Neil Featherby: What a way to celebrate 43 years of running every day

This will not only commemorate my 43 years of running at least once every day since July 25, 1981, but will have also raised quite a considerable amount of money for our specific charity causes. 

The target when first announcing this challenge was to raise £3,500. However, as I write this on Tuesday we have not only hit target prior to our run but have gone a few hundred pounds over. 

This is brilliant and at the same time we are now hoping to go well beyond our goal which will not only be even more beneficial towards helping each one of our causes, but also enough money to send a small donation to Andy Bailey’s Mirkwood Rest Home for Retired Sheep which is so well supported by Mandy Foyster. Needless to say, it is a huge thank you to all those people who have supported us with donations. 

I mentioned last week that I had a much bigger hurdle to climb before starting the run and that was to find out what was wrong with my husky Luna after abnormal blood tests last week. We found out that she has a mass on her liver and whilst this in many ways has confirmed what I feared, there was also some better news to go with it along with a possible option. Running the Wall will of course give me time to consider everything. Those who know me well will know that my dogs are a huge part of my life. 

Craig Bowen Jones and Chas Allen have both had some issues with their dogs too and it is amazing how these things can knock us flat and just take the edge off what had been up until last week, 11 weeks of excitement whilst building up to this. 

Craig is a great guy and just like Chas and Karen, true friends of mine who I care about a lot. He even donated £1,000 himself to this fund-raising challenge. I was gobsmacked. He loves his running and just like everything else he does in life you can be sure that he will always give 100 percent. There is a downside to running with Craig though. I have never ever known anyone to suffer with wind like he does so when I say downside, best to stay on the upside of him when out for a run. 

Karen Grapes, like Craig, is so kindhearted and so very reliable. Whilst she always worries about being fit enough, she trains to the extreme without a bead of sweat on her forehead. As for her downside, well how can I say this tactfully? Let’s just say, whilst just about every part of her body is a well-oiled exercise machine, her bladder unfortunately is her weak spot. Enough said about this methinks. 

Chas Allen – apart from being a pretty much all-round natural athlete, he’s a genius with so much knowledge. He really should be up there with some of the world’s best experts when it comes to not only knowledge of fitness and the workings of the human body, but so many other things too. 

How ironic that we as a group always seem to team up for these things whilst all four of us have a huge love of dogs and animals, which of course is part of our fund-raising efforts along with the young person’s charity, Nelson’s Journey. 

Sadly, Steph Jones and Tracey Bowen Jones cannot now make the journey what with issues surrounding our dogs, but as mentioned last week my old mates from the North East, Ian Bloomfield and Alan Whitfield are now taking over the role of support team. Ian has been a brilliant athlete over the years as well as being an inspiration to so many others hence why he has captained GB at World Team Cup level. Alan too and when Ian first took up running it was Alan who he looked up to by way of measuring himself in respect of wanting to reach the top. 

So apart from the issues mentioned with our dogs, just about every other box is ticked and we are ready to run after what really has been one heck of a very long journey one way or the other. 

*Editor's note - Neil, Craig, Karen and Chas completed their challenge and at the time of writing have raised nearly £5,000 for their chosen charities. If you want to donate then you can here.