The Phyiso’s having a well deserved lunch
Finishing time
3 hours 49 minutes 14 seconds
Weather
The forecast was for a lot of showers virtually all day. I am very pleased to announce we experienced no rain at all! It was cooler with a cold head wind as we went down the lake but at least it was in our favour on the way back.
This morning started off pretty bad. I can still vividly remember day 4 last time being a bad day for me and it looked like day 4 this time was shaping up the same way. The weather forecast was bad like last time, I was tired and seriously struggling to get motivated to run. To make matters worse my left calf was sore. I desperately want to run all 10 days under 4 hours. I failed on day 4 last time with 4 hours 4 minutes. Was it going to happen again?
I did what I had to do and got ready for the start, the race started and I pushed my stiff body up the first hill not far from the start. Hawkshead is at 4 miles and I usually take it easy to there, to get my muscles and joints warmed up and moving properly. Today it was nearly 10 miles before I got myself running freely. The cold head wind didn’t help. My pace was only just inside a 4 hour finish. As long as I didn’t let it slip further I would be very happy with today’s performance. As usual for me I was able to pick the pace up for the second half, helped by the wind now being behind me. At ice cream mountain (21.5 miles) I was told John G was only about 3 or 4 minutes in front of me. This gave me a focus, could I catch him? At 24 miles I could see him right in the distance. My sore calf wasn’t affecting me or getting any worse so I picked up the pace to try and chase him down. I could see John had realised I was catching him and he also picked up his pace. The race was on! I did catch him a little but coming into the drive at Brathay Hall John still had about 70 yards on me and knew I would struggle to catch him. I chased him up the drive and onto the lawn giving him no respite. I also knew that he had dibbed his chip at the started before me so I had a few seconds in hand. John crossed the line first but who had won? Off to the computer in the Hall I registered in with 3 hour 49 minutes 14 seconds. John took his time to find out, to keep the suspense going, he eventually dibbed with 3 hours 49 minutes 13 seconds. He beat me by 1 second, well done John!
Today’s Highlight
After passing through Hawkshead, at about 5 miles the cutest little baby rabbit jumped out into the road from a clump of wild garlic a mere 2 meters in front of me.
Today’s Low Point
This morning after breakfast and physio, I felt very tired, my left calf was sore and I could have done with going back to bed not getting ready to run another marathon.
