Canada Tour – May 2013

Surprise! I’m touring western Canada starting this Saturday, alongside the delightful Julia McDougall. If you’ve got friends out that way, please let them know so that we can all hang out and have fun.

Even if you can’t join us on tour, you should totally check out Julia’s music. Here’s a video, and here’s her latest EP.

Poster by Colby J. Richardson

London Marathon ~ Thank You!

On Sunday, after months of training, I spent a few hours running around London with 36,000 other crazy people. The weather was glorious and there were 700,000 rowdy Londoners cheering us on. (One gem: “Go on Lukey – you’re all over this!”)

I managed to run the whole 26.2 freaking miles in 4 hours, 15 minutes and 26 seconds. From mile 21 to 26 all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball at the side of the road, cry, and be carried home. But somehow, and I really don’t know how, I didn’t a) cry, or b) walk, and instead managed to run all the way to one of the most beautiful sights of my life: the finish line. Bonus: I didn’t get bloody nipples or blisters, and I didn’t poo myself.

Massive big-ups to the St John Ambulance crew who volunteered their time to help out us runners during and after the race. They nursed me back to strength when I almost passed out and puked everywhere after crossing the finish line, and were very lovely. Thx, you guys!

But most of all, thanks to all of you who sponsored me so generously. I woke up on the morning of the marathon, after possibly the worst night’s sleep ever, to see that I’d hit my £2,000 fundraising target overnight! It was all the motivation I needed in the darker moments of the race, and I’m so pleased to be able to send this money along to further the fantastic work of Christian Aid.

My fundraising total currently stands at a whopping £2,070, but there’s still time to donate a few pounds if you’d like to here: http://justgiving.com/lukerunfield

Thank you!

P.S. Big thanks to my BFF Tom Price for the post-marathon photo. He takes all the best photos.

HAI BERLIN

Berliners: I’m playing my first show of 2013 this Friday, supporting the glorious Dad Rocks! Join us!

And even if you’re not in Berlin, you can download the Dad Rocks! album for free on Bandcamp. Lovely.

Why I’m running the London Marathon

When my brother called me up last autumn, I didn’t expect him to ask me whether I fancied running the London Marathon with him. I’m not aware that Steve has previously done any sport. He’s definitely not A Sportsman. So it was something of a surprise. Anyway, I don’t get to see my brother enough and I’d always fancied the idea of running a marathon (just not quite so soon) so I said, “why yes, I’d love to run a marathon with you.”

Roll on February 2013. I came back from a trip to a very warm South Sudan, landing in a very very very cold, icy, snowy Berlin. Like, rly cold. And for the past two and a half months I’ve been running in Berlin’s ice and snow at ungodly hours in an effort to get my weedy body to a point where it’s able to run 26.2 miles without me collapsing and dying. I bought shiny silver shoes and fluorescent yellow shoes, saw loads of statues and more snow than I’ve ever seen before in my life, tried to eat a bit healthier, and sampled mid-run doughnuts with my “trainer,” Monal.

It’s definitely been less than fun on some occasions. Getting up at 6am three times a week to go for runs in a temperature where, upon your return, your hands are too cold to operate the key to get in to your house, and other parts of your body are so cold that you can’t find them anymore, is a bit long. But there have been upsides, too. I’ve had the time to listen to countless episodes of This American Life and Ira has soothed my pain with his gentle storytelling. I’ve been able to wear tights without anyone laughing at me. And there’ve been some glorious moments where I’ve been running in a beautiful landscape, completely alone, with anthemic pop-rock blasting in my headphones, and it’s been nothing short of a magical connection with nature, and has felt like a total privilege. I think I’ve finally fostered a love of running that will never leave me.

And that’s all well and good. But the real reason I’m running the marathon is to raise money for Christian Aid. I don’t believe in a world where some people have an excess of food to eat and others have nothing. I don’t believe in a world where some people get an education, and others remain uneducated, unable to lift themselves from poverty. And I don’t believe in a world where people are dying from poverty-related diseases like malaria and HIV. Christian Aid’s vision is to see an end to poverty, by working globally to eradicate the causes of it, and it’s a vision that I share. 

I’m currently at 57% of my fundraising target with one week to go ‘til the big day, and if you can spare some money to help me get closer to my goal, no matter how little, I would be very grateful. In return, I’ll be sure to post lots of horrible sweaty photos here for your enjoyment in a week’s time.

Please dig deep and make a donation here: justgiving.com/lukerunfield. Thanks for reading.

The immensely talented Nicholas Stevenson designed this rad tour poster for me a year ago, and also made a gif from the cat on the poster. I rediscovered it when exploring on my computer last night and thought it deserved to make an appearance on the internet.

Call Me Maybe (and other marathon news)

On April 21st I’m running 26.2 miles in the London Marathon. (That’s 42.19 km for my metric friends.) 

I’m ripping my body to shreds in order to raise £2,000 for Christian Aid, whose vision is to end poverty. They deliver help in global emergencies, as well as providing lasting solutions to ongoing problems in countries around the world. Check out some of their projects here.

I really believe in their work; otherwise I wouldn’t be training four times a week in Berlin’s snow and ice. And I would love it if you would consider sponsoring me so that I can reach my fundraising goal.

As an incentive, if you sponsor me £26.20* or more then I’ll:

• Record a cover song of your choice, whether it’s ‘Call Me Maybe’, ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’, or anything else that you can think of. It’ll be a video and I’ll be wearing my alluring running gear.
• Send you digital downloads of my last two albums (‘New Season’ and ‘Have You Got Heart?’) for free.
• Give you a 26.2% discount code to use in my shop.

You can sponsor me at justgiving.com/lukerunfield, and email me on lukeleighfield@gmail.com to let me know what song you want covered.

Also, if you’ve got any great running playlists (preferably anthemic rock or hip-hop), feel free to send them through.

Thanks for reading!

Luke xo

*Or $26.20 / €26.20 for my international friends.

Marathon Monday

Just a friendly reminder that I’m running the FREAKING LONDON MARATHON next month. It’s totally insane and may kill me and I’m trying to raise lots of money for Christian Aid.

You can sponsor me here: justgiving.com/lukerunfield – many thanks in advance.

Photo by Tom Price.