Day 5
After the madness of day 4, I needed a calmer day 5 and to my relief that is what I got. The weather started off good, cool and mostly sunny. As usual it took me the 4 miles to Hawkshead to loosen up but after that my energy levels felt ok and I settled into a nice steady rhythm. Half way passed uneventfully in 2:08.
The second half progressively got tougher, as a marathon often does but with the sun getting warmer and it becoming more humid, I started to feel tired. I got my head down trying to forget how tired I felt and pushed on. It is always good to get to Low Wood Bay at mile 24 as you can see Brathay across the lake and I know I haven’t got long to keep working to finish. Today’s finishing time, a much more respectable 4:23:57.
Day 6
Venue: Renaissance Night Club
Location: Mansfield
Date: 1990
For day 6, I used my new Shokz Openrun bone conducting headphones for the first time. I was a bit sceptical as to the quality of the sound from them and was pleasantly surprised. I decided to try and forget that I was running today and transport my mind back to my relative youth and the day’s clubbing with my friends. One Saturday we had a mad evening. In sever cars, my friends and I drove from Manchester to Leicester to pick a friend up from university and then back up to Mansfield the renown Renaissance house night. It was great fun trying to find somewhere in those days without the internet and satnav. We just kept asking folk in Mansfield for directions! One of my most memorable nights clubbing. Many years later an album called Renaissance Classics came out on CD with a mx of many of the best tracks from the club and this is what I played today.
Thank Barry for coming all the way up from Warrington to see me yesterday, it was a lovely boost to see you at mile 14, 16 and back at Brathay Hall.
Anyhow back to my running, I started off as usual slowly to loosen up for the first few miles. I felt surprisingly fresh and motored on to halfway really enjoying the run and the sunshine. Things didn’t stay this good, the sun stayed out and the day got warm and humid. By mile 18 I was blowing! I knew I had to slow, I had no choice. Just before I got into Bowness, where the ferry is, I saw a figure with a bike and then I recognised it as 10in10 Craig. It was lovely to see a friendly face and lifted my spirits, thanks Craig. And a double MASSIVE thank you and Caroline’s donation I saw later in the evening on my JustGiving page.
It became a real slog the last couple of miles but the job got done in 4:17:32.
