Phil vs Nature: Fundraising for Blood Cancer

Modern Edinburgh is said to have been built on 7 hills. Having run around it, I think the original town planners must have run out of counting fingers at their final construction meeting. "Let's just call it 7." The first upward slope I encountered was when I arrived at the very bottom of the Royal Mile about 6.30 am, and began the slow walk up to the start line with my wife. We were overtaken by a power-walking Lycra clad lady, and then immediately after that by a slightly older man as he ran up the pavement ahead of us. Both had race numbers on, and both looked rather more sprightly than I did. We arrived at the start line in good time, which gave me plenty of opportunity to size up the opposition. First question on my mind was: why is everyone in t-shirts? [Also, why do they say 55 km when the route is actually 57? False advertising!] Second question: which footwear do I need? Third and final: who is going to be at the back with...

I kept it a bit quiet, but a couple of weeks ago I completed a double lap of the Survival of the Fittest event in Nottingham. It was supposed to be short, and a bit of training for the "main event", but once I'd signed up for an extra go it turned out to be an event all on its own! At around 24km, it was an obstacle race but there were plenty of running stretches to get a bit of distance into the legs ahead of the big finale this weekend. The National Watersports Centre was a great setting, and the race took us in and out of their many lakes for some swimming, some climbing, crawling in the mud, a finish slide, and of course - a scaled down version of the famous Rat Race monkey bars! [Speaking of monkey bars... ask Trent Smith to show you his video - now that's epic!] There's not much more to say really, as apart from having to do the course twice, and tackling the motivation to restart back into the cold after the first lap water stop, it wasn...

For those new to reading this and anyone else who isn't aware, Kate is the superstar and the inspiration behind this series of testing events I've completed in aid of Anthony Nolan. Back in December, Kate wrote a really poignant blog post introducing us into her world since diagnosis, how she coped with her diagnosis, and the treatment she'd had - if you'd like to catch up then you can find it here . Since then she's been busy; you may have seen her on TV, the radio, in national newspapers, on magazine front covers, and guest speaking at conferences. There was also a top 10 most viewed spot on the BBC news homepage, and through all the attention she's been going about telling a really difficult story all with dignity and good humour that everyone who knows her would expect, and that everyone who doesn't would be amazed at. The Spot Leukaemia campaign from Leukaemia Care has pushed her experience into the public eye, and t here's been quite a lot f...

Mountains, clifftops and hills. Into the sea, dunked in the lakes, and jumping into quarries. Climbing, coasteering and abseiling. Across moors, through storm drains, and sneaking through abandoned mines. Over quicksand, dusty trails and barren rocks, taking in the sights of Cornwall, the Lakes and Snowdonia, it's finally done. The challenges that were the initial inspiration for a Phil vs Nature hashtag have delivered. And what a delivery! A boatload of firsts and new experiences. A range of emotions from pride to despair at every event. An overriding sense of duty and determination to deliver the goods for Kate and Anthony Nolan. Rat Race described Man vs Mountain as one of their bucket list events, and it was truly an epic. Right from the off, driving in through the mountains I was stuck by how... mountainous... the terrain was. I mean bloody hell. I don't think I've ever been up to that corner of North Wales before, so I spent some time trying to work...

Why is Snowdonia so funny? Because it's hill areas. Not  kidding. None of it is flat. Not even the car parks. Driving in to North Wales I was struck by how steep and rocky it all is! Having never been up here it was nice to see, and I could really imagine how incredibly fun tomorrow is going to be. It's the third part of the most action packed and gratifying trilogy since Toy Story. The "Man vs..." series is coming to an end, and it's concluding with a hell of an event. "Man vs Mountain" takes on the rugged landscape of North Wales, from sea level to the summit of Snowdon. There's over 5000 feet of ascent across the 22 miles, the famous vertical kilometre, and a healthy dose of TAKE THAT  from Mother Nature. Earlier on this week Rat Race had to issue a kit update because the weather forecast had deteriorated. Low mountain temperatures, wind and rain. "Bring your waterproofs" they said. Thankfully it now just seems to be thi...

Long event, longer blog. Grab a cup of tea or sit on the toilet, and settle in... This past weekend, Rat Race re-wrote the rules of the world.  Newton's famous "what goes up, must come down" was well and truly flipped on its head,  Jim Mee (the company founder) was seen at the finish line manning the pressure washers and cleaning up rubbish, and even if you haven't stopped pedalling you definitely can fall off your bicycle. The Crossing is an off-road mountain bike event that takes place across three National Parks, three days, and runs from the West coast to the East coast. It was an event I hadn't entered, not owning a mountain bike, until this man below decided he would like to take part in this challenge but didn't want to run. After he'd paid up I felt guilty enough to join him, and 3 months later I finally purchased my own place. So, James, categorically, this was all your fault. Oh he might look happy here, but thi...