Fler and Justin Wright set up the Wolo Foundation (‘We only live once’, if you were wondering) in 2018, after Fler was diagnosed with cancer.
The charity supports families living in Sussex through their cancer journeys. They provide practical help through diagnosis, treatment and beyond. Talk about turning a challenge into a blessing.
So, there I was jogging along…
Now, for a quick trip back to February 2024. I was out running with Chris – he’s a client and pavement-pounding pal. We were at the 5k point. You know, the bit where you’re halfway between high as a kite and knackered as a rag and bone man’s horse.
Anyway, Chris blurted out that he was running a 100k for Wolo. There was no, “Wow, that’s a lot”, or even, “What’s Wolo?” No. Stupid, endorphin-filled me said, “brilliant, where do I sign up?”
Then it hit me
100k. That’s 62 miles. And a bit. Or to put it another way, 13 days worth of keeping up with your 10,000-a-day step count – in 1 day.
Ok, I had a few Brighton marathons under my belt, but this was next-level madness – almost two and half marathons in one go. The run was from Arundel to Eastbourne. Up, down, up and down the South Downs.
Want an idea of how serious this run is? The event organisers stipulate that all runners have to carry: emergency survival blanket, whistle, headlamp (and backup headlamp), and a fully charged mobile with the race medic’s number on it. It’s not called the South Downs Ultra for nothing. Gulp.
But, it was too late for cold feet. I’d signed on the dotted line. People were counting on me. I was a hero. I mean, 100’s just a number, right?
Cue ‘Eye of the Tiger’ at 150db
Wise people allow 12 months to train for something as punishing as this. Pah!
I had three months. Oh and there was dollop to run, and looking after the kids, and everything else that life throws at you. Some days I’d run on the Downs for a couple of hours. Other days I’d squeeze in a cheeky 5k at lunchtime.
Not exactly punching beef carcasses in Philadelphia, but I was building up a mean family of blisters.
On your marks, get cramps…
The big day came. 25th May, 2024. Etched in my memory and every muscle of my body forever. 2,000 ultra-fit, ultra-hard runners. And me. 5am start. Warriors all, emerging through the mist, preparing for the 8,000-foot ascent and mile after mile of bounce, plod, puke, flop.
It’s like tackling a creative project with no brief – a level of hell nothing can prepare you for.
10, 20, 30k in and it was going sort of OK. I zoned the pain out, and sadly also my love of the South Downs. This is not a National Park; it’s a torture chamber!
40, 50, 60k… I started seeing things. There was a lemon tree that seemed to be following me. And an army commander (at least I think she was real), who pushed me as far as I could go.
And it turned out ‘as far as I could go’ on that particular day was 81k. By that point I’d been running like a drunken jellyfish for 10 hours. 10 hours!
I collapsed. Told the Sussex countryside how much I hated it. Then fumbled for my phone. 4% battery life, which funnily enough, was about as much as I had left in me too. I sent my location to a mate, using the what3words app (pretty sure it was ‘cant.stop.crying’), and was eventually scraped up off the floor, and whisked back to Hove.
As soon as we landed, I crawled into KFC and devoured a whole bargain bucket. This is exactly how KFC sells it: ‘…6 pieces of our famous Original Recipe chicken, 4 regular fries. A feast fit for the whole family.’ Yeah right, a whole family of normal people or one husk of a man who’s just run his brains out.
Here we go again
For the next three days, the stairs looked like Mount Kilimanjaro and I swore ‘never again’. But then the sponsorship money came in (£1,000, thank you) and a wave of post-race euphoria took over.
The importance of the work that Wolo does started to sink in and I decided that dollop had to join the Wolo 100 club. Quick plug, if you want to do your bit for families in Sussex coping with cancer, the link’s at the end of this post.
Anyway. The dust settled, the pain eased and I’m doing it all again in July 2025. This time we’ll be running the 100k through the night, from Guildford Hospital to Eastbourne Hospital. Hopefully I won’t end up in one of them.
A massive thank you to Wolo, for the work you do and for one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life. Roll on July.
Want to join the Wolo 100 club? Fill yer boots.
