Back in 2018 we celebrated the 70th birthday of the NHS, a number of us decided that our ‘birthday present’ to the NHS would be a commitment to get a bit more active in anyway we could.
The idea behind #NHS1000miles was that if we personally took responsibility for our physical and mental wellbeing, we’d hopefully reduce our reliance on the NHS, easing pressure where possible so it would see it’s 100th birthday. More walking, running, skipping, swimming, cycling, in fact the challenge included any mileage that contributes to covering 1000 miles in the year. The fab ‘Trail Magazine’ have #Run1000miles which happens every year, so the #NHS1000miles built on this, whilst hopefully making it a bit more inclusive and accessible for individuals or teams who feel running not was for them but wanted a target and to cover the miles in other ways. Here’s the link to the original blog post shared thanks to the awesome Theresa Chinn @AgencyNurse of the ‘We Communities’ http://wecommunities.org/blogs/3338
Well thanks to a core team, including Jackie, Karen, Michalis, Celia, Phil, Flo, Tree, Trudy, Sue, Tricia, Jen, Dionne, Tony, Zoe, Amy, Nick, Marc, Leigh, Cat, Steph, Fiona, Ruth, Nicola, Becky, Sian, Lucy, Anne, Clare, Claire, Rebekah et al, who are all the backbone of the #NHS1000miles challenge, we decided to continue! So on 31/12/18, we reset the clock and continued the challenge into 2019, here was last years blog http://www.wecommunities.org/blogs/3443
So as we bring 2019 to a close let’s reflect on what we’ve achieved in being a bit more active and fulfilling a commitment to a work/life balance that includes regular exercise.
Personally I’ve found ParkRuns really valuable and pals in my local running club have kept me motivated. I find I can’t get home in time on week nights for the club training sessions, but ParkRuns, Cross Country and other local weekend events bring us all together. This is a few of us on our Christmas lights tour recently.
I’ve accepted that I’m never going to speedy but I do love ultra running, I was thrilled to do 52miles in one go this year (an ultra I’ve learnt is a running distance over 26.2 miles). Gathering the 2019 bling together showed me the range of races I’ve embraced and finished this year! 
Many of these races have been with NHS 1000miles pals. The Yorkshire Marathon was a particular highlight, even in the rain!
So I’m hoping you’ll join us for the 2020 #NHS1000miles challenge, all miles count, just keep a tally & post updates either at 7.30pm on a Sunday evening or on the #NHS1000miles Facebook page. Everyone’s welcome to join in, come on, what’s stopping you? 😉
Kath Evans Connecting 