A Year of Running by Edward Shawcross
Lands End to John O’Groats: A Year of Running.
Words by Emma Shawcross (Edward's mother).
At the start of 2021, schools were shut and we were all working from home with all the challenges and benefits that brought us. Edward had been running well all Autumn and during January racked up over 100km in a month as we sought to get outside and see some daylight, grabbing time between teaching, lessons and meetings. He then said “I wonder how far I could run this year if I kept this up?” It turned out that he’d complete over 1400km which roughly equated to the distance from Lands End to John O’Groats (on the signposts at these locations, the distance between the two is 874 miles – 1407km) and so the seed had been set.
With Edward being 10 at the time, there was absolutely no pressure for him to complete this but his own determination and willpower meant that as the months went by, he met and even exceeded regularly, the 27km a week target. He still tells people about the time when he’d managed to “break” both parents and we had to recruit others to keep the mileage going. Most runs were under 10km but we did go on a few longer adventures (Ullswater Way over two days, a lap of Coniston Water, the Espresso round and the Yorkshire 3 Peaks over two days).
In August we reached the 1000km milestone and what had seemed like a ridiculous challenge at the start of the year became achievable with time to spare. This turned out to be a good thing because he started secondary school in September and the nights were drawing in so finishing off the distance became more difficult due to less time being available (HOMEWORK!) and having to run in the dark. We were reciting German homework while running by torchlight, trying to avoid the zombie-eyed wildlife, uber-slippy limestone and tree roots. What was remarkable was that Edward was dragging us out in all weathers, not the other way round: “I need to do 5km today or you’ll have to take me on a really long run at the weekend….”
On the 19 th December 2021, Edward reached the virtual finish line just outside Greenodd having planned his final run to finish by his favourite ice cream shop. What’s next? To do it again, but
FASTER!
Edward says:
I am very proud of myself of completing my target especially with the new school and games at school. This meant that my legs were quite tired at the end and when I had 20km of the challenge to go I just thought ‘Can I just finish it in one go?’.