800-mile stadium challenge runner speaks on day 3
If U Care Share co-founder Matthew Smith speaks to Mark Carruthers as he reaches day 3 of his bid to run to every Premier League Stadium.
If U Care Share is a suicide prevention charity.
If U Care Share is a suicide prevention charity.
Transcript
00:00Hi, I'm Matt Crothers and I'm here with the Shields Gazette and I'm joined by a very,
00:04very special guest. It is Matthew Smith of the If You Care, Share Foundation. Now,
00:09if you've been paying any attention to our social media pages, you'll have seen
00:12Matthew is undertaking a quite serious challenge running from Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium
00:18to Newcastle United St James' Park via every other Premier League stadium. On day three,
00:24we record this on Thursday night, done three of the 20, started off at the Vitality Stadium,
00:30along to St Mary's, Southampton's home, and yesterday, late afternoon I think it was,
00:36got to Brighton's Amex Stadium. Currently halfway to Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace.
00:42How are you feeling? I feel all right. Like, I feel yesterday, I was worried about yesterday
00:51because it was 36 miles to run and I've never run 36 miles before. But yeah, I feel good,
00:58mentally and physically, so I'm just trying not to get too ahead of myself. Just,
01:06okay, tomorrow I need to do this, I'll do this, and then I'll do the next day after that.
01:11So it's very much one day at a time, I guess? Yeah, yeah. Literally just kind of focusing on
01:16that day, trying to be as present with that day and trying not to think too far ahead because
01:22it's still such a long way to go. I had a nice little thought early on this morning, I've done
01:28my first 100 miles, so you know, it's a nice little thing to scratch off. But yeah, it's been
01:36a good start, we've been welcomed into every ground, which is lovely. Still hopeful of being
01:43able to get into every ground, so yeah, good start. And looking at the weather conditions,
01:48it's been very mixed, obviously started in the sunshine at Bournemouth, had a quite heavy,
01:53I was going to say a thunderstorm, it wasn't thunder, it was just rain, wasn't it? But
01:57quite a heavy rainstorm as well. Yeah, I mean, I've had the most stereotypical
02:04experience of what we've had as a summer, I suppose. I'm currently sat in where I'm having
02:09food outside and thankfully I'm under an umbrella because it is raining. But yeah, I've had both of
02:17the elements, well I've had some kind of wind as well. But yeah, very mixed bag and
02:27not really kind of being able to settle with one because then the other one comes.
02:31Yeah, just looking at the fundraising, it's gone above £18,000 now, so you're over,
02:37well over 10% of your target. If anyone does want to donate or find out more about it,
02:43if you care to share a foundation, you can on the links on the banner at the bottom of the page.
02:49Take us through what lies ahead over the next two, three days, over the weekend.
02:54Yeah, so a lot of clubs, so obviously heading into London, there's a significant amount of
03:02Premier League clubs, so going to get quite a few chalked off. So Crystal Palace over at Brentford,
03:11Brentford, Fulham, Chelsea and then West Ham, and I'll be finishing at West Ham on Saturday
03:19and heading to the friendly that they have against Celta Vigo and hopefully they're going to be
03:25doing some things for the run, which is brilliant. And then on the Sunday, going to be heading
03:32to Arsenal and Spurs and then we'll be beginning the journey over Ipswich. So yeah, to sum it up,
03:43handful of clubs, plenty more miles.
03:46And interesting that you'll be, maybe have a run around the Olympic Stadium,
03:50because obviously, you know, it's not so long that the Olympics were held there, what, 2012?
03:55Yeah, do you know, we got to St Mary's and then the staff members were like,
04:00so do you want to go do a lap? I was, no, honestly, it's fine. I'm doing enough.
04:10I'm still holding out for you doing levels, so when you get to St James' Park, to be honest.
04:14You might be holding out a while.
04:16Yeah, but obviously, you know, you look at the support you've had online, there's been a lot
04:20of messages gone out and a lot of messages I know you're receiving personally. People supporting
04:26your businesses, supporting you as well. Just give us an idea of some of them that
04:30have got behind you, some businesses.
04:32Yeah, it's, you know, it's been brilliant, the support that's kind of come out,
04:37beginning of the run, you know, some amazing organisations. I've had Martin Nugent,
04:43I've mentioned before, kind of doing all my training. I've had Regen Group and Blue Moon
04:49have donated and are the reason that we have the van. Steve Morgan Foundation,
04:57there's other organisations as well that are kind of really just kind of answering the call.
05:05The call is still there, though, because there's still a long way from the target that I'm trying
05:11to achieve. I think one of the things I've been thinking about as well is trying to get more
05:18people involved, coming to the stadiums, coming to the run. You know, I appreciate kind of the
05:25support that I get comes from the North East because I'm a North East lad. But I'm trying
05:30to do more to get more from other clubs and kind of getting the fans involved. But yeah,
05:36the support's been superb so far.
05:39And obviously, we did sort of hint in our last chat about Nuffield Newcastle getting
05:44involved. That has now come to fruition, which will be a big boost for recovery.
05:49Yeah, yeah, massively. It's quite often one of the things you think about while you're running
05:55of really do with a massage. So yeah, Nuffield Newcastle coming to my support and answering
06:05again my call in terms of a good massage is a huge help, huge help. So very, very grateful
06:16to them for the support.
06:19And we'll have a chat in another few days, maybe after the weekend, we'll let you get
06:23the London cohort done. So tomorrow is getting the Crystal Palace and Brentford or is Brentford
06:30Saturday?
06:31No, yeah. So getting to Brentford as well. So I'm going to be doing just over 27 miles.
06:38It's a funny one because you work it out, but then things don't necessarily go to plan.
06:43I've gone very, very rogue today. I've been through farmer's fields, I've been up hills,
06:51I've been very off trail, running through fields where you're not allowed to go off the path
06:56because there's live shooting going on. So yeah, it's been a it's been a very mixed bag
07:03of running today. But yeah, 27 miles tomorrow.
07:07Well, I'll let you go and enjoy your food and your recovery. And we'll speak on,
07:12we'll say Monday, we'll speak on Monday.
07:14Speak then.