

Vienna Marathon (No.16 of 28)

Another Spring marathon and yep, another one at 30C.  Not at all what I was expecting but I got through it in one piece.  My second slowest time so far but it was an impressive course with some fantastic views of the Danube and stunning architecture.

Steamy beer/medal combo

                                                                                                                                                                                             Cool carpet

My race report for Vienna can be read here


Cyprus

Looking good Cyprus

My first race of 2019 and number 21 of 29 will be Cyprus Marathon in Paphos on March 17th.  I had the choice of Cyprus or Limassol marathons on the island but chose the former as the airport transfer was easy and the course was more historic and not just all coastal.  

I know I can expect a warm race there but I've got a bit longer to train over the Christmas break so hopefully will have enough time to train well and give it a good go.  It'll be my first trip to Cyprus and I'll be aiming to spend more than just 36 hours there as I've had to recently with the trips.


Plans for Copenhagen

As I type, Copenhagen (number 17) and International ME Awareness Day is just over a week away!  I fly in the day before and I hope to meet meet up with any patients who are well enough and if possible any local media who might be interested in the challenge.  I'm working on approaches to the press in collaboration with the Danish ME Association.  Also Copenhagen Marathon have also asked for more information which is great.  This weekend I will be recording a message in support of people with ME in Denmark to be shared on online for May 12th.

Hopefully we'll be able to do a quick boat trip and see a little of Copenhagen before I make the start line on Sunday morning.

So all in all a very busy, challenging but fully worthwhile 3 months!

Thanks for your support and for reading.

Mike


If you'd like to sponsor me you can do so below!

www.justgiving.com/mikeseumarathons or text 'IIME82' and £1, £3, £5 to 70070

Total Sponsorship Raised: £11705
Social Media Followers: 1993
Miles Covered: 218
Average Temp: 14C
Lessons Learned: Mike hates running in heat still

Nov/Dec/Jan Update

Hi all, so I'm through relatively quiet race-less 3 months and a week away from race 15 of 28 in Malta!

November was mostly spent recovering from the two marathons in October.  I went to a few gigs, ate and drank copiously and firmed up my plans for 2018.

2018 Races

Bit of everything here!  

First trips to Malta, Denmark and Estonia here, been to Austria and Bulgaria previously.  Expecting a bit of rain and mild conditions in Malta (15C), then the next 4 could be anything really.

Training

With Malta in late February I needed to run through December and the Christmas period for the first time so far in 3 years of the challenge.  Usually I take December off as my first race of the year is March/April so it created a few logistical challenges to get the long weekend runs done.

I hit some key milestones in December (1000m for 2018, 3000m for the challenge)

I had to take it easy with gigs/parties and make sure that if I went away for the weekend that I still got in the important Saturday run.  Very tricky but I got through it fine until the very end of December.

Rituximab Null Result

News came through in November that Phase 3 of the Rituximab Trial in Norway had produced a negative result.  This was a major blow following the promise of the first two phases and quite unexpected but useful data has been collected which hopefully can be used to understand the disease better.  They have my full confidence that the money they've crowd-funded for the trial from patients will be used to the best effect.

Statement from Invest In ME:

The statement from Haukeland University, Bergen from Professor Mella is a major disappointment for people with ME and their families.

What had looked to be a promising line of research that could lead to an effective treatment for a subgroup of patients defined by the Canadian Criteria and major understanding of the pathology of this disease has proven to be inconclusive.

Naturally, at the charity, everyone is disappointed. We are disappointed for all the ME patients and carers and families and friends.  We are especially disappointed for all of our supporters and all who have made such generous and tireless efforts to raise funds and awareness of our campaign.

We are very disappointed also for the Haukeland research team - a wonderful team who have brought hope to all patients - and, importantly, brought new insight into this disease and new interest from other areas.  However, we have found, throughout 12 years of trying to change the way that ME is perceived, researched and treated that it is never easy.

It would be easy to give up, to resign oneself to nothing changing, to accept the status quo.  But we think differently.

We see the positives in this research which has been performed by researchers of the utmost integrity who have not made headlines for the sake of it but have thoroughly conducted outstanding research, and still retained a humility that is to their credit and that of their colleagues and team.

We have an excellent research team in Norway which has served the ME patient community and their families with honesty, integrity, professionalism, determination and an empathy which had never been seen before in this field.

We have established good working relationships between the Norwegian researchers and the UK Centre with input from UCL and UEA/Quadram Institute.

We have data now – more than before.  We have research which IiMER has established and a foundation for the Centre of Excellence for ME.  We have international collaboration in research into ME that will continue.

The researchers from Haukeland will give more detail on their results and publish a paper or two which will benefit all studying ME.  For us, we have invited the Haukeland team to Norwich to discuss the way forward.

We remain positive. Another setback, another day.

We have already been in discussion with our advisors and with the Norwegian team and we will meet to clarify the best way forward in the near future with our major funder and researchers.  We still have much good research being funded and being planned and feel our strategy is, and will pay off and lead to the most rapid route to finding cause(s) of ME and effective treatments.

Injuries

Familiar ice block drill

For the first time really since I started running I had some quite difficult injuries in late December up until early February.  I'd hurt my achilles and then both calves from possibly taking on too many hills as part of training and was laid up for 2-3 weeks after a few false starts on runs having to limp home after a mile or so.  After resting up and a sports massage, chiropractor session and lots of ice/heat applications I eventually got back out for the long runs at least.

I wrote a blog on how I was doing: here

Malta ME Alliance

I was introduced to the Malta ME, CFS & Fibromyalgia Alliance who have been very receptive and helpful to the challenge.  They've written off to local media with my press release and have posted on their social media sites too.  From looking at their work, it appears that they're doing some really good advocacy there for patients and providing vital support to the community.

Malta is legalising medicinal cannabis to be prescribed by doctors for pain relief for people with chronic illnesses which sounds like a major breakthrough.  More info here

I spoke to them about life with ME in Malta and here's a summary of what I found out.  I'm hoping to meet anyone well enough when I arrive for a chat, who knows maybe there might be a last minute TV appearance!  Malta Marathon very kindly posted a piece on my challenge on their Facebook page which has had over 50 shares and helped bring in more donations to ME research.

Invest In ME Conference

The annual conference featuring the world's best researchers and scientists is back for it's 13th time in London on June 1st and I'm delighted to be invited again.

I'll be live tweeting throughout the full day and hope to hear some positive updates from the likes of Ron Davis, Mady Hornig, Oystein Fluge and many others.  For more information on this world-leading conference click here.

Pace Trial Westminster Debate

Scottish MP Carol Monaghan has secured a 30 min debate at Westminster about the widely discredited PACE trial which has done so much damage to people with ME in the UK and across the world.

I've written to my MP Karin Smyth (Bristol South) but she hasn't replied sadly.  This follows hot on the heels of a screening of the film Unrest at Parliament, hopefully the government's perception of this illness is starting to change.

Ben and Jay in Malta

I'm lucky to be joined by fellow Invest In ME fundraiser and good mate Ben Scott for the race in Malta.  Ben has previously run Dublin and Barcelona marathons with me on this challenge and he'll be joined by his brother Jay who is taking on his first marathon!

                        




Thanks all for your support through my injury period and with recent ramp up in donations, delighted to say we've got over £10000!!

Catch up soon.

If you'd like to sponsor me you can do so below!

www.justgiving.com/mikeseumarathons or text 'IIME82' and £1, £3, £5 to 70070

Total Sponsorship Raised: £10103
Social Media Followers: 1914
Miles Covered: 167
Average Temp: 8C
Lessons Learned: Rest really is the best treatment for injuries