Run Dobie Run :: London to Scotland - August 2009

Day 21

Getting up this morning was a struggle as always, although heading towards the Scottish Border certainly helps, especially when it comes slap, bang in the middle of a running session. I even managed to get a cup of tea there too, lovely. Hills on the other hand are not so lovely. In fact if you asked my legs what they thought of hills, i’m not sure I could publish their answer. Eventually though I did reach the Scottish border, which was an amazing feeling. It hasn’t begun to get too emotional yet, although I imagine when I reach the finish and family and friends are throwing old fruit at me; then it will hammer it home! It has begun to dawn on me over the last few days quite how epic this has been though. Even if a man who has been fully fit all his life had attempted this, it would be immense, but for me - with my relatively recent health and fitness problems - it is an even bigger achievement; i’m beginning to feel quite proud!

Whilst on the border crossing we got a donation from two older ladies, which was fantastic. Well done CVS for getting stuff put on the van, it has really helped with donations and interest up and down the country. We regulalrly see people reading the side of the van with interest and the hope is that this reading turns in to donations!

Even though I am in a battle against the elements, the roads and my mental and physical fitness, my mother is still helping me with washing and cooking, d’oh!! Mother and Father Dobie dropped by in their campervan today (much better than the RunDobieRunmobile) en route to Edinburgh. Mother came armed with an abundance of foodstuffs (Mickey G will know what I mean especially!) and lots of clean washing for me. My Dad stood there and probably wondered what he had done wrong with me!

My running was good today and was really the last full and proper day of running I will end up doing as my legs are now deader than some doodoo. Yes I do mean a Dodo. That joke comes courtesy of Private Baldrick. In all seriousness though, getting to Edinburgh is the main aim now and as long as I use my body to get there, I do not care how I do it, be it running, walking or hopping.

Day 22

This morning marks my first morning in Scotland - regardless of the feat I did the same as every other day and forgot where I was; good lad! I ofte nget asked by people about where I have been and what I have seen and it has all merged in to one. For anyone who has seen Groundhog Day; it feels a bit like that. Today was also a good running day because I only had to do two runs; happy days! Although tomorrow I am back to a full day; damnation!

Whilst resting between runs we did some fundraising in Newton St. Boswells and ended up raising £120ish which is fabulous bearing in mind the size of the place - thank you everyone who donated. As you can see on the home page, the money raised is changing every day now and we are heading towards £4500 which is fantastic. My target is £5000, so hopefully with a bit more help, we can make it there!

So, thats about it for today. Oh yeah, unless you count meeting, chatting and having a cup of tea with Eddie Izzard in the back of your campervan! Most of you will be aware that I hate the celebrity culture and all that goes with it and pretend not to be at all exicted by any of that kind of stuff. Well today I was a hypocrite, pure and simple. Meeting Eddie was one of those amazing experiences that you will never forget. It was not just that he was a famous guy, but mainly because he was in the middle of doing a fantastic and tough event himself and yet he made the time to talk to me and share stories about running and discovery; it really was awesome so thank you Eddie.

Not only did I meet Eddie Izzard; his film crew also wanted to interview me and were extremely complimentary on my skills in front of the camera. I have no job plans for when I get home, so maybe a future T.V career!? I might even be on Comic Relief in March. Riccardo, if you are reading this, I expect you to start getting the ball rolling!!

I finished the day with my fastest (its a relative term) run for a while, spurred on by the meeting with Eddie Izzard. Just thinking about that meeting and what he was doing made me think of the reasons why I was doing it which then spurred me on even more. Today was easily one of the best days in my life so far and I reckon Wednesday should be too. Two of the greatest days of my life in one week? It has been wonderful.