Day 7
Nice to meet the children from Leigh Central Primary School enjoying the lovely sunny weather and a few days at Brathay Hall. I spoke to the children, they told me they had been on boats out on the lake and climbing in waterfalls. It is great to see children enjoying and learning here, makes my efforts and fundraising feel very worth while.
Today, I was feeling very tired and have very tender calves. A slower time today of 4:40 but it is another one done and a day closer to completing.
Day 8
An emotional day today in many ways. So so tired this morning it was hard to do what was necessary to get ready for the start line. I even didn’t have the energy to do my stretching routine before the start which meant I struggled to to run as I set off and had to walk and stretch for the first mile.Things didn’t get better all the way to Hawkshead and I was over 12 minute miling and really struggling to get running properly. Graham gave me some Jaffa cakes and that helped. And with further Jaffa cakes and a gel at Mile 8, I started to get going a bit and began to pick up the pace.
It was brilliant to see Jim Meta out on the course at Mile 6. Wonderfully unexpected and really welcomed. It gave me a real boost. My mum and dad were down at mile 12 at the Swan Hotel and it was nice to see them. Then at Mile 16, I took on more Jaffa cakes and met Sandra and Gary Wade and Chris Renton. Lovely to see them all. Very emotional to see all these running friends out supporting today. For some reason I have been finding it very difficult to get enough energy and sleep to keep running each day. During the last 10 miles I got enough food to give me enough energy to pick up the pace a little bit and come in with a half decent time of 4 hours 34 minutes, giving me a 12 minute negative split.
Spent some time out on the course with Simon whose knees are giving him lots of bother, I was so impressed with his determination to keep going. Also I saw Dave struggling, yet he too had the right mindset to not give up. It was inspirational stuff from them both and quite humbling.
Great to see everybody on the lawn who had been out on the course and catch up with old friends. That’s eight days done, only two to go, and I feel like the end is insight.
I need to eat and rest more this evening so hopefully I can have a better day tomorrow.
Friends!!!
