An unlucky break...

My friends and I have now run 350 miles of the London Underground. We've run the entire Bakerloo, Waterloo & City, Hammsersmith & City, District, Northern, Circle and Central lines. We've almost finished the Piccadilly and Jubilee lines. We only have the Victoria and Metropolitan lines left to begin. We have 100 miles left to run. We've raised £9450 and only have £550 to go before we reach our target.

I have run all 350 miles and have run 18 half marathons, five 18+ mile runs and a marathon. For the last 6 weeks I have been running in a lot of pain in my right foot and unfortunately this morning it was confirmed that I have sustained a stress fracture to my foot and that I have to have 6 weeks complete rest otherwise the fracture of my metatarsel will turn in to a break. Needless to say I am pretty devastated.

No matter what the weather or how I felt I have run and I have run because I really, really wanted to make a difference to Harry Moseley's charity. The only way I knew how to do that was by coming up with a stupid challenge, a challenge that caught people's imagination, and then hope that off the back off this people would donate and money could be raised for Harry's wonderful charity. Amazingly people have donated. Donated an awful lot of money. We've had over 300 donations. Some people have donated more than once. Some have donated more than twice. One person, who I have never met, has donated 8 times. He lives in India and not only has he donated but he has bought bracelets made by Harry, shared Harry's story with friends and family and he has even run part of his rail network to raise money for Harry. He is not an isolated case - people have been amazing. They've donated £100s and £100s of pounds and for that I am so grateful and I guess that is the reason I feel so guilty - I said I'd finish by May and I now can't but I promise that I will finish.

I have ran past awful, awful areas! Dagenham, Neseden, Becontree, Upney, Woodford. The list goes on and on. I've done it in PJ bottoms, often at night, but I've run with friends and every step of the way my dad has been there - this has made this whole process doable. Without these people I'd not of completed 1 line let alone approaching 9.

When I pitched this idea to my mates I'd never done any running. I was unfit but I was inspired by an incredible young boy. A young boy who didn't give up and wanted to raise as much money as he possibly could. The last 6 weeks I've been running in real pain as my mates and dad would testify to. The last 3 runs there have been tears in my eyes such was the pain. Today confirmed what I already knew to be honest. But this is in no way the end of the running. I said, we said, that we would run the tube to raise money for Help Harry Help Others and we will. I have to rest my foot for 6 weeks but the minute that is up I will be back and I will be running back through the grim areas! I will be running with my friends and I will be running to raise money to try and do my little bit to help children with brain cancer. I tried my best to run and to run through the pain but I am afraid my body has given up. I am hoping you'll all continue to amaze me and to keep supporting us even though we will be finishing the challenge a little later than planned.

We'll still be putting on events and you can still sponsor us. Thank you for all your kind words and I promise that we'll finish it. Our new aim is to finish 6 weeks later - so around the middle of July. If any of you plan on doing something like this in the future I would suggest to train for it, to eat properly and to buy proper running shoes! All these things I have not really done and unfortuantely it has come to bite me on the ****. Still, we've raised £9450 and run 350 miles...not bad for some idiots in PJ bottoms.

thanks

Steve

www.justgiving.com/steven-whyley

Look how far we have run..

These two picture show how far we have currently run compared to how far we need to run. The picture with the blue bar is how far we've currently run.

We have completed the Waterloo and City Line, The Hammersmith and City line, the Bakerloo line, the District line, the Circle line, the Northern line. 53 miles of the Central line, 54 miles of the Piccadilly line.

We have the DLR, the Victoria and the Metropolitan to begin and we have 1 run left on the Central and 1 run left on the Piccadilly.

We've now run over 300 miles. I have been doing this since October but due to a knee injury I have only actually run for 4 months.

I have 12 runs left including a marathon. I have around 150 miles to go. I have just over 6 weeks to complete it. I have never done something this difficult nor have I ever felt this much pain. We have £600 left to raise.

Help us.

www.justgiving.com/steven-whyley

I have had better Saturdays

Around 4 weeks ago I ran a marathon (26.2 miles) in 3 hours and 52 minutes. On Saturday I ran 16 miles in 4 hours and 15 minutes. Those 4 hours and 15 minutes were the hardest thing I have ever done. I thought the marathon was tough, you need to invent a new word to describe Saturday.

There were 3 of us running that day. Nick Kindred - who set off by himself at around 9.30AM thinking Luke (the other runner) and I would catch him. We set off at around 11. We met my dad - fast becoming the most experienced tube passenger that ever existed - at Stratford at 10.15 and travelled up to Epping - the further point east on the whole of the London Underground. As we were on the tube we were presented with a landscape that resembled the Last of the Summer Wine - fields, trees and not a road in sight. I never liked Last of the Summer Wine and I wasn't going to like this run. The alarm bells began to surface when Nick Kindred sent me a text 'Hope you bought some pavement with you!' - never a good sign. Luke had been suffering from flu all week and had just slowly got over it. I was tired and just a bit of mess. My dad remarked that he hadn't seen us two less up for a run in all the time that we'd done this. Still, 16 miles, we'd be done in a couple of hours and could get straight down to a beer garden and enjoy the amazing weather. I could then go to two house parties that I was meant to be going to with a nice tan, I could look well and I could brag how I banged out 16 miles in 2 hours. I am a very stupid man.

Me and Butler set off from Epping to Theydon Bois and then on to Debden where we'd be meeting my dad. There are those that say Essex is a flat county - I challenge you to go to Epping and run to Theydon Bois and then on to Debden. I'm not a great hill runner. I am also, it turns out, not great at running in PJ bottoms in 20 degrees heat. Put those two things together and suddenly Butler and I were in trouble. It took us over an hour to get to Debden. We were running in the road as there was no pavement. We had to run through fields, jump over bushes and brooks. It would have been an amazing walk but it was a hideous run. Butler was out on his feet. I also had a stomach ache, running with stomach cramps in the heat up hills ain't great fun to be honest. We met my dad who seemed to have a look of genuine concern on his face. He hadn't anticipated the hills. He hadn't anticipated how bad we would be. Who knew where Kindred was? I hoped he was alive! He was out there on his own - I text him but got nothing back. Luke and I ran on and would meet my dad at Loughton. As we began running up another hill Butler lost it. Butler is a guy a who lives close to the edge of sanity anyway but he was that exhausted, that fatigued, he was in that much pain with his knee that he stopped speaking sense. I was genuinely concerned. I met my dad and we managed to, after some struggle, persuade Luke not to run for a bit - he would get on the tube with my dad and I would run the next 4 stops by myself. Luke was not at all up for this but he was on the point of collapse - he was in a shocking way so my dad wasn't going to allow him to run.

I set off by myself. Kindred had text me saying "dying". I took that to mean he was at least still alive! I am not good at running by myself. The temptation to give up. The temptation to stop and to walk. Especially when you are in such pain, when you are exhausted and hot - the temptation was massive. Fortunately I got texts off my girlfriend, my mum and Butler - all of whom told me to keep going. So I did. One hour later I met my dad and Butler. We had two stops to go - Leyton and then Stratford. Butler, ever the idiot, said he WOULD be running that last leg with me. Kindred sent me a text - he'd got to Stratford. An unbelievable effort from someone who doesn't run all that often.

Butler and I ran off. Butler's leg had completely gone - it was laughable. Two men in PJ bottoms running so slowly that they were almost running backwards. The Sheffield Wednesday fans down for the Orient game couldn't believe their eyes. We must have looked as if we were in pain cos cars were hooting, people in the street shouting at us to tell us to keep going. We saw Westfield in the distance and passed a very questionable estate on our left - we'd made it to Stratford. Neither of us could walk, my stomach cramps had got that bad that I dared not look at my pants! I cry at stupid things - s*** films and talent shows. I don't think I have ever cried from pain or exhaustion before - but tears filled my eyes. It was without doubt the most difficult thing I had ever done. Suddenly the house party dream was over - I couldn't stand let alone brag.

Tonight I am running. Tomorrow I am running. Sunday I am running a marathon. I want this to be over by the end of May. I need this to be over by the end of May. We've raised £9250 now. That day the 3 of us ran from Epping to Stratford will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons. The only thing I took from it was that if you are inspired by a cause or by a person, as I am with Harry, then no matter how bad things get you can achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. You just need to find something that inspires you so much that you can never give up. Harry didn't, and I wasn't about to. In fact I have never been more certain that I'll get this run done.

Steve
www.justgiving.com/steven-whyley

How do I feel?

The running has continued. Since the horrific marathon and even more brutal stag do in Barcelona I have run from Canada Water to Swiss Cottage and I have run from Ealing Broadway to Marble Arch.

My mate the other day asked me how I am feeling - hopefully this blog post answers it mate.

This challenge is without a doubt the single hardest thing I have ever done. So much so that I feel myself cracking - both mentally and physically.

When I decided that I wanted to run the whole of the tube back in October I didn't really give it the thought I should have. I thought it wouldn't be too difficult. Don't get me wrong I knew it would be tough but I thought I'd get it done in a few months. I didn't account for my failing body. I also decided that I wanted to raise a substantial amount of money for Harry's charity - £10,000. And until every tube line has been run and until every penny has been raised I won't stop. It's taken over my life.

I am part of a team of 7 - all of which are really great people. But as it was my idea, as I was closest to Harry, I, for some reason, feel the £10,000 burden a lot more I think. I plan all the routes, I navigate us as we run, I do every single run. All 6 of the guys have offered to help with every aspect of that - they're great - but this has become a challenge that I feel I have to complete. It has become quite overwhelming - all the time I am thinking how can we raise money? Quiz nights, dinners, videos, blogs, random fundraising efforts, Facebook statuses, Twitter statuses - it's become a huge a part of my life. I also have complete strangers looking to me for help - thinking that because I have helped Harry's campaign I will help theirs. I feel horrendously guilty when I can't. When I don't. I am told by people suffering from cancer that we're doing a great thing - but those very people who are telling me suddenly die days later. This only adds to my desire to raise £10,000 but it also adds to the stress - I can't seem to escape it.

Then there are the runs themselves. I am not an athlete. I have never really been an athlete. I play the odd game of football, badly, but that's it. I haven't trained, I hadn't changed my diet, my lifestyle. Yet I thought I could do a half marathon every single week - no matter what the weather. I thought I could do a marathon every month - no matter how I felt. I didn't account for tearing my cartilage, straining my ankle ligaments. I didn't account for 'stress'. I have had blood tests due to poor health and a stress hormone I have is way too high - apparently because of the pressure I am putting on my body. I've not slept properly in months. I didn't account for a bad back - so bad that every day if I sit in my chair for longer than 30 minutes I seize up. When I go out with mates down the pub or off to a club I feel too tired to stay out - this isn't me, this isn't how I normally feel. I thought all I'd be doing was a few runs and it'd be ok - but running with a body that is failing just causes it to fail more and for the first time I admit I am struggling, really struggling.

Recently I have never wanted to run less. But I have to. People have been incredibly kind and have donated hard earned money. People expect me/us to finish.

I get in after each day at work and I feel tired - this never used to be the case. I get up in the morning's and I ache - this never used to be the case. I can't sleep properly because I'm always thinking of how far I have to go and I am scared that I won't be able to do it.

In 8 weeks this challenge will be complete. Running the entire London Underground doesn't sound much. By the time we've finished I would have run close to 450 miles which spread over 5-6 months doesn't seem like a huge deal. Raising £10,000 doesn't sound like an impossible target. But both of these things have become my Everest.

As hard as I am finding it I only have to look at the kid I am running for. My body hurts but he had a tumour the size of a tennis ball growing in his brain. He was 11 and had Radium treatment, he had been pumped with poison when he had chemo. Did he complain? Did he give up? Nope. Instead he raised an incredible sum of money and inspired a 25 year old to try and do something. I won't lie - I am struggling but I can't give up, nor will I. Through the support of my 6 friends I am running with, the support of my family and my girlfriend I know I will finish this. It just seems a long way off I guess. Still, the runs continue - Saturday, Stratford to Epping, Tuesday - West Ruislip to Hangar Lane, Thursday - Cockfosters to Kings Cross and Sunday another marathon. We're at £9080 raised and over 300 miles run - soon it will be over and I'll look back and feel proud about what my friends and I achieved. At the moment I just see a mountain in front of me...but they've been overcome before and they will be again.

Steve
www.justgiving.com/steven-whyley

A favour

Hi Guys,

My friends and I are trying to raise £10,000 for Harry Moseley's charity - Help Harry Help Others. Harry died, when only 11 years old, from an inoperable brain tumour. His charity, an arm of Cancer Research, is trying to find a cure for brain tumours.

We are trying to run all 450 miles of the London Underground in pyjama bottoms to raise money and awareness. 25 half marathons every week and 4 marathons over the course of 6 months. We've had donations from all over the UK and the World and I've received countless messages from people saying if they were in London then they would run with us. Well now they can.

But I need your help.

On Saturday March 10th - We are putting on an event. The event is the International Run for Harry Moseley! If someone lives somewhere with a tube, subway, train or tram and they can walk or run a mile then I want them to get involved. Wherever they are in the world I want them to get on their Pyjama bottoms, get down to their local tube/subway/tram/train stop and walk/run a mile. I would love for them to get photos and videos of the event (and send them to me at stevewhyley@yahoo.com) and I would love for them to invite friends and family to join them. So far we have runners in London, Delhi, Auckland, New York, Madrid, Sydney, Honk Kong, Chennai and Bangalore.

Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

If you have any friends that live abroad or are travelling abroad can you ask them to get involved. I will be running part of the C2C line down in Essex on Saturday - so if you live near a train line and fancy it go for a mile's run.

I write a blog after each run that can be found at www.harrytuberunners.blogspot.com
Our Justgiving page is www.justgiving.com/steven-whyley
We have made a video showing you what it is we are doing with pictures of us, in PJ's, outside various tube stops desperately trying to get our breath! The link is - http://t.co/gyrgeHdl

Any questions give me a shout at @sw1205 or stevewhyley@yahoo.com and hopefully you'll be able to help me...

We've had amazing support already from friends, family, Ben Shephard and complete strangers. Hoping the goodwill can carry on. Let's make Harry proud.

cheers
Steve

We cant give up

Sunday 26th February. A special date for a couple of reasons - it was my Nan's birthday, who died from Cancer and it was the day I did my first ever marathon in aid of Cancer Research UK - the Help Harry Help Others campaign.

Before yesterday my friends and I had ran 210 miles. We had run in all weathers, we'd suffered various injuries along the way but we were just so determined to finish the challenge - the challenge of running all 430 miles of the London Underground. The challenge of raising £10,000 for a charity that we believe in. Big time.

Harry Moseley lost his life at the age of 11. He had an inoperable brain tumour but his family, his incredible family, are so determined to make his dream come true. Harry's dream was simply that no one had to suffer like him - to rid the world of brain tumours. And his family work tirelessly to take that dream and make it a reality. They say hope is grief's best music and I think the hope of one day Harry's dream becoming reality is helping them live day to day.

We had raised around £6000 and the donations were slowing down so I thought we had to make the challenge bigger, more ridiculous. The bigger the challenge the more likely people are to donate. So I said we would commit to not only run a half marathon each week but also one marathon a month. Yesterday was the first marathon. We would be running from Barking at the end of zone four to Hammersmith, the end of Zone 2. We were running the whole of the Hammersmith and City line - the line itself is not 26 miles, it is a shade under 20 but when running and running the route we took it ended up being 26.5 miles. There were 4 of us who were going to do it. Myself, Martin and the two girls - Chloe and Becki. Martin and I had been run around a half marathon every week since the new year together but never any longer than that since January because of my knee's and my physio who ordered me to not run above 12-13. The girls had not run for a while so to tackle a marathon was a huge, huge ask.

I went out the night before and got to bed at 1am - preparation is so important! I also had a whole packet of Maryland Cookies and a glass of milk for breakfast - it is important to have a proper runners diet! I put my knee supports on, I put my PJ bottoms on and I headed out - nervous and not at all up for it. The girls were starting around an hour and a half before us and were already at West Ham by the time I got anywhere near Barking. I got a text off of one of my best mates - Nick Jellett who said if I completed it then he'd donate £100! As I say around a month ago we were sitting at £6000 raised. After the marathon we are above £7600 - a sum we are really proud of. The gamble of the marathons paid off - we'd generated an extra £1500. Now we just had to run them!

I met Martin and met the support crew - the old man. Martin and I were a little nervous. We are not runners. I am not sure what we are but we certainly aren't runners. I was wearing two knee supports and began stretching. My groin had been playing up since the last run. Add a problem with my right foot and I was looking at a marathon with 4 injuries. Excellent. We shook hands with the old man and he went off to meet the girls and give them some waters and Gel's. They'd made great progress and met him at Mile End. Chloe was struggling badly with her hip and Becki was high on gel's. Martin and I meanwhile were running pretty quickly and ran the first 8.8 miles in just under an hour and met the support crew for a much needed gel, mars bar and swig of water. We then met the girls at Whitechapel station, got a quick picture - we wished each other luck and powered on.

Martin and I got to Farringdon pretty quickly and felt pretty good. And then we ran up Farringdon road - a road with a big hill. We got to the top of that and we were wiped. It completely killed us. My groin was in bits, my knees hurt and I could feel my foot going. Martin had aches all over his body and we still had around 11-12 miles left to run. We also knew the girls were in a lot of pain and suddenly I think we all thought we'd bitten off more than we could chew.

Martin and I got to Baker Street and I know that we both considered throwing in the towel. I was out on my feet. So was Martin. I can't really explain how much pain I was in. But at that moment I got a text from my girlfriend and from my mum and I remembered why I was doing it. I also remembered the £100 that was promised by my mate Nick if I finished. Yes it hurt. Yes I was in pain. So was Martin. So were the girls. But I had the chance to achieve something, to make a difference. I am a huge believer if you want something enough you can achieve it. Especially when so many great people are willing you on. So we carried on...

Martin told me, with a few miles to go, that he had never been in that much pain before. I ran up Shepherds Bush Road and could see Hammersmith in the distance and the pride and relief I felt is a moment I will never forget. I'd done it. I had run a marathon in 3 hours and 52 minutes. The girls managed to break their 7 hour target and they too completed it. 4 people who could have given up but didn't. Harry could have given up but didn't. Lance Armstrong once said "If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell". And that is the reason we are doing this. Cancer is a sentence and not a word. We need to change that. We need to make Harry's dream a reality. For now all that we can do is our bit. Harry was the inspiration I needed to get off my arse and do something. I'd just wished to hell I'd done it earlier...I just wish that cancer was just a word to my Nan and to Harry and not a sentence. I think my Nan and Harry would be proud of me and the guys, for the first time in my life I was proud of me. I'd done a marathon. And I'd done it when every sinew of my being was screaming at me to give up. Let's not give up. Let's kill cancer.

Steve
Www.justgiving.com/Steven-whyley

The Tube Runners and two special guests!

Saturday was probably the most fun we've had doing a run. We ran with 'Sheps' as I am now calling him! To everyone else he is better known as Ben Shephard.

Around 3 months ago I felt we needed a celebrity to help us spread awareness of our challenge and therefore help spread awareness of Harry, his story and his charity. I didn't want just anyone. I wanted someone who cared about Harry and felt as inspired by him as what we did.

One year ago I noticed a tweet from Ben Shephard - he tweeted that he had spent some time with the 'incredible' Harry Moseley. He encouraged us to 'follow' Harry Moseley. That tweet I saw from Ben made me aware of Harry's story and that tweet is therefore the reason I am running today. So, the celebrity I wanted to contact was Ben. The tweet read "@Benshepard my mates and I are running the tube for @harry_moseley, fancy it?". I remember tweeting him as I was coming home from work. I got to the other end of my tube journey and I got a tweet back off him! "Hi Steve, sounds good! Got any more info'. I was buzzing! We went back and forth and settled on Dec 9th for him to do a run with us - the Waterloo & City line.
Unfortunately that week he found out it was his sons nativity so he couldn't make it. But, he sent me a direct message (twitter talk!) to apologise and then he tweeted us good luck - all 350,000 of his followers could see the tweet. I stayed in touch with him and sent him a video we'd done - he loved it and tweeted it to all of his followers and said he'd like to rearrange the run with us. We'd settled on Feb 18th. Stratford to Marble Arch. 13 miles. I'd yet to mention anything about PJ bottoms!

Saturday morning arrived and me, my mum, dad, Luke, Martin and Shaun arrived at Stratford station. In our PJ bottoms. I've never seen my mum take so long to get ready! Luke had his knee supports on. I had my knee supports on. Shaun had his ankle support on. My dad his back support on. Martin, the machine, was support free. I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognise and then we saw them - Sheps and his mate Chester. They were wearing proper running gear, gadgeted up to the max. They looked like actual runners. We looked a shambles. We were a shambles. Except my mum, she looked lovely!

I walked over, in my pj's and introduced myself, introduced the others and immediately we felt at ease. There was nothing celebrity about the guy (sorry Ben!) - he was just a normal guy. His mate Chester, also a top man, said had he known we were wearing PJ's he would have worn some too - well Chester was in luck! I bought two spare pairs with me! They immediately put them on - Ben also got a pic with some other guys from the station and they donated £20 to our total. We then started running...we quickly got lost - not at all embarrassing!

Ben spent the first 20 minutes with me and he asked me why did I do this challenge, how was I finding it, what future plans did we have. He was so interested. It was brilliant. We chatted about Harry and Harry's mum. He was blown away by Harry and he'd met Georgie (Harry's mum) only last week. When he was talking about her it was obvious why Harry was the way he was - he was blessed with an incredibly loving family and they were blessed with a son who had courage, who was selfless and who was just thoroughly decent. A lovely family who's lives were to be changed forever by the growth of a cancerous tumour. As I ran with Ben, Chester and 4 of my best mates I realised just how important Harry's legacy is and how we must ensure we all do whatever we can to help others and to make Harry's dream happen.

Ben tweeted various pics on route to his Twitter followers - we got best wishes from everywhere. Cars were beeping, people were shouting good luck at us. We'd done many a grim run and we'll do many more a grim run but this run I enjoyed. I forgot the pain. I was running with mates and for those two hours Harry Moseley was being talked about in all corners of the country, in the streets that we were running. We stopped at various points to meet my mum and dad - they were handing out the Mars bars (we weren't upgrading for Ben!). We got to Bethnal Green and Sheps uploaded a pic of all of us in our PJ's to his followers. He also rang Chris Kamara to tell him that I'd heard Neil Warnock had been given the Leeds job - a truly epic moment! Ben slowly worked his way round all my mates and spent 20 minutes with all of us. He was a class act.

We powered our way through the Central line. Ben told me that he'd run from the West to the East of the country for a friends daughter - it was really inspiring stuff. I was told how nice Roberto Martinez is and how Scott Parker is Sheps' hero! At each stop we got a pic. We finished in 1 hour and 40 minutes and he signed some Harry tshirts that we could give out as prizes for our quiz night. And, brilliantly, he has said he is going to do our final run with us. Hopefully Chester will too. My mum got a kiss on the cheek and Ben said his goodbyes. The whole morning was surreal but it epitomised Harry - random people being bought together to do good.

Another 13 miles. Another reminder that there are some really great people about. We are running our first ever marathon Sunday, in fact it is further than a marathon, we are running the whole of the Hammersmith and City line. We're also meeting Harry's mum before the run. If I was nervous about meeting Ben then you'd have to come up with a whole new word for how I will feel when I meet Georgie. We are thrilled she wants to meet us. I just hope we can help, in a little way, achieve her son's ambition. With more people like Ben Shephard, Chester, my mates and my parents then brain cancer doesn't have a chance. Roll on Sunday and thanks again for all the kind words and donations. We're up to £7350 and over 200 miles run. As Harry would say - we're making it happen :)