2,020km Challenge
This year, I decided to set myself a target to reach 2,020km in 2020 by a combination of running and hiking to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society (United Against Dementia) and I share these monthly reports, mainly to give us a chance to salivate over the progress and stats 🤓
With the coronavirus lockdown still in full force in the UK, we are limited to going out once per day to exercise which thankfully, hasn't hampered the ambition of the 2,020 km Challenge and I've been able to crack on with it! The full definition of this challenge is thus:
- Total distance: 2,020 km / 1,255 miles in 2020
- Hiking: “cross-country” or “cross-terrain” walking
- Running: putting one leg in front of the other quickly
- Daily required distance: 5.52 km / 3.45 miles per day
So, let's have a look at April's progress!
April Progress
After our clocks went forward in the UK at the end of March, the evenings are a lot longer and so it's opened up the possibilities to do more hiking after work around the Chilterns seeing as they are right on my doorstep! The weather this month has also been exceptional with wall to wall sunshine which has helped make the muddy paths... well, less of a swamp!
Scenes in the Chilterns
March was the "stabalising" month as January and February were laden with illnesses and injury but April has given me a chance to "close the gap" on where I should be. In the graph below, the red line is the distance I need to do on average each day and the blue line is what I'm currently doing.
April Progress
When this is compared to March's chart below, you can see I was hovering around 5 km per day average (blue line) but in April, we're looking at upwards of ~5.3 km per day - progress!
March Progress for comparison
Overall
Although I was hoping to get above the red line again in April, it didn't quite materialise but I'm still happy with the way things are going. The shin splint injury is coming back after yesterday's run though so just need to be a little wary of that. Seems to happen whenever I run a bit faster - just remember that this is a DISTANCE challenge, not a speed challenge!
Anyway, looking at the overall distances and comparing where I should be vs where I currently am... The table below shows the numbers at a glance taken from the end of each month and the graph below shows the whole picture.
| Month | Distance completed (%) | Should Be At (%) |
| January | 138.78 km (6.9%) | 171.09 km (8.5%) |
| February | 298.99 km (14.8%) | 331.14 km (16.4%) |
| March | 473.82 km (23.5%) | 502.23 km (24.9%) |
| April | 644.88 km (31.92%) | 667.80 km (33.06%) |
As you can see, I'm SO close to that target red line now! Really hoping to get past it in May and stay injury and illness free - that tennis ball "massage" is still on standby! At the end of March, I was ~28km behind where I needed to be, at the end of April, I'm now only ~23km behind so definitely happy with the progress!
Now, let's check the activity count and where the distances covered have come from.
| Month | Runs (%) | Hikes (%) | Active Days | Total Days |
| January | 16 (73%) | 6 (27%) | 22 | 31 |
| February | 14 (70%) | 6 (30%) | 20 | 29 |
| March | 15 (68%) | 7 (32%) | 22 | 31 |
| April | 10 (45%) | 12 (55%) | 22 | 30 |
| Total | 55 (64%) | 31 (36%) | 86 | 121 |
For the first month this year, the number of hikes have outnumbered the runs but still keeping active for 22 days, which I'm happy with. It's probably the limit that I can cope with to get some rest and recover. Breaking these stats down even further in the table below, we can see the distances covered by the runs and hikes.
| Month | Distance by Running (%) | Distance by Hiking (%) | Total Distance |
| January | 86.54 km (62%) | 52.24 km (38%) | 138.78 km |
| February | 84.14 km (53%) | 76.06 km (47%) | 160.20 km |
| March | 93.15 km (53%) | 81.68 km (47%) | 174.83 km |
| April | 67.14 km (39%) | 103.92 km (61%) | 171.06 km |
| Total | 330.98 km (51%) | 313.90 km (49%) | 644.88 km |
The contribution of distance is almost 50/50 now between hiking and running but the number of activities is still dominated by the running. It all counts though and I can almost taste the patented red line now 😃
Charity Fundraising
I've been speaking to more friends and family about this challenge as they see my updates on Strava but I'm also aiming to raise as much as I can for the Alzheimer's Society, which is dedicated to researching, supporting and caring for families affected by dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.
This is a debilitating condition that slowly erodes the brain, affecting memory, awareness, personality and ability to communicate. Simply put, it’s horrible for both the patient and family and my Nana suffered from it in her final years so the motivation for me is as strong as it has been to do this challenge.
I have set up a Just Giving page here where you can donate and the money goes straight to the charity. There's already been generous sponsorship from Simon & his family and I'm donating half the post payouts from whatever this report gets as well!
Thank you to everyone who's supported this and let's get to that target of £2,020 together hey! If you have Strava, feel free to encourage or banter with me on there - here's a link to my profile!
Conclusion
Phew, another month down and 1/3 of the way through the year and nearly 1/3 of the way through the distance needed to get to! No rest for the wicked though, time to see if May can get me back above the red line again...finally!
Until the next time, take it easy
Nicky
Thanks to 