The Running Stormtrooper, The World Record, Pinewood Studios and Celebration Booth 1953

Hi Guys,

I hope that this thread is ok in this section.  I just wanted to be able to publicise a small little Star Wars charity project i'm 'running' with.
Last year I ran the London marathon dressed in full Stormtrooper Armour for Make A Wish. I managed to raise over £5300 for this much deserving charity.
An article was written in Star Wars . Com here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This year i've dragged the stormtrooper out of retirement to do a little bit more running, please see this 2 minute video here:

Not long after I made this video I was contacted by Pete Vilmur and Mary Franklin who agreed that The Running Stormtrooper could have a booth at Star Wars Celebration to help spread the word about Make A Wish and to raise some more money.  My plan is to run up to a half marathon every day for 4 days on a treadmill at my booth.

I have a Facebook page here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
I have a website here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
A Link to my Celebration Booth is here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
But most importantly of all I have a just giving page here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Please check out this project, i've been in contact with this young lad and his mum, who are really grateful for everything which Make A Wish do. Please check out Oliver's story here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

If you are going to Celebration, please come over to my booth and say hi.  If you have any spare cash please can you spare a thought to sponsoring me?

Thanks for looking.
@stormtrooperrun

Glad to hear you've arranged a treadmill (I'm assuming since it wasn't mentioned on the Toy Run appearance)

Great initiative Jez!  I hope that you get lots of support for this, you'll certainly get some from me.

cantina_patron wrote:Great initiative Jez!  I hope that you get lots of support for this, you'll certainly get some from me.

Thanks Steve.

the89thchris wrote:Glad to hear you've arranged a treadmill (I'm assuming since it wasn't mentioned on the Toy Run appearance)

Yeah, after 6 weeks of trying; hotels, gyms, fitness equipment suppliers, reed pop, lucasfilm, the OCCC, the Air Force recruitment office, RFR podcast, and all bar one of them failing to even reply to my emails, the power of the people have prevailed. I put a plea post on RS and a chap called Brett Isaacs (on several Facebook groups as admin), has rallied some troops and organised a collection and delivery. I have to say he's been brilliant. He's pulled together a small team, of driver, muscle, lender etc and has come up trumps.

This is a great cause Jez and I'll definitely contribute.

Looking forward to trash talking you while you're defenceless on that treadmill in Orlando

Jez, this is a great cause, and I'm glad to hear that the running stormtrooper is coming out of retirement. I've also heard that he got an even better suit of armour this year.

I will definitely be stopping by your booth to cheer you on, and will be donating.

Fantastic cause and certainly worth a donation

Thank you for doing this and bringing our attention to the cause Jez

Jez, awesome cause mate will defo support

Here is a quick clip of Jez at Celebration.  Jez ran a 1/2 marathon every day while there.  Well done.

I took this while holding Christian's place in the que for a comic book signing while he went to use the washroom.

Awesome!

Jez is an absolute champion! Was great hanging out at his booth.

Thanks so much for the kind words and great support lads. It really is appreciated
Marathon done, now trying to recover and rebuild for the may the 4th craziness.
All the best. Jez

Congrats on the World Record.

Good luck on May the 4th. That's going to be a tough one as well. You definitely don't have a lot of recovery time between runs.

Sunday was horrific. The most testing thing i've ever had to do, and that's saying something: I've run in Baghdad and Kabul, i've run a 30 mile cross country and a 100Km hill run. But Sunday was the most emotionally and mentally draining experience yet.
I hadn't had enough recovery time between the 4 x Half marathons at Orlando and this. I was out on the piss every night of celebration and didn't fly home until Wednesday. What made it worse was that one of my oldest mates returned from Canada on Friday night (for the weekend) after having been away since 2007, i had to go out for a few beers with him. Come Sunday I felt fatigued and ill prepared and my legs were already knotted from Orlando, the big problem though was cracking that time. Last year I ran it fresh, having done more preparation and it was cooler, but i still needed to run faster this time! It was so close. After 18 miles my legs were fragged. I honestly didn't know if i had done it when i crossed the line, but fortunately very quickly afterwards a man from Guinness came up to me and congratulated me. At this point i was totally done in. I had nothin left in my tank.
Back to next week though, I have stiff legs even now but i'm off for a leg rub with a physio tomorrow. I'm off of the booze until afterwards and will try to get more rest. Whilst it is over 50% longer than a marathon and without the cheering supporters, I don't have the pressure of a time limit weighing over my head. It'll be a bastard of a run but i won't quit.

Lets all send Jez our best thoughts & wishes. And for those that haven't donated yet. Get off your arse and make a pledge, because he has gotten off his for a worthy cause.

Jez wrote:Sunday was horrific. The most testing thing i've ever had to do, and that's saying something: I've run in Baghdad and Kabul, i've run a 30 mile cross country and a 100Km hill run. But Sunday was the most emotionally and mentally draining experience yet.
I hadn't had enough recovery time between the 4 x Half marathons at Orlando and this. I was out on the piss every night of celebration and didn't fly home until Wednesday. What made it worse was that one of my oldest mates returned from Canada on Friday night (for the weekend) after having been away since 2007, i had to go out for a few beers with him. Come Sunday I felt fatigued and ill prepared and my legs were already knotted from Orlando, the big problem though was cracking that time. Last year I ran it fresh, having done more preparation and it was cooler, but i still needed to run faster this time! It was so close. After 18 miles my legs were fragged. I honestly didn't know if i had done it when i crossed the line, but fortunately very quickly afterwards a man from Guinness came up to me and congratulated me. At this point i was totally done in. I had nothin left in my tank.
Back to next week though, I have stiff legs even now but i'm off for a leg rub with a physio tomorrow. I'm off of the booze until afterwards and will try to get more rest.  Whilst it is over 50% longer than a marathon and without the cheering supporters, I don't have the pressure of a time limit weighing over my head. It'll be a bastard of a run but i won't quit.

Christ Jez I'm exhausted just reading that email!

Poor bloke, you have really put your body on the line. Great cause though mate, really proud of you!

Jez, you are an absolute legend mate

Awesome cause

James, he really is inspiring.

Hopefully Jez can give us an update, but I've heard that he has almost reached his £10,000 collecting goal. The big 40 mile run is on Thursday, so lets all cheer him on, and help him reach his collecting total.

Hi Guys: Quick update for you.  The big day has now passed and i'm delighted to say the target was hit.  Going into it I was feeling better about the 40 miler than the marathon, because all i had to do was 'Get it done'.  No matter how long it took or how many stops i needed, there was no Guinness Record twisting my melons, all i had to do was keep going. Plus, lucky me i had a cracking Star Wars super support team with me (in addition to my wife and kids and people from work).

The weather was perfect. The terrain was ok. I fell over once after about 8 miles which jarred a bit but after that the going was good. 6 miles, drink, 6 miles, drink, 4 miles, drink, 3 miles etc
I must say that the support which has been shown to me by the community has been brilliant. The support crew on Thursday were phenomenal, it really felt like a brotherhood.  Both my wife and my Pinewood contacts  said 'your friends are lovely' it's true, all of it.

The support team consisted of some lads from SWFUK including Grant & Stu from the podcast: Piett101 (Peter), Daz (Darren), Stu, Grant, Marc Hockley and Savory100. You guys were great.
Stephen was awesome at being an extremely knowledgeable runner who'd nag me at every possible opportunity to eat and drink and replenish my salts. He took enough food and equipment to aid a whole running team let alone one trooper.  Without Stephen's welcome nagging, i don't know if it would have worked out as well as it did.

I've spent the last 2 days catching up with Facebook, Instagram & Twitter and thanking every donator. I really appreciate all of your comments.

Here are a few photos of the day:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
L to R Pete, Daz, Stephen, Marc, Grant and Stu

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The most random part of the day, a lady asking me if i'd pose with her dogs. I was expecting her to come back with two maybe 3 but not a pack! Well at least she donated £30!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

With Little Oliver, a Make A Wish Kid who crossed the finish line with me
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Finally, apart from a few rather large blisters my biggest injury is the chaffing
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks for all of you support and sponsorship

Well done Jez. It's awesome to see so many friends and family make it out to cheer you on. Too have Oliver there, dresses as a Biker Scout, to help you cross the finish line must have made it all feel fantastic.

You won't even remember the fall or the chaffing in a month. The only thing you will remember is the warm feeling of doing such a great thing.

Congradulations on the record and most importantly, all the money you raised for a great cause! This community couldn't be represented any better!