After almost 18 months of preparation Anna McNuff set off to run 2,620 miles (100 marathons) through Britain… barefoot and invited people to join her in her enthusiastic, hard-to-resist way:

“On the five-month run from The Shetland Islands to London, I’ll weave my way along rugged coastlines, through small villages, across moors, along beaches, over farmland and even pitter-patter down the odd picturesque A-road too. Mmm. Lovely.
I’ll also be passing through some of the country’s biggest cities, and a fair ole wodge of suburbia. I’ll be inviting you to run with me, exploring the trails of our national parks, meeting some truly amazing Britsh people and stopping for many, many cups of tea and hugs along the way.”

GIRL GUIDING A GO-GO
“At the core of this journey are the young women of Britain. As a proud Girlguiding ambassador, I’ll be visiting as many Rainbow, Brownie and Guiding units as possible, to share tales of adventure and let those girls know that there is more magic in them than they will ever know ?”

Why am I doing it barefoot??
“Well. When I stand in front of those young women – our future leaders, scientists, adventurers, athletes, politicians, artists… I’m going to be encouraging them to reach for things that are just beyond what they believe they are capable of. And if I’m asking them to do that, then I have to be on that journey too. Thems the rules.

I could do the run in trainers, but trying to do it in bare feet takes the challenge up a notch (or five). So bare feet it is. Plus, I do love a barefoot wander… ?”

“So here we go again, ruddy marvelous adventure army. Only this time we’re playing at home rather than away. ???? I have a feeling this will be one heck of a trip and I can’t wait to share it with you all. The highs, the lows, and all the glorious messy bits in between.

Right now, I am equal parts excited and terrified. And when excitement and fear collide there can be only one outcome: ADVENTURE”

Check out Anna’s full route.