Hi – I’m Steve. This is my website where you can find out all about my adventures in becoming the first person to run the length of every branch, of every line, of the London Underground, and the Docklands Light Railway, between November 2010 and August 2011. Here’s a picture of me with my lovely fluffy bunny wifey, Zoe.

I’ve run nine marathons, countless shorter distances and several triathlons (including the 2011 Hyde Park Olympic distance event).  This was an entirely bespoke 400 mile challenge.  You can read about how I set about doing this in the interview article below.  Each time I completed a run, I would document my adventure of that day, evidenced by photographs of me at every station.

There was also another journey happening in parallel. Through social and conventional media, I generated a momentum of interest in what I was doing over 11 months covering the many and varied challenges which affected us in our difficult and as yet uncompleted journey towards parenthood.

These challenges manifested themselves in terms of:

• Zoe having overcome cancer of a variety of forms over the years;
• Us handling the concept of a twin pregnancy in 2006;
• Losing that pregnancy back in early 2007 in the second trimester, at 21 weeks.
• In early 2011 experiencing the thrill and excitement of becoming pregnant again, and taking things very carefully, …
• But losing that pregnancy of baby Thomas at 22 weeks, back in May 2011.

I wrote openly about our experiences as a prospective parent navigating through a complicated and frustrating UK public healthcare system. There are so many issues associated with this journey, and in sharing insights along the way, including the work that is being done by charities who work with other expectant families; professionals, and other partners in the sector.  If you can – by reading this – gain an inkling of an understanding of the work being done to address difficulties in pregnancy and birth, or the services available in the event of difficulties, then in some small way my efforts will have been worthwhile.

During 2010/11 through the good generosity of many people, I am proud to say that we have helped raise funds of £7,300 ($11,800).  SANDS – a stillbirth and neonatal death support charity – has set aside this money specifically for the purposes of preventative research.  We hope that this will help in a modest way towards enhancing understanding about the causes of miscarriage, to help reduce its incidence and consequential loss going forward.

2012 Update!

After a brief rest, I planned in November 2011 for a further series of awareness-raising to start in early 2012.  I identified over 100 more miles of adventures across London using the Overground Network and the Tramlink as inspiration.  Various things happened during 2012 to delay the start of this, including a new job, various health problems for us both, and the fun of Gamesmaker volunteering at the London Olympics.  I was recently very pleased to write an article for Outdoor Minded Mag – which you can read here.

Zoe was nominated as a torchbearer in the Olympics. You can read about her nomination here, and the day itself here on her own blog.

So after getting “run fit” again with a few half marathons in October, I am ready to go #beyondtuberunning. So, Between late October 2012 and April 2013, I will mainly be profiling the work of Tommy’s, a charity that specifically funds research into pregnancy problems and provides information to parents, but will also be highlighting others.  I hope that you will continue to be interested and amused at my journeys across London and also our journey towards parenthood.

Please enrich this work by getting involved in the discussions! Be inspired, share what you like, and get involved: join me and others on my adventure!

To read my latest blog post, click here and then bookmark the page.

Related articles – serious ones:

• Stillbirth: a pain left unspoken (guardian.co.uk)
• Stillbirths: Need for more awareness (scotsman.com)

Related articles – silly ones:

• The Picca-SILLY line! Tube pranksters liven up London Underground journeys with comedy stickers (dailymail.co.uk)
• Free Hangover on Board Badge (london-underground.blogspot.com)