By Chris Large
Back in spring 2016 I received the annual email from Richard Inchley asking if I wanted to go along on the International Running Challenge 2016 trip to Lanzarote. For those who don’t know about it, it is four consecutive races on four consecutive days each November. Competitors stay at Club La Santa which is a purpose-built sports resort based on the north side of Lanzarote. So the answer for whether or not I wanted to take part again was “is the Pope Catholic?!”.
This was to be my fourth experience of running ‘The Challenge’. It has proved to be a great motivator for me to get fit in the winter months. Although I try to keep my fitness level quite high throughout the year, this tends to be through doing lots of classes, rather than getting out running. I’d started to put a few pounds on and this was made worse by the fact that I had a nasty fall off my bike in July, leading me to leave it broken in the corner of my living room. Trips to the shop in Heath and Reach tended to be by car for that last minute pint of milk, rather than jumping on my bike and heading up Birds Hill. I had very much lost my confidence and was burning petrol rather than burning fat! read more
