It’s November and these days that means one thing……..Movember. I remember 2 years ago when the boys at my local skate shop City Surf started growing moustaches and i thought “why the fuck are you all rocking ropey moustaches” to which they answered “were supporting Movember”. I remember thinking that sounds like fun so agreed to do it the following year with Dainton in 2010. It was a good laugh and at the same time we raised some cash for a good cause whilst the 2 of us looked like right dodgy geezers compleate with a furry top lip.
This year however myself and my brother Trigg decided to do it but add another challenge into the game. We decided to run 30 half marathons in the 30 days of Movember and on the last day we were to rock the 118-118 outfits and run round Cardiff City centre like it. Now, it all sounds like a good idea when you sit there over a pint talking of it but when you actually put it into practice of your daily lives you then utter the words “what have i said” and believe you me the two of us did it on a few occasions.
3 days before we were to start our mission i had to go to Ireland to enter the Dublin full marathon, something i booked a few months before and a marathon i didn’t want to pull out of as i wanted to visit friends i haven’t seen in a while plus we were hooking up with a load of the Ibiza Irish crew for a little reunion so i flew out on the Saturday with Swanseas finest Doyle. I flew on the Saturday so i could have my party that night with all the Irish peeps and rest on the Sunday ready for the marathon on the Monday……………but!!!!!!!!!!!. I was once again kidding myself as i knew that wasn’t going to happen at all. We did the usual and ended up going to Zulu tattoo to see Sean and when that happens its fucking fireworks all the way. Sean’s a south African Tattooist and a top top man who can out party anyone i know so it was danger hanging out with him when i knew i had a full marathon to run but i love hanging out with him man he’s a train wreck and i love it. I had our welsh train wreck with me Doyley along with all the Irish clan and the party went right off. One thing led to another and the lack of sleep was a major factor but everyone had fun.
Sunday night the night before the marathon and im trying to fill my body with pasta and drinking as much water as possible so i don’t collapse on mile 5 of dehydration, i’m surrounded by everyone glugging magners and bulmers so i decided to get some sleep as i was up at 6 ready to get to the start line in time. I made it and i’m ready to run although a bit tired but i’ve been worse and i was on my mission to beat my marathon time of 4 hours and 21 mins. I started well and i was feeling good considering but as i hit 20 miles i hit a brick wall and i was in agony but kept trucking. I managed at one point to catch up with the 4 hour pacemakers and got exited at the thought of finishing it in 4 hours, that lasted about 20 mins until i hit that brick wall, then i just watched those pacemaker balloons disappear into the distance. As i got about 2 miles away from the finish the heavens opened and when i say rain i mean a monsoon which soaked me from head to toe. I crossed the line in 4 hours and 10 mins beating my time by 11 mins which i was really happy about. the only problem was i then went into shock and started shaking uncontrollably with cold due to the weather but i couldn’t find Ciara & Sean. It was that moment in life when you just want the floor to swallow you up and be done with it, i was that bad. I managed to find Ciara and Sean (Buttsy & Doyle were boozing at a local pub) and they both took me to a skate shop (forgotten the name) and Sean bought me a whole new outfit i.e shoes, jeans, t’shirt, hoodie etc and i felt like a new man. thanks so much to Ciara, Sean and the skate shop for looking after me it means a lot. From the skate shop we then went to Zulu for some hot soup then i jumped into the taxi with Doyle and made our way to the airport and jumped onto the plane, destination Cardiff.
We land in Cardiff and my legs have gone as stiff as a board and i’m just wiped out with tiredness but i couldn’t rest yet as Daint, Aid and our dj Rob were on their way to pick me up from the airport to head to Bournemouth for a PvsD gig. To make matters worse the tour van was having a service so i had to squeeze 3 of us in the back of a car after running 26 miles and sleeping about 5 hours in 3 days hahaha “Sleep when you’re dead”. Arrive in Bournemouth feeling like a 60 year old, tip a litre of vodka down my neck, get on stage, go mental, sit in car and party in it for the journey home. As myself and Doyle get to my house at 7am we carried on drinking for a bit till my body shut down………BED.
I wake the next day to a phone call off Trigg reminding me that today we start our 30 half marathons in 30 days for Movember and i really didn’t want to entertain it as i was finding it hard to even walk down my stairs after the onslaught of Dublin but i said i would do it and thats what we set out to do so i stretched as much as i could and went running. Before hitting the road mind i went to the shop to buy a load of ice as i knew when i came in from my 13 miles i would definitely need an ice bath to rid my legs of the lactic acid build up in my legs, something i knew i would have to do for at least a week before my legs could get back to anything resembling normality. If there is anyone out there that enjoys running marathons you’ll understand and know what i’m talking about. I get in from my first half marathon and i’m in agony but then i jumped into the ice bath for 15 mins until my manhood looked something like a button mushroom.
I have to take my hat off to Trigg as he has a full time teaching job and a family so he had to fit in his runs in with his busy schedule every day, not an easy task at all. for the first week of running we were averaging just over 2 hours but as the weeks went by we got quicker and quicker and you would think it’d get easier but it didn’t. It’s quite a novelty to start with which makes it quite exiting but after 2 weeks of running half marathons every day it becomes quit hard dedicating at least 2 hours a day to running especially when your nike plus mileometer has packed in (this happened to Trigg) and you have to do the same course day in day out as you know that run adds up to 13 miles. I was lucky as my nike plus GPS watch worked apart from a few occasions when i forgot to charge it etc. As we counted down the days and logged in our miles then so our moustaches got bigger and bigger, Trigg going for the Handlebar and myself going for the bum fluff top lip one due to not being able to grow a manly beard. Some days were better than others but some days we just didn’t want to go out at all due to partying the night before and the lack of sleep but as soon as you get your arse off the sofa and started running then your adrenalin would kick in and you were off. Due to my gigging schedule i found myself running around roath park lake at silly times in the night and once i woke at 4am to get one run over and done with as i was off to skegness at 7am for a gig with a 2pm stage time. Seeing party heads walking home whilst i was running felt rather strange let me tell you and i’m sure they looked at me and thought “what the fuck is that weirdo doing at this time running”. Come the 29th of November we had ran 29 half marathons with a distance of 377 miles and quite a few pounds in weight lost but the next day was to be our last.
Day 30 and we had our 118-118 outfits ready and out we went on the streets of Cardiff to the sound of car horns beeping and tooting and shouts of “i’ve got your number”. We put a few smiles on peoples faces that day which was nice and we arrived back at Triggs house after running 390 miles in 30 days, mission compleate.
All in all we managed to raise close to £800 for mens health. thanks to all that donated and supported us it means a lot. If you haven’t donated but would like to you can here www.mobro.co/pritchards
the 2 of us are now working on our next challenge for 2012 so keep eye’s peeled as its a monster.
pritch
SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD
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