Running an ultra marathon in aid of Homeless Hounds

The Cause

Homeless Hounds is a small charity based on the Fylde coast in Lancashire. They take in stray and abandoned dogs to help find them a home and prevent the destruction of healthy animals who are unfortunate enough to find themselves on the streets. They are ran by a dedicated team of unpaid Volunteers who receive no wages or expenses, therefore every penny goes to the welfare of the dogs in their care.

Homeless hounds came to our attention towards the latter end of February. We'd lost our beloved English bull terrier suddenly and unexpectedly at the beginning of the year. Despite not being over the loss we started the search for a new dog to help heal our hearts as the house was not the same without one. We found Remus (pictured) on their website, following a home inspection and informal chat we were lucky enough to bring him home with us the following week where he is fully settled in and a major part of our life.

For more information on the charity or to see if you could help them in anyway please visit https://www.homelesshounds.org.uk/about-us/homeless-hounds/

The challenge

The Limestone 50 is an event held in the peak district, starting and ending in the small village of Castleton. It's a 50 mile (approximately 82km) ultra marathon with 7300ft of elevation gain, more than twice the elevation of Snowdon. The event takes place on the 31st of August with a time limit of 21 hours. For more information or if you fancy having a go at one of the ultras that day please visit https://www.peakrunning.co.uk/peakdistrictultras

About Me

I'm Dan, 35 years old and caught the running bug last year when I signed up to the Manchester half marathon to raise money for the Christie. After completing that I bought myself a pair of trail runners and headed out in to the country as a change from pounding the pavements.

I regularly run 10-15 miles on a Saturday morning, the furthest I've ever ran is 21 miles so logically the next step would be to sign up for a marathon. Unfortunately for me, logic has never been my strong point. Impulsiveness, however, is. That's how I've found myself signed up to this.

I'm completely prepared for the fact pretty much the next 4 months of my life is going to be dedicated to training and thinking about this challenge so that I can firstly get round the course and secondly get round the course as quickly as possible.

I understand that times are demanding we spend more money than ever to receive less therefore anything you can spare will be massively appreciated.

Thanks for reading this far and if you can afford to spare anything thanks for donating.

Cheers, Dan