Last 4 in 4 post

So my first week back running went OK. :)

As you know, Monday's run went well, and I felt no ill effects afterwards. During the week we were still down in Bristol, and my drink fuelled binge celebration of my achievements (!) consisted of having a small cocktail in Frankie and Benny’s and going to see Judge Dredd at the cinema with Mark.

Work colleagues can be a bit like families sometimes, you can't choose them you just have to get on with what you are given. Mark is an anally retentive annoying knobhead (his own frequent description of himself - he's very self aware ;) ) whom I quite frequently want to strangle, but really secretly I am of the opinion that he is one of the most lovely kind people I know. In the context of work, if I turned out to be as clever as him and was as respected as him I would be well pleased, and in the context of friendship he has sat and listened to me in the car, having a whinge and moan about the problems I think I've got (yes - I know I don't have any really). He often provides quite a good balanced male sided point of view and actually good advice. I don't know what I really give back in this friendship (I go running with him I suppose) but I will really miss him when we're not joined at the hip every day.

Wednesday I did an easy run with the club, no problems. People seem to be confused as to why I'm only running 3 miles and slowly! I've just bloomin' run 105 miles in 4 days, and whilst it was easy paced blah blah and I have good powers of recovery, I'm not going to muck up my future running plans (more on that later *mwahahahaha*) by getting over keen too soon after the event. (Gobi is probably laughing here as I have had a whinge about feeling fully recovered and not doing enough miles to make me happy this weekend) I do know what is right and sensible really.

Many years ago long before I was born, my Dad had a motorbike, which he fell off of quite badly. This meant that he had to have a blood transfusion, and since then he has given blood on a regular basis - he is nearly 70 and has given over 100 pints/units/armfuls. When I was 18 I got persuaded to go with him, and I have followed in his footsteps. I'm healthy and fit all the criteria. They helped my Dad, so we help them. I think when I went to the donation centre in Birmingham this Thursday it was donation #47 for me. I got to be a guinea pig for a new style swivelling donation chair which they had only been using for a day, which almost resulted in me being tipped out backwards in a comedy style-ee; I am also participating in a study around donation intervals - I might be going more often. Record quick donation time - I was on and off the chair of doom before people that were already lying down. If only my running was as speedy.

So since I started running I get a little paranoid about weather doing this actually has a knock on effect, hence the fact I tend to engineer my donations so that I do them after a marathon or other important running event. I do notice that for a week or so after I tend to sleep a bit heavier, and fall asleep more easily during the day e.g. in the car if I am a passenger, but I've done some fairly reasonable runs a few days after giving, so I can only conclude that the combination of training / racing that I do and when I donate these days means I don't ever notice a significant impact. I hope it stays this way.

So, future running plans. Friday I went for a little 3 miler and had a bit of a think. I got back and entered the Manchester Marathon in 2013.

Bored Natalie + Lack of running miles + Computer + Credit card = trouble.

Despite the frozen hurricane of 2012, I liked the Manchester course, I loved the support and I live in hope that Morrissey might be there and that I will somehow get to touch him. I look forward to doing it again, and next time hopefully get that 2 mins and a few seconds of a sub 4 monkey off my back. I’m thinking if I train well and consistently I want to not just scrape it but smash it to make sure. I would be happy with a sub 4, but the impossible dream for one day if could manage it would be to get a qualifying time for Boston Marathon. Thankfully now I have gone up an age category this would be a mere 3:40(!). If I got that time I would definitely go out there and do it. I suppose it’s good to have a goal.

This weekend I was up in the Lake District visiting my friend V, her 3 dogs, cat and 4 chickens. Not much running going on, we went to a dog show to try and find a "boyfriend" (stud dog) for one of her girls, and going out to nice places like ice cream farms (one of the parts of her job is dairy inspector so she knows all the best places. This weekend Guernsey cow ice cream oh yeah!).

Nom.

Saturday morning I went to Barrow in Furness Parkrun - a 5K - to see what my legs were like since the Quad. Barrow Parkrun is hilly, and there is usually a strong breeze. It did surprise me by the fact it wasn't raining. I did a warm up, and off we went for 2.5 laps of Barrow Park. I had done just over a mile, when I saw quite far ahead of me, a kid pull up on the grass and start rolling around. This has actually happened to me before, and weirdly the last time was also at Barrow (different kid though). I cannot believe that the 4 or so people between me and this kid didn't even appear to acknowledge let alone help a wailing crying child and carried on past him. So I stopped and asked him if he was ok. "No" (inconsolable crying) "I've bust my knee". Ok so what to do....? I thought the best thing was to just get someone who knew what they were doing, so I told him not to move, he'd be OK and I would be back in a minute to get someone. This involved me running back up the course the wrong way to tell a marshal who came and sorted it out. Obviously this cost me some time.

Do I care? No I don't give a sh!t. It's not the Olympics, it's a council park in Barrow with a view of the nuclear submarine factory. How could you live with yourself if someone flaked out in front of you, you ignored it and then on the next lap someone was there giving them CPR?! I've said before after a friends sprained ankle incident I should get myself on to a little first aid course. It has travelled higher up my list of things I want to do.

The view from the top of Barrow Park

For what it is worth I ran 3.35 miles at Barrow (so an extra 0.25 miles) in 27.35, which on average is about 8.15mm pace, and take off 10 seconds for my "chats" and I'd have been looking at a 25:40-50 ish run without the incidents. Considering the stress I've put on my legs with the Quad I'm pretty happy with that. I want to get down below 7.45 avg for this distance and past 7.30 pace for a 5K (e.g sub 24), I hope it will come with a bit more specific training. I did feel in the last mile I had no uphill power, and it was a slog, but the last 0.35 miles was on a bit of a downhill gradient which I did at 7.00mm pace so there can't have been too much wrong with me right? I did a mile WD and left, feeling slightly depressed, not by the pace I ran but the whole place in general.

Some of the people at my clubs have suggested I should continue this blog, and I think I will do in the hope that it will give some positive encouragement to anyone who can be bothered to read it. I'll probably not write as often because I suppose I just don't have as much to say, but the club has got quite a lot of XC races etc coming up so I may well write about those and anything else I think is interesting.  Look out for a new link because this will be the last one in the "4 marathons in 4 days" one :)

A week and a bit on

I can't sleep. It's nearly midnight. *Sigh*

So it's been a while... seems funny not to be composing something regarding the day's running / training every night.

I had my week off of running. It did my head in.

As always, the weeks / days I have off turn out to be the nicest and sunniest of the year, last week it was gorgeous, and I was longing to be outside. Also towards to end of the week my stress levels started to rocket with one thing and another, and it would have been handy to go out for a little jogette but hey I survived. Could be worse. Emotionally I've felt quite weird, I've done a fairly special thing, something that is quite difficult to do and I miss it. I miss the training. I suppose this is the post marathon "blues" but magnified x 4.

The best bit though, at the weekend I went over the £1000 target on my Virgin Money Page (which with GiftAid is nearly £1300)

So THANK YOU everyone

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

It means a lot. I wish you could have seen the look on my Mum and Dad's faces when I was showing them the Virgin Money page on Sunday.

Yesterday I went out for a little jog with Marky Mark in Bristol. It felt great. More importantly nothing was sore, and all my toenails are still on. No aches before, during or after. It was all easy paced, but last 0.25 of a mile I picked it up a little and it felt wonderful I feel like I still have a turn of (relative) speed. The enforced rest has certainly made me hungry to get out training again.

Lastly, one of the ladies sons took some great photos which I really like. It is great he captured me on the line :)

Amazing Grace Country in the background

Last Marathon. DONE!!!

Night.

A shock and some post event musings

Firstly I had a bit of a shock last night. Was watching the documentary about Prince Harry and the wounded soldiers that climbed Mount Everest on UTV (N. Ireland equivalent of ITV). There, talking out of the telly to me was Karl from Dudley, the bloke I've been running about the same pace as for the last 4 days :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0

http://www.itv.com/news/2012-08-27/prince-harry-hails-wounded-soldiers-after-everest-bid/

and

http://walkingwiththewounded.org.uk/

Totally amazing. I had no idea. I am going to watch it properly later if I can find it on catch-up as to be honest I was dozing until that point but it made me sit upright in bed with my eyes open like saucers.

After that it took me a while to drift off, and although I got a good night’s sleep, I think my brain is still in the "get up at 7am to run a marathon" mode. 7.30am I was sitting upright in bed thinking that my lie in hadn't gone too well, and then turned on the TV to see Aled Jones and Lorraine Kelly sitting on a settee. Help.Meeeeeeee.

That was my incentive to get down to breakfast - and you know what, my legs worked. Not only do they work but this morning they felt pretty good. Could I have got up this morning and done marathon #5? Yes I think I could. I could even do STAIRS!!! No niggles, my previously sore bits of toenail have settled down, and I feel fine. I keep having to drink lots of water though because at the moment (It was warm in Derry and warm in Birmingham) I feel a bit dehydrated all the time. Like having a constant hangover without having been drunk.

I got stopped and searched at Derry City Airport (just a pat down and bag search, no rubber gloves etc) because the bloke on security x-rayed my rucksack and went: "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!" when he saw the lumps of metal that were my medals. LOL. I was like: "Yeah I've basically run around the Inishowen 100 mile route over the last 4 days to get those". The woman doing the searching was open mouthed in amazement. I'm surprised I didn't get properly drug searched because they must have thought I was on something.

Now I go from running bore to just plain bore for a bit as I've been told by Mr Gobi Dark Lord Esq. to have a week off. I will do it of course, but UGH.

Hoping some "action" photos will appear soon, but in the meantime here is a lovely one of the survivors:

Those on the front row had the added pain of having to kneel down.

Also one of the lovely ladies running Eilish was interviewed as part of the event / for her charity. She gives her views on it and also it shows off some of the aspects of the courses (although the footage conveniently misses out all of the really "wee" hills):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ONlw0MJ3tQ&feature=player_embedded

I feel twitchy already. Still it's good to have time to do things like cleaning the oven right?

I DID IT!!! :)

Short summary:

Today's attire:
Stourbridge Club Vest
Black / Pink shorts
Light Grey and Cherry Triaxes (my personal favourites at the moment)

(That was attempt at "looking good" on the last day. Obviously this is a metal confidence thing, I'm sure the photos will tell the real story)


Today's nutrition:
Number of Gels consumed: 5 (one every 5 miles - last one at 22.5 rather than 25)
Nunn (salt) tablets in water: 1
Mars bars: 1 at half way point
Bananas consumed: 1, whilst running away from the halfway point
Drugs: None, I forgot to put them in my belt but didn't need them thankfully.
Water top ups: LOTS. It was *really* warm out there again

Mental state:

Amount of swearing about the hills: Zero :-0
Amount of swearing about the views: Less, but it was still a very nice route
Amount of swearing about the weather: Whenever the sun came out from behind the clouds - quite a bit

A lot of thinking about: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/NatalieDellar4in4

The moral: If you don't try you will never know, and people only regret stuff they didn't do or try


Yet again I had a really good night’s sleep. Doing this kind of thing is a great cure for insomnia, although on each day I have always been awake before my alarm has gone off. I got picked up bright and early and taken to the start. We all agreed that our legs felt better this morning than they did at the start of day 3. On the bus there were two schools of thought on this. One is that after 3 days your legs kind of get used to things and the tiredness gets no worse, or we all felt better this morning because we knew we didn't have to get up and do it all again tomorrow.

There were a few more Marathoners today, not a massive amount but few different faces. Got chatting to Bermuda shorts man, and turns out he comes from Dudley! Small world. He is off to Brazil soon to do some mad jungle marathon. Sounds like too many insects for me after the traumas of the other week.

We all walked down to the main road and started by running through Buncrana. We followed the coast on some fairly main roads, it was a lot different from the tiny roads with grass growing up the middle of the previous days, but still nice. There were no killer hills to speak of, just long grinds and drags up and long drags down. I started off conservatively, about 5 or 6 miles in I overtook one of the guys, Stephen who was suffering with what sounded like some quite severe blisters. Like an idiot I offered him the rest of the bottle of water I had. Like that is going to help the raw skin on his feet - but I figured he might be out there for a while and he took it. He said later it was quite demoralising seeing everyone go past. I did feel gutted for him shuffling along :(

Today’s route went through a lot more little villages which was nice, there were people and cars out. There were also a LOT of Cycle Clubs out for their Sunday morning ride and it was nice to have people to wave at rather than sheep and barking dogs. There were even other runners out all of whom must have read about the event in the paper (I imagine it makes a change from "lost dog" news headlines which are probably as exciting as it gets here) - they were all very encouraging. I've been through Tooban (made me think of that crap arcade game in the 80s. The weird things that pop in to your head eh) and Burnfoot (made me think back to Stephen and his blisters).

You say toobin' I say Tooban...

Pretty soon we started picking up the signs for Muff. It was a really warm day, and a few miles outside Muff I had a quick stop at the halfway check point. I could feel myself getting carried away drinking water, thinking if I bolted it too quickly I would be sick, but I so needed it and didn't want to stop what had almost become an uncontrollable frenzied gulping. I robotically chomped down a mars bar and got my banana peeled and carried it with me eating for the next mile.

So did Muff the place live up to my expectations? Well in short no. The bit I saw was fairly dull, although there may be something of interest there if you are willing to look for it. Exiting Muff we did a left turn on to the main road, and from then onwards it was a 7 mile straight road back to the finish at the hotel, a road I recognised from the Taxi journey from the airport as the driver had given me the guided tour :) I didn't get to run with the lead car today, but it whizzed up and down the road between us all making sure we had everything we needed. Because of the way the coastline is formed, I could actually see the hotel from about 6 miles away, and this gave me a boost. Also, I started to catch up some of the half Marathoners who had started at the halfway checkpoint, and this also lifted me. Here I am running my 4th Marathon in 4 days and I can catch up and overtake people doing the half.

Today yet again I felt a lot better at the 21 mile point, and it wasn't really a conscious decision but I cranked up the pace a little. I felt good. I could see the hotel getting closer and closer and I wanted it to get closer still. Lots of beeps from cars, especially those around the 24/25 mile markers as they obviously got the idea of just how far we had run. At about 25.5 miles there was a bloody hill (well incline) but I just wanted it to be gone so I motored up it. I knew where I was and I knew where I had to get to. Legs started moving faster, and as I got to the front gate of the hotel my watch beeped 26 miles. The hotel has a very long driveway and I went a bit er... mental. The last 0.34 miles I did at 7.20mm.

It was so lovely to see Harold and a big crowd waiting at the finish, I was over the moon I had secretly wanted to do sub 5 for all of these runs, and here I was on the last one having done 4.27 -sub 4.30! I crossed the line to what sounded like a very big cheer. I got big hug from Harold, and big hugs all round really. I felt myself start to well up on Harold’s shoulder but the sheer astonishment of what I had done kind of stopped me. I almost felt dazed. Happy but dazed. I pottered around eating a banana, drinking and chatting whilst some of the other runners came in. Stephen came in just after 5 hours with his blisters. I suspect blister free he would be a LOT quicker than that but fair play to him for carrying on. 26+ miles on already burning stinging feet I cannot comprehend.

I am staying at the hotel where the finish was (the same one we started from on Thurs AM - seems a lifetime ago!) so I checked in, got changed and we tucked in to yet another spread whilst waiting for the presentations. We have been given a fabulous collection of medals, Bronze Thurs, Silver Fri, Gold Sat and a special bling one today. Fabulous. I like a good chunky medal and these do not disappoint. (Bit of a crap photo I shall try and get a better one).

Bronze, Silver, Gold and Uber-bling

The presentation ceremony was great, everyone looked so happy (until they saw they had to climb up and down off of a stage to get their final medal). No prize, but actually I was 3rd Lady. Also turns out when I uploaded my Garmin that I actually did a negative split today, 2.15 first half and 2.12 second half, and the second half included the mars bar stop. Pretty bloody happy with that! I thought I was going well with this last one being the fastest!

I can't believe I have done it. I called my parents and told them about what I had done, and about the fund raising (in case you've forgotten that was an upsetting conversation I was putting off having). I think it is safe to say they are a little bit proud.

Thank you to all the people who have made donations, thank you all the people who have believed in me, given me hugs, have been out and kept me company on training runs and thank you Gobi. If any of you are looking for a good challenge Harold can sort you out:

http://www.extremenorthevents.com/index.php

This was a really great set of Marathons, interesting and very challenging courses, friendly people and superb organization. I naturally worry about things and I didn't feel stressed about the arrangements etc (apart from the mad dash number collection on Weds night but it all turned out ok in the end)

It is my intention to keep blogging for a bit, although at the moment the recovery is looking like it will be straightforward fingers crossed. Going down stairs may be comical tomorrow morning though.

Marathon 3 done, all roads lead to Muff

Bloody hell. Marathon #3 done. I have surprised myself

Short summary:

Today's attire:
Old faded "team guide dogs" t-shirt (it is comfy)
Black / Yellow shorts
Light Grey and Magenta Triaxes



Today's nutrition:
Number of Gels consumed: 5 (one every 5 miles - last one at 22.5 rather than 25)
Nunn (salt) tablets in water: 1
Mars bars: 1 at half way point
Bananas consumed: 1, whilst running away from the halfway point
Drugs: Ibuprofen x 2 at halfway
Water top ups: LOTS. I like to take on lots of water. I think you feel better after as well as during.

Mental state:

Amount of swearing about the hills: One massive expletive explosion at 16.5 miles
Amount of swearing about the views: About the same as yesterday
Amount of swearing about the weather: Not as much as yesterday, but I was scared to open my mouth too wide in case I blew up like a wind sock.

I had an absolutely massive tea last night, and if I never see another potato it will be too soon. Went to bed slightly worried that the shrieking women (they were English btw) in the hotel bar where I was eating would be in the room next to me and carry on partying, or that I would be bounced out of my bed by the bass of some live music. Thankfully it didn't happen so I got a good night’s sleep. Must say whilst my legs were OK they didn't feel quite as fresh as after Mara #1. To be expected I suppose.

As I lie in bed these mornings, I wonder what the sensation is going to be when I move, but on the plus side the legs haven't been hurting just lying there so that is something. This morning walking about was alright, there was a definite element of tiredness that wasn't there at the start of day 2. It is worth getting up early and pottering about as it helps work any stiffness out.

So at 9 am we congregated in the lovely Culdaff for the last time, and got an explanation of the course on a board from Harold:

Course profile made easy

ho ho ho - yes I'd seen the course profile. We had a little warm up jog up the road all together, some of the locals from Culdaff who have been supporting us on the two days coming in were out waving, and it was really so everyone could see us all jog off together. They have been very supportive, even the man in a flat cap at the end yesterday who I couldn't actually understand apart from vague sounds of "fuckin' well done"  :) So 0.3 of a mile up the road we stopped at the official start, waited for a convoy of traffic to go past and then we were off (again).

Whilst I didn't feel in quitting mode or anything, I do think the first 13 miles of today were mentally the hardest I've run so far during this challenge. I'm not going to write down what went through my head for fear of freaking folks out or embarrassing anyone but I had to dig deep. I don't know what it was. I seem to have developed a little cough to go with my sniffle, so I was running along barking like a dog, snotting in the hedge, worrying about my toenail.... (it wasn't sore but it *might* become sore..). However one of the guys I had tucked behind on the first day was really struggling and it turns out he ran about 5 miles at the back and called it a day so it could be worse. Our first casualty. I just thought if I could get to halfway and get some banana / other goodies in me (including some Ibuprofen) I would feel a bit better. I did feel sorry for myself in the first half.

A major factor today was the weather yet again, this time WIND. from about 10-16 miles it was really really strong, I'm not sure of the classification on the Beaufort scale, but it was enough to physically blow a carthorse like me around from the side and practically stop me running face on. Yep, we NEVER had it behind us at any point. At 13.1 miles I saw the welcome sight of Harold waving his arms at me, and he very kindly sorted out all of my food and water stuff whilst I concentrated on stuffing down a funny Irish version of a Mars Bar and did the Banana peel thing to carry it and eat on the run. I took 2 ibuprofen but more as a precaution / placebo really.

More getting blown about, and then we got to about 16.5 miles. I say we, the other guy I was following on day #1 is still in the race and we seemed to constantly be overtaking each other. We will call him "Bermuda shorts man" because I can't remember his name and that's what he seems to wear. We acknowledge each other when we go past but he has the look of someone who doesn't want to chat so I leave it at that. We got to the mountain together and shorts man seemed to disappear. This road was exceedingly steep for over a mile, not something any of the runners, even the 2.45-3.00 marathoners attempted to run properly. Power walking is the way to go as it conserves energy and in reality gets you up just as quick. I think I did a mile or so at 16 minute mile pace lol. Near the top there was a shrine, perhaps to previous runners that have perished. People write things on the road in chalk, "don't stop now" "PAIN". "Danger!" Yeah right on! Still it whiled away the time looking at the drawings

At about 17.6 the hell ended and there was a massive steep downhill, my legs were jelly and I hobbled and wobbled down in trying not to bang my toes on the inside of my shoes. What on earth I looked like to cars coming down I have no idea. I had a woman wind down the window and ask me if I was OK - I hope more because I was up there in a t shirt and shorts rather than because of how my legs were wobbling. I pointed at my race number and gave her the thumbs up. She smiled that smile but her general aurora said "you nutter".

With Everest out of the way, I knew it was going to be more straightforward for the last 8 miles and managed to get back in to a stride. The views coming down in to Buncrana and the bay were gorgeous, we ran along the road through some forest sections and I started to feel that barring disaster I'd got another one in the bag. Along the main road to Buncrana a lot of the little houses had mad guard dogs that would come flying out of nowhere, woof a lot but stop at their own (wide open) front gate. I wouldn’t want to be a postman there. Secretly at times going up that hill I was praying some wild animals would appear, at least being mauled is an excuse for a lie down.

I had noticed on the road in to Buncrana that Bermuda shorts man was coming in to view, and although it wasn't intentional at 22.5 miles I passed him. Me: "are you ok - tough one today innit?" Him: "I am WRECKED!". I think I muttered something about keeping going which is always a crap thing to say but I wasn't sure what else I could offer in encouragement. Again I'm not being funny, but having had him disappear on me and then reeled him in I was massively boosted, and at that point (obviously mindful I've got to do 26.2 tomorrow) my legs found new energy. I felt like I was flying along the road, cars were beeping and waving. The lead car had come back up to see who was still on the course, and it was driving up and down between runners asking if we needed anything. It got to the point about a mile out of town where I was obviously the next runner to come in, and lead car basically sat in front of me with its bright green numbers on, I felt like a race leader despite the clock showing 4:4x at the time. I felt better at the end than the beginning. Weird huh. Came in 4.52 which I am over the moon with considering weather, hills and the fact it is day #3.  My last mile, mile 25-26 was the fastest of the day 9:06 pace, and the last 0.33 miles was at 8.41 pace.

Probably true

Harold gave me my medal, and thinking back to the views and the climb I said to him "I don't know weather I should kiss you or punch you in the face" In the end we just shook hands :)

Again I feel OK now really. Legs are a little stiff, toenail holding up, doing my duty and drinking / eating. Hopefully any stiffness I can run off tomorrow.

Onwards. :)

Halfway :)

So I am now halfway through. Feeling OK at the moment

Short summary:

Today's attire:
Pink Adidas T shirt
Black / Pink shorts
Dark Grey and Orange Triaxes
A late addition - my long sleeved Connemara Ultra T shirt, that I had put on to keep warm before the race...Well it was so cold I ended up running the entire race in it.

Today's nutrition:
Number of Gels consumed: 5 (one every 5 miles - last one at 22.5 rather than 25)
Nunn (salt) tablets in water: 1
Jaffa Cakes consumed: 4 in one go at the halfway point
Bananas conumed: 1, whilst running away from the halfway point
Water top ups: LOTS (it was NOT WARM but hydration is still important. I was starting to need a pee by the end though)

Mental state:

Amount of swearing about the hills: A lot less than yesterday
Amount of swearing about the views: About the same as yesterday
Amount of swearing about the weather: A LOT

New skills acquired:

I can now blow my nose in to my hand and chuck it in to a hedge in one swift manoeuvre


So another decent nights sleep, I got up this morning and my legs felt remarkably OK.

Showered, breakfasted and then on a small minibus driven by this man:

Father I've killed a man...

.... to the middle of nowhere. It was cold today, windy and absolutely pissing it down. Joy of joys where we got dropped off at Glengad there was a small shop with toilets. Unfortunately the place was shut, and tumbleweed was blowing past. I suppose until biblical times stables were a bit underrated, we found one opposite the shop (thankfully the horse wasn't in) let me tell you when you need a bit of cover from the rain they are surprisingly warm and cosy. Harold had to blow the horn a few times to actually get us out of the stable.

The first mile today was a bit of a climb. Despite feeling OK, I was a bit worried if my legs would work at all when I tried to run, or I would be made aware of some niggle I didn't know I had picked up. As we started running there was a collective groan from most of the group, but I felt ok. After the first climb, there was a nice gradual downhill for a few miles (broken by the odd climb but nothing too severe) and as I carried on I got more and more confident that I could do this again.

At the 6/7 mile point we really got to the edge of the coast, and the wind was quite gusty off of the sea. Went through a small town that obviously relied on having Irelands most Northerly pub/shop/whatever but the place looked shut. Not surprised it was GRIM. Bizarrely despite it blowing a gale and raining most of the houses had all their washing out - maybe it was nice at 7am this morning!

Just before the halfway point I actually felt really hungry. I'd adopted the usual gel strategy and eaten a good amount yesterday / for breakfast but my tummy was rumbling. So at halfway I managed to cram 4 jaffa cakes in to my mouth in one go, got a water top up and peeled a banana which I then carried with me eating as I ran along for the next mile. This made me feel quite a lot better.

A few miles more running and we were at the Knockamanny bends, a series of twisty turny bends and upward climb, at least for each steep bit it would flatten out a little before it went up again. I knew once 18 miles were out of the way there was a lot less hill to contend with for the last 8. I've started to like the 16 mile point actually, because I know I've got less than double figures to go, and 10 miles is a lunch time jog really. 16 miles is a Friday evening run so depending on where I am I can trick myself with one point of view or the other!

The only slight worry I have is over one of my toes on my left foot. As we came down "the bends" it was getting a bit bashed against my shoe, but hopefully it will sort itself out by tomorrow morning. It just feels a little bruised at present.

The coastal road coming back to Malin and Culdaff was really nice, and here three things happened. I got a big lift from people beeping and waving in their cars. I got a big lift from looking at the gorgeous beaches and the fact I could actually smell the seaweed. Also, I don't mean to rejoyce in someone elses misfortune but I overtook one of the blokes at 19 miles and never saw him again (despite sitting around for 10 mins at the finish eating/drinking). This lifted me quite a lot although I feel guilty for letting it do so. As I passed I asked him if he was OK, he said he was so I kind of left it at that. It could well be me tomorrow.

As I came back in to Culdaff, I saw Geoff (Mr 2:45 marathon man who had given me a lift to collect the numbers on Weds) telling me I looked strong, and you know I felt pretty OK. Because I recognised Culdaff centre (there isn't much to it) I knew the end was just around the corner and I came in at 4.35 - eight minutes quicker than yesterday. Less brutal climbs than yesterday but still a tough course. So I've done the hardest Marathon I've ever run and the second hardest I've ever run back to back. That's good then. I think tomorrow will be tough, and I'm going to need all my mental skills to get through it, and possibly a bit of pain blocking if the toe goes manky.

So I've refuelled, had a bath and I'm about to go and stuff my face yet again. At the moment my legs feel a bit more tired than this time yesterday, but just going to keep drinking / stretching and hope for the best.

Onwards. :)

One down 3 to go

Thankfully I got a decent night’s sleep, and spent the night breathing through unblocked nostrils. Hooray! 

Firstly a small summary of the day:

Today's attire:

JW Ultra vest (forecast was for good weather)

Black / Yellow shorts

Light Grey and Magenta Triaxes

Today’s nutrition:

Number of Gels consumed: 5 (one every 5 miles - last one at 22.5 rather than 25)

Nunn (salt) tablets in water: 1

Water top ups: LOTS (it was WARM)

Mental state:

Number of times I've muttered "F**KING HELL!!!!!" whilst staring up at a mahoosive hill today: 4

Number of times I've muttered "F**KING HELL!!!!!" because the view was so beautiful today: 7 :)

I woke up this morning not really feeling nervous, just wanted to get started. Ate my weetabix alongside several nervous looking people in shorts, went for a pee 50 times and checked out. You think I am exaggerating. Well maybe a bit. 47 times.

About 20 of us were huddled in the car park, a few less than I thought really. I suppose with an event this big you are lucky if you make it to the start line in one piece, or it seems like a good idea, then you don't train... anyway they all seem really nice if a little quick. I felt very underdressed in my vest / shorts combo, but was very grateful of the lack of clothing later on as we had a sunny day here. 

This is a new event, we are the first people to run these marathons, and to get things off to a suitably comedy start it appeared that whist the race director (Harold) was absent mindedly playing around blowing the starting horn at 8.55  the man with the timing clock thought that was the actual start and drove up the road with the timer clock on. He didn't realize no runners were following. False start! So it was almost 9.10 before we actually started.. Not that I should be bothered, start and the end is the only time I get to see the race clock. Had a nice chat with Graeme who I hadn't seen since the queue for the porta-loos at the Amsterdam Marathon last year. We meet in all the best places!

BEEEP! and we were off. Up the driveway of the hotel and out on to the main road. We wound along the road through Moville and Greencastle following the coast, which was lovely. The sky was blue, the sea was even bluer and people were out and about clapping us. We got to see little boats, pretty buildings, and some pretty fresh (well... alive) fish being landed from the Atlantic. I took it steady and tucked in behind two guys, and with them I stayed until about the 13 mile mark. A quick stop to top up my water bottle and some encouragement from Harold "You think this view is good, wait till 16 miles". Hmm, thanks.

I've read the course profile, and I knew he meant - the "big" climb was starting. I could see a TV aerial at the top of a big hill seemingly miles away, and that was where we were going. This is where I lost the other two - I let them go on. I wasn't going to bust my arse to keep up with them. I'm thinking of the longer game here.

The climb between 13-16 miles was one of the hardest I've ever done. I would say if you are a runner, imagine taking the last steepest bit of the Rhayader 20 climb, stick it at 13 miles and make it last for 3 miles. That gives you an idea. As we went up we could see people working on peat bogs and cutting out bits of turf, and there were little piles of turf dotted all over the hillside. I could also see a view emerging over the bay. The combination of the blue sky, sea and gold silvery beach from such a height made for a view that was really amazing. Never seen anything like it. Beats a Caribbean island any day.Thankfully it was a few degrees cooler at the top of the climb. It has been a lovely day here but by 11am it was getting a bit warm.

I do like to be beside the sea side... for 26.5 miles

Of course we all know, what goes up must come down, and after 16 down we went. You would think this is good, but it was a downhill so steep it is actually quite tricky to run down with any speed (or maybe I just don't have the technique) a real quadricep masher. Suddenly the uphill didn't seem so bad. On I carried. It seemed to get warmer and warmer, and I was very thankful for the roaming lady marshal that kept appearing with water top ups. It is a self sufficient race with a water stop at halfway, but I needed those top ups today. I passed lots of fields with cows, sheep, even a few chickens. To me it seems a lot like running in the Lake District. So pretty.

Pretty soon I saw the signs for Culdaff, and after having photos taken of me by some random holidaymakers on the edge of the village (bad times if I am the most interesting photo subject!) I was there. I could see the finish down the road, and something within me still wanted to belt it for the line so I did - my legs still worked. It had started to drizzle which provided some welcome refreshment, and after doing the obligatory arms in the air over the line I sat on a wall with rain drops running down my arms and legs scoffing as much kit-kat / banana as my stomach would let me. 4.43. Pleased I hadn't wrecked myself. However it was by no means easy. My average moving pace was 10.34, if you take out stops to re fill bottles etc, and the course was long so went through marathon point in 4.39 and a bit.

Today's medal

My hotel is 100 yards away from the finish, so I went and checked in. Disgusting I know, but I literally just pulled a clean top on and went back out, I thought it important to get as much water / food in me as soon as possible after running and worry about being smelly / covered in my own salt residue later. The event had put on a buffet at the pub and I went and stuffed my face. All good stuff, the Irish races really know how to do post race food. Came back and had a bath. Ahhhhhhhh. Nice :) 

At about 5 I went back out to watch our man in a wheelchair finish. It took him the best part of 8 hours to do the course. How the hell he got up those climbs I will never know, at times he had to have someone behind him to stop him from rolling backwards :-0 and I thought I had "hill problems"! Sat and chatted with him at dinner - he must be in his 60s, and seems to have done every marathon everywhere in Ireland and a lot more besides. He thinks he has it easier than the runners because on a downhill he can freewheel, although today he had to have someone holding on to the chair on the down hills because they were so steep they were dangerous and the chair would have been out of control.

The man who thinks he has it easy - after the finish

My legs at the moment feel OK. There is sometimes that moment of dread when you get up out of the chair after a long run, but no aches and pains, no blisters or funny toenails and I feel fine. Cold seems to have gone (So I've found a cure scientists have been working on finding for years!) Bacon and Cabbage (and a huge pile of potato) for tea, thought it would give me salt, bit of protein, carbs and my mother always tries to make me eat more cabbage so she was pleased. What it will be like when I try to run tomorrow I have no idea, but I intend to take it super easy to give my legs a chance to warm up before getting in to any sort of pace. Not that I've got a plan, because I think with things like this you can't really have one.

Onwards. :)