400 days of running for Newport's Oliver Stokes

Stokes recently chalked up 400 consecutive days of running and is not planning to stop anytime soon as he aims for 500.

The 41-year-old has covered well over a thousand miles along the way and still has the motivation to slip on his trainers and hit the streets.

During his journey, Stokes had competed in competitive races for the club and took part in countless Parkrun events across Shropshire and the West Midlands.

Stokes started taking running seriously in 2006 and was relatively injury free until he suffered a serious injury on a skiing trip in 2019.

"Without really knowing it, the seeds for this unplanned running challenge, to run every single day for a year, were sown at the start of 2019," said Stokes.

"I broke my right knee cap while in Austria in January 2019. I had successful surgery before flying home and then spent the next two-and-a-half months in a leg brace and on crutches and a long way off being able to run.

"By early March, I made my return to Parkrun, opting for the pancake flat Isabel Trail course in Stafford, where I walked on my crutches.

"Over the coming weeks and months I started to run more and more as I continued my recovery. I decided to complete RED (run every day) January at the start of 2020 due to the fact that I had been unable to run at all the previous January.

"At the start of 2021, I decided to undertake the RED challenge again. However, with the country being put back into another lockdown, running became really important to me during the cold dark days.

"After one month of running, I kept going to reach 50 days, then two months, then three months, then 100 days and the idea of doing 365 days started to gain momentum. The prospect of staying injury, illness, isolation and Covid-free for an entire year was going to be a challenge in itself."

But it was a challenge that Stokes, who teaches at Thomas Adams School in Wem, rose to as he set out some rules to help along the way.

"The rules I set myself were that for the run to count, I had to run a minimum of one mile a day," he said.

"This would often mean running around the block before playing post-work five-a-side football, or running to and from the swimming pool while I was training for a triathlon.

"I never followed a plan and would simply run as far and as fast as my body and mind felt like it wanted to on the day. I ended up running in all weathers, on my own, with family, friends and the running club."

Family support has also been forthcoming, while the running club has also played a big part in keeping Stokes motivated.

"With Parkrun and races being cancelled, the club-organised weekly social distancing runs were great motivation for me and I often ended up running these with my Dad, son Harry and daughter Fae around town every Saturday," added Stokes.

"I entered a few virtual races and towards the end of the year, some actual races.

"Each month, I was managing to cover around 100 miles and by the end of my challenge I had clocked up 1,211 miles along with running my quickest times for several years at parkrun and over 10k, half marathon and sprint triathlon distance. An added bonus is that people ask if I have lost weight, which I have done, but this was never the intention of the challenge."

And after hitting the target of running every day for a year, Stokes simply kept on going. His journey has also seen him raise funds for good causes.

"The one RED January I raised some money for Mind, the mental health charity and then the following year, along with some fellow staff members we raised over £1,000 for Cancer Research,"said Stokes.

"Sometimes the hardest part of this challenge was the mental challenge of getting out of the door, especially after a long day at work and it was raining and dark outside, but the further I got into the challenge the prospect of breaking my streak and all that I had already done was motivation in itself.

"I reached 400 days early in February and the aim now is to reach 500. Then I will reassess and decided whether to carry on or not.

"But I’ve come to realise that the saying of ‘you really don’t know what you can achieve until you put your mind to it’, is so true."