Walking out onto the lawn day 1
I would like to use this blog post to thank Brathay for putting their faith in me last summer for a third time and offering me a place in this year’s 10in10. It is has been an honour and a privilege to be selected as one of only fifteen runners in the whole country to do this unique event once again.
You might think that maybe the Brathay Trust should be thanking me for raising them £8,000.00 and they have but that is not how I see it. Every time I have done this event I’ve found it a wonderful life changing experience for many different reasons and I’m truly grateful;
For the personal challenge of pushing my body as hard as I can for 10 days round the hilly and challenging Windermere marathon course and discovering what it is capable of doing.
Watching and supporting the other runners who experienced the event. Some going faster and with more incredible times than me, others physically struggling with injury and swollen joints but still so mentally strong that they forced their bodies to complete the course every day. I have more admiration for some of the slower runners who put themselves through lots of pain to simply complete the course each day than some of the faster runners whose bodies are more naturally suited to the event.
Seeing the Brathay staff working on site at the Hall going about their daily business working with the young people they support and getting a chance to meet some of these young people.
Me with Race Organiser Aly Knowles and Patron Josh Naylor
The individuals I would particularly like to thank are:-
Firstly the people closest to me during the event, the Brathay Support Team, without them the whole event would simply not happen:-
Ali & Mac Knowles
Trudy and Paul Dewar
Jim Meta, Shelagh and Karen
All the team of voluntary physios lead by experienced head physio Adam. Adam assigned an individually physio to each 10in10er which was a great idea so we were all given continuity throughout the event with one physio who got to know us well and our individual problems. Even so I still need to thank ALL the physios because of the positive support they gave us all each day in the physio rooms, all around the grounds of Brathay and by cheering each one of us at the finish line. I remember during my previous 10in10s finishing the course some days without anyone at the finish and having to walk back to the hall on my own which was such an anti-climax to a marathon finish. My very special thanks goes to Charlotte, my physio, assigned to me by Adam for the duration of the event. Without her time and effort looking after me every morning and afternoon I’m sure I wouldn’t have managed the times I did daily out on the course. By the end of the event I considered us as a team. I loved her sweet remarks whenever I thanked her at the end of our physio sessions “You’re welcome” and “Not a problem”, nothing was ever too much effort and she always so eager to help. Thank you Charlotte!
Charlotte administering a bit of TLC physio style
I also want to thank all the Brathay staff across the whole site, as many of them indirectly were helping contribute to the smooth running of the event, from the staff maintaining the lovely place to the chefs who cooked the fantastic food which kept us all fuelled up and able to take on the daily run round the lake. Even the teaching staff would cheer us as we finished.
Running through Hawkshead Day 9
I also want to thank my family and friends. The support over the last year from Yuk-Lam and our children Abbey and Lucas has been so positive during the long cold winter months of training. The encouragement from my mum and dad and other family members has been greatly welcomed. Sometimes their curiosity and just talking about the challenge with them helped with my motivation to train when I was tired, sore and struggling to muster up the effort to go out for my next planned training run in the cold and the dark. It was great to see my old school friend Richard on the evening of day 4, I was moved that he had took the time to come out and see me and all he got was a cup of tea. Sorry Richard, I’ll buy you a proper drink next time we see each other. Also on day 3 it was a lovely surprise to see my old friend Chris waiting to greet me at the finish, with his fiancé Kathleen. I knew he had threatened to come but I wasn’t sure he would actually turn up and it was the last thing on my mind as I finished my 26.2 mile run for the day so was completely surprised.
A Special Family Moment at the finish day 10 for me and Marathon Number 1 for Yuk-Lam
