En route to the starting line for his monumental 50K South West Coast Path Ultra Challenge, Chris Munn, a Bromsgrove Tennis Club member managed to squeeze in an interview with Tosin Ajayi while stuck in traffic. The challenge, set to begin the very next day, is a heartfelt endeavor to raise crucial funds for Parkinson's UK, a cause deeply personal to Chris. Despite the pre-challenge jitters and the frustration of a traffic jam, Chris spoke openly about his motivations, his rigorous training, and the impact this journey has had on his life.

If you would like to help Chris get over his £4000 goal (86% complete at time of writing), please click HERE

 

Tosin Ajayi: So first of all, tell me, what is it that you're doing?

Chris Munn: So I'm doing the South West Coast Path. It's an Ultra Challenge. It's a 50K walk. And, I'm doing it for Parkinson's to raise money, for them, which my mum unfortunately passed away a couple years ago. So I've always wanted to do something to raise money for them. And I think so far I've raised about £3,500, which is really good and hopefully we'll get a bit more in the next day or so.

Tosin Ajayi: All right. Do you have a target that they are aiming for and a number they have in your head?

Chris Munn: Well, I keep changing every time I reach it. I keep putting it up a bit. So I think it was £1,000 originally, but it's now £4,000, so it'd be nice to get to £4,000. I've spent a lot of time emailing and WhatsApping and messaging people this morning. So, I've had about £1,000 in today, so that's pretty good. Really pleased with that. It makes it worthwhile.

Tosin Ajayi: So you mentioned a little bit about why you decided to do it, you said your mum passed away from Parkinson's a couple of years ago...

Chris Munn: Yeah. She had Parkinson's for over ten years. She was a very active woman. She was always caring for others and looking after everybody else. That's how she loved amateur dramatics and stuff and singing and dancing and everything. So she was in various musical theatre groups, etcetera, operatic groups. So she was always, if she wasn't working, looking after everybody, she was doing that in her spare time. So she was very busy. Obviously with Parkinson's over the years, it gradually stops the movement and everything. So it's very frustrating for her to end up in the last few years not being able to move really, and just have to rely on other people helping her and getting around and stuff. So yeah, it's very frustrating to see, from my point of view and obviously frustrating from her point of view to not being able to do the things that she used to be able to really. And it's just very slow. It's a slow process that takes your movements away.

Tosin Ajayi: Yeah, thanks for saying that. And that's, yeah, that sounds, that sounds like it was hard. But when did you decide to do this particular thing? Like, when did you, why did you decide this challenge?

Chris Munn: Well, just before Christmas, I had pancreatitis, and I wasn't very well for two or three weeks. So I had a Christmas of no drinking and eating very sensibly. And then, so a few days after Christmas, I was sitting there one day and I just thought, well, maybe this is the year to try some big challenges, some for charity, which I'd never really done. And see if I can, you know, get fitter and healthier and not drink and, you know, a bit of a goal to just set myself and something to challenge, to look forward to really. So, yeah, it was just after Christmas. So I entered this one, this autumn 50K, which is obviously tomorrow. And then as a couple of warm-up events, a couple of things popped up on my Facebook, which I thought would be good to do, which were for Alzheimer's, which I know a lot of people also, friends and family have suffered from and they were two marathon walks. Basically one was in the Lake District and one was in Northumberland. So they were over in May and June. So they went really well and they raised about £1,500 for Alzheimer's. So yeah, that was a good couple of warm-up events, so to speak.

Tosin Ajayi: Yeah, just a nice little warm-up, just going to run out and do 30K. Yeah. All right. So yeah, I was going to ask what has training been like?

Chris Munn: Training. Well, it's sort of like anything really started off quite gradually. I sort of decided to walk to work, which is probably 25 minutes. I'm back and then being involved in sports. Anyway, I'm on my feet a lot. So in addition with that, I was probably doing, probably doing 20,000 steps a day on a normal day, and then also have gradually increased a couple of walks a day, a week. So I'd probably do an eight-mile walk. And then I gradually increased month by month to like a 12-mile and then a 16-mile and then a 20-mile, sort of once a week, really, with a sort of ten-miler in the week just to make sure that it was fully prepared for it. So, yeah, it's enjoyable really, you know, it's hard work, but, you know, you get into the routine and lose a bit of weight and feel better for it, feel better mentally and physically and, yeah. So I really enjoy doing it.

Tosin Ajayi: Cool. Good stuff. And now the big question that we're asking, obviously as a tennis club, is how has all this training affected your tennis?

Chris Munn: Well, it's, it's definitely helped me got fitter. But unfortunately for my tennis I've struggled a bit with my knee. And I've got a bit of a knee injury, which I'm hoping to get sorted over the winter. It's more for the sideways movement, so I'm okay walking in straight lines. It doesn't seem to affect me, but it's more the tennis, there's the sort of side-to-side stresses and stuff that sudden movements and stopping and starting I put on it really. So, although I'm fitter theoretically, I'm playing a bit less tennis at the moment because I just need to get this sorted and then hopefully get it, get back to playing three times a week next year.

Tosin Ajayi: Okay. What I'm writing down is walking destroys your tennis game. That's what I'm writing down. That that's the headline and I'm sticking with it. Well, a final question. What do you hope people take away from you doing this?

Chris Munn: I just think that everybody should have goals from time to time and, yeah. Set some, some targets, whatever it, whatever it might be at work or, home or sport and, get yourself something to work towards. So if you really focus your mind and body and, yeah, it's, it's doing something to help others, and, enjoyable at the same time is satisfying from, from from doing that and raising money for a good cause. Yeah. It's just, oh, no. I never thought that I couldn't give up alcohol for more than a week. Not an alcoholic, but, yeah, I like to enjoy an occasional couple of beers now and then, and, actually, I haven't really missed that much. So it's worth getting into the routine of not doing it. I sort of feel better for it, really. So yeah, it just shows you, you know, what you can do if you put your mind to it really.

Tosin Ajayi: Is there anything else you want to say?

Chris Munn: Well, anybody, anyone can get Parkinson's, you know, just, it's not it's not. You can't do anything to prevent it, you know. Yeah, it just it you get it or you don't, and it can happen to anyone. It doesn't matter how fit, healthy you are. It's it's literally random. So, you know, it's not it's not as if you can do anything to prevent it. It just gets people out of nowhere. Ozzy Osbourne, of course, recently.

The Alzheimer's one was really good, because on these events you meet a lot of people, and of course it affects all the family and all the people around. So it's, yeah, it's, it's quite emotional when you, when you go to these events and, I see a lot of people, you know, doing it for a certain cause, so. They are just good things to do. I've never done anything like this before, I think people should certainly think about doing it once in a lifetime for a, you know, if you've got some specific reason to do so or even if they haven't.

Tosin Ajayi: All right. Okay. Thanks. Thanks so much, Chris. All the best tomorrow. And I, I'm hoping that I'm hoping that the, the traffic doesn't get you down too much.

Chris Munn: Thanks. Okay. Cheers for the call.

Thnak you for reading. If you would like to help Chris get over his £4000 goal (86% complete at time of writing), please click HERE