School of Medicine alumna and current Foundation Year 1 Doctor Alice Fortune has recently completed her two-and-a-half-year-long running challenge to run a half marathon in every city in England for the mental health charity Young Minds UK.
Alice has been doing this challenge since 2021 and since then has run a half marathon in all 55 cities in England - a total of 737 miles, 120 hours and over 1.2 million steps of running, and 300 hours of travelling including 160 trains. She took a welcomed sit-down to speak to us about her incredible achievement, the highs and lows and what kept her motivated to keep putting one foot in front of another!
Can you tell us about your experience and what a typical week looked like?
“Since September 2021 I have run a half marathon, on average, every two to three weeks. Some months were busier than others, occasionally running half marathons a few weekends in a row, and a handful of times completing two half marathons in one weekend, on back-to-back days. This was for the further away cities such as Truro, Plymouth and Canterbury where I couldn’t get all the way there and back in one day, so I needed to stay overnight. I thought I may as well try and tick two cities off whilst I was there!
I’ve run in all seasons and all weathers - in rain, wind and snow - at sunrise and sunset, all across the country. I’ve had over 40 friends and family join along the way but have also done a lot of the runs on my own.
A lot of the journeys to the cities have been really long (8-10 hours was not unusual for a round trip!), sometimes getting up as early as 5am for a train and not getting home until after 10pm.
Alice begins her run in a sunny Carlisle
What was the most challenging part?
The hardest parts were days when I ran in bad weather, on my own, when I really didn’t feel like it. A few times my journeys were affected by train strikes which meant a longer day than expected, or having to completely rearrange a run.
The amount of time it took to plan the runs took me by surprise - lots of route planning and booking trains, as well as organising logistical things such as where to leave a bag with some extra layers in whilst I ran.
The challenge was ongoing during my medical school finals. This was tricky to balance correctly at times; learning when a half marathon would be a nicely timed revision break, and when it would be too much! I deliberately saved some close-by cities for this period of time to make things easier for myself.
What kept you motivated?
Thinking about the end goal kept me motivated, as well as the incentive of increasing donations to Young Minds.
Inviting other people to come along and run with me also kept things interesting and made it a lot more fun!
What were the highlights for you?
My favourite cities were the ones where I had people running with me - I was really lucky to have over 40 friends and family join me along the way and this made things so much more enjoyable. It was also always a good day when the sun was shining, even if I was on my own. Some of the cities were beautiful so made them really nice to visit, particularly York, Cambridge, Oxford and Winchester.
My stand-out favourite runs were Salford (where I had 8 friends join) and of course the final run in London. This was a full marathon to tick off the cities of Westminster and London all in one run. I had a total of 22 friends and family join along the way, and another 20+ waiting for us at the finish line.
I really didn’t expect to have so many people join - it was honestly heartwarming that so many people made the effort to come, some travelling a long way to London to be there.
This was one of my favourite runs I’ve ever done - I loved every second and crossing the finish line was the best feeling ever.
Several people have got in touch to say that they’ve been inspired to start running after seeing my challenge and how this has helped their mental health. This has been amazing to hear.
I think it’s easy to forget the impact you have on other people through things you do. I never thought I’d have this effect on someone, and it was so nice to hear that I’d helped them!
Documenting each of her half-marathon achievements!
What have you gained from the experience?
I can now say that I’ve been to every single city in England, which is pretty cool!
I’ve learnt a lot along the way, such as if you try and run around Grainger market in Newcastle, you will get kicked out, and that running a half marathon the day after finishing a set of night shifts is a very bad idea!
On a more serious note, it’s been a really valuable experience in terms of learning to manage my time, as well as learning to look after myself and when to take breaks, such as during my medicine finals exam season and busy periods of my FY1 job. I’ve also learnt a lot of resilience and discipline through getting up early on mornings when I didn’t feel like it and completing a solo half marathon in bad weather. These are great skills that I also take into other parts of my life.
What does it mean to you to donate to Young Minds UK?
Running is something that has massively improved my own mental health and confidence, so being able to do this challenge to help other people’s mental health too has felt really amazing. Suicide remains the biggest killer of people aged 5-39 years old, and referrals to mental health services are at an all-time high.
There is a massive unmet need for people of all ages suffering with mental health conditions in the UK, but young people are disproportionately affected.
In my job as a doctor, I see young people struggling with their mental health on a daily basis - this is working on an adult ward and not in a mental health department. All of this makes it clear to me how important it is to fundraise for this cause and try to make a difference.
A celebratory group picture after Alice completes her London and Westminster run
How much have you raised in total so far?
So far, thanks to everyone who’s donated, we’ve raised a total of £8,758 for Young Minds UK! This is a huge amount and I’m really grateful to everyone who’s donated. I’m still really hopeful that we might reach my fundraising goal of £10,000 - if anyone would like to donate they can do so on my Just Giving page (link).
Aside from a well-deserved rest, what are your next goals?
I’d like to focus on my job including deciding what I want to do after FY2 and keep running just for fun! I don’t have any further fundraising goals at the moment. I think after asking for donations to Young Minds for the past 2 and a half years, people have probably had enough of me!”
Congratulations, Alice on a remarkable achievement!
Discover More
- Take a look at Alice’s journey on her Instagram page (link)