Marathons 7 and 8 - Manchester and Southampton virtual marathons: the ones I ran in lockdown

Manchester non-marathon 5 April. 

So much had changed in the 40 days since my last marathon on 26 February in the wilds of Kent. 

The temperature had risen significantly but alas so had the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in mid-March we retained a hope that some mass participation events would carry on as normal, but within a month we had reached a point where not only was their cancellation inevitable, it was ordained by government, and the likelihood would be that we’d be lucky to enjoy one again by the end of the year. 

Initially I was gutted that not only was the Manchester marathon postponed, but that our planned trip to the North West and onward to Scotland would have to be reorganised for another time and date. I had the Manchester marathon in my sights as a sub-4 hour race and one where I could reach more supporters in another part of the country. However the disappointment soon paled into insignificance as the reality of the deathly pandemic set in. 

I took some time to consider whether to go ahead with the marathon but on speaking with colleagues at Sands, running friends and local friends including one in the Police, I worked on a plan which would ensure I minimised the risk of not keeping to social distancing measures, whilst not venturing too far from home nor over-stretching the limit of one daily exercise.

I agreed on a route which would be four laps of my usual Sunday 7 at 7 run, and I’d set off before dawn to avoid as many people as possible. I prepared well and, having resisted the temptation to embrace lockdown booze, set the alarm for 5am. At 5.50am I was off and running. The sun was beginning to rise in the east and it was a pleasant 7 or 8 degrees. I was pleased that I would be home by the time it got really hot. I was also pleased not to have to carry my backpack, as I’d be able to take on board any gels and water etc at home around once an hour. 

Early start in the dark

I completed the first lap of almost seven miles bang on pace at 9 minute miles, grabbed a gel from the window sill and headed off again. I was feeling reasonably strong and on track to hit my target of 1m57 for the half marathon, with the aim of then completing the second half in 2h03. My in-laws kindly left a bottle of lucozade sport outside their driveway overnight ready for me to grab on my way past, at about 9, 16 and 23 miles. At 10 miles our friends and most ardent supporters Kev and Suzie shouted out from the other side of the road that they wanted to cheer me on, so keeping well behind me they shouted me up the deserted road towards the turn off at the Itchen river. It was great to also see Charlie coming from the other direction to offer a shout of encouragement from the other side of the road. I left K&S at the river and headed back home. Apart from these three friends I must have seen only a couple of keen dog walkers in the first 1/2 of the run. I arrived back home at about 1h58 but probably spent too long changing t shirts and high-fiving the family to keep me on track for the time I wanted. 

It didn’t really matter though as this was not the point. What I wanted to do was to keep the marathon challenge on track. 

Like so many other charities, Sands has had a difficult few weeks to say the least, with income dropping rapidly given the number of events being cancelled, not just running but so many others, sky-diving, cake-baking, cycling and so on. I wanted to do my part as long as it was safe to do so. 

The third lap was probably the hardest as the tiredness began to kick in, despite the boost of seeing my parents-in-law waving out of their window. I was back home at mile 20 and Jayne joined me for the last lap. it was great to have her with me and although the quads were beginning to get sore I felt the strongest I had done thus far. 

I was on for a decent time as we approached the final hill at 23 miles, one I had accomplished so many times before but one which now seemed more like the Himalayas than just the gentle incline it usually appears to be. We push on and having forced myself over the railway bridge we were on the home straight. I knew I couldn’t get below 4 hours by now but was determined to run my fastest time of the challenge thus far, and completed it in 4 hours and 4 minutes which took another 4 minutes off my time in Kent. 

We waved to a couple of other friends on the other side of the road out on their daily walk and headed for home about a mile away. 

Just finished Manchester Marathon in Hampshire! But no medal...

it had been strange to run without crowds, and there was no medal or t shirt as reward for my efforts. However, a number of donations had been received - upwards of £400 - and the target was now approaching £2,000. this was a huge encouragement for my efforts. I collapsed into the shower and an afternoon in our ‘beer garden’ enjoying a pint or two of Badger was just the tonic. Susannah is becoming a fabulous chiropodist / foot-masseuse and really helped the general recovering from what was a very strange race indeed.

We then began contemplating what the next three weeks would bring ahead of the Southampton non-marathon in 3 weeks’ time. 

Southampton non marathon 26 April

Three weeks had passed by since the previous marathon and during that time we had celebrated two birthdays and an Easter weekend in the family. We had got into a routine of either me or Jayne running one day, with the other taking the children for their daily walk/exercise. This meant I only had 3 runs to play with each week, and with the onset of the lockdown I found it hard to focus and ‘train’ for the non-marathon. I was also feeling that, whilst not against the letter of the law, going for such a prolonged period outdoors was maybe seen by some as going against the spirit of the law. The ‘rules’ were a bit ambiguous - the primary rule being only go out for essentials including daily exercise and on your own. Whilst there is no official rule about a one hour maximum, it is apparent that some feel this way because of a comment made by Mr Gove a few weeks ago. Yet I know how much bereaved families need Sands right now more than ever and the compulsion to continue to run to raise further funds was equally strong. 

So I spent a few days feeling really conflicted as to whether to run this one at all. I only decided about 4 days beforehand that I would do it, but concocted a plan that would mean I would leave even earlier to avoid as many people as possible, whilst ensuring I ran the full distance on the day the Southampton marathon would have taken place. I also resolved that I would pause the challenge for a while as soon as this one was over, as I just didn’t have the headspace to deal with whether I should, where I should, how I should, etc. The May and June marathons in Kent and Hampshire had been cancelled by this point, so I figured that I should push the pause button for a while until things were much clearer in terms of guidance for outdoor exercise and resume later in the summer, or autumn, or winter as required. So I probably won’t finish 15 in 15 months, but I think people will understand why.  

Nutters' alarms

I didn’t really watch my nutrition or my training in the days ahead and suddenly we were at 11pm on the Saturday night. I had set three alarms but was awake by 4am and by 4.50am I was out in the dark with a head torch on, making my way around a local course I had designed with the help of some friends. They had left a bottle outside on their porches overnight so that I could travel light, with my energy gels and mobile phone. by the time I reached my first stop at 5.45am there was no need for the head torch, but I was in real need of a toilet! Probably because I was up at an unearthly hour and of course nowhere was open… I couldn’t knock on anyone’s door either given the regulations! I felt a bit sluggish again probably due to the early start and just not ‘feeling it’ today. At 5 miles I would expect to be running at a steady 9 minute mile pace, but I was already a couple of minutes over 45 minutes and although I pulled some back in the next 5, I knew in my heart that the sub 4 wasn’t on today. 

After a downhill stretch from 5-10 on road and through fields I started uphill towards the the half marathon mark and arrived bang on 2 hours, feeling pretty tired already, though spurred on by friends waving out of their window. Such a smile can bring such encouragement. I counted the people out and about on a Sunday morning, and in the first 20 miles the people on foot (runners, walkers and dog walkers) beat the cyclists 13-11. All easily avoided by running onto the road or on the opposite pavement. 

Disinfected gels and water outside friends' house

In the next mile or two it became apparent that, like the race we are all running at the moment, it was more about survival than smashing records. Strangely around mile 17 I got a bit disorientated even though I was in familiar surroundings, and spent a good half hour going round in circles trying to find my way back onto the main track. In one sense it didn’t matter because I knew I was meeting Jayne at Eastleigh station at 8.30 come what may, in another I found it quite disconcerting and it added to the mental challenge. I had another couple of stops for water outside friends’ houses and met Jayne as planned, if ever there was a sight for sore eyes this was it, however by this point I was only at mile 22 rather than the planned mile 23.5, so we had to do a couple of laps circling Eastleigh before heading for the final 2-mile straight back home. 

Empty roads

As we crossed the railway bridge there was a cheer from 50 yards away as Kev and Suzie appeared, waving their support in their Sands t-shirts, out on their Sunday morning run. Without doubt it brought a tear to the eye. Clearly they must have timed the run to see me towards the end, at a safe distance, but close enough to ensure I not only heard their encouragement but to see the familiar bright orange Sands logo on the blue t-shirt. I stopped not only to wave and shout but also to stretch my hamstrings which had been playing up since about mile 17. I have missed my trips to the gym between marathons to work on my leg strength! Joe Wicks’ PE lessons have been fantastic in helping improve core strength but there’s nothing like resistance training to build up leg muscle either. 

Stretching the hamstrings. OWW!

We trotted back towards home and I check to see the finish time, a disappointing 4h17, well I say disappointing in the sense that it was much harder than I had expected and the time was disappointing compared to the last couple, but I also frequently say that there’s no such thing as a bad marathon, as any run of 26.2 miles is a great achievement in itself! I was proud that I had pushed through the mental barrier and completed the run. And at least I was home for breakfast and church, not something I have been able to say after any other marathon! When we get back we see that more money has been raised for Sands and that’s a great comfort and encouragement in itself. A cold Badger Beer in the garden that afternoon also helps of course.

More Badgers

Exactly a year ago I was in Southampton with the family cheering on local hero and ex-Saints FC defender Francis Benali cycling back to the Guildhall after his incredible 7 days of ironman challenges, and it was this that had inspired me last summer to think about a challenge that would take me outside of my comfort zone and to raise funds for Sands. Without doubt it has done that. I am proud that I have completed 8 marathons in less than 8 months, from the first in the New Forest in September via Reading, Kingston, Pompey, Gloucester, Deal and now back home. I am within sight of my fundraising target of £2,500 and without question we’ve raised awareness about the tragedy of stillbirth and neonatal death and its impact on families.

Online virtual marathon caption

After that first marathon I blogged that I had realised I was running an endurance race of my choosing to support those bereaved families who were running a lifelong endurance race they did not choose to enter. Some of the stories I’ve heard over the past few weeks of bereaved families has made the need for our care and support even greater than ever. Similarly during the run up to this most recent marathon it dawned on me that the entire globe is now running a race that we didn’t voluntarily enter- the Corona Marathon, We are having to embrace new tactics and strategies for endurance, adapting almost on a daily basis, juggling work and family tasks in a way we’ve never encountered before. As we entered lockdown I blogged about having a marathon mindset for the weeks and months ahead, and that sometimes a mile would feel like half a mile because we’re in the rhythm and things go by quickly, and at times it would feel like 5 miles because the legs are tired and the mind is weary. Certainly this last marathon, particularly the second half, felt like the latter. At times it feels like there’s no end in sight and we’ve not got the energy or mental fortitude to finish the race, and that we’re being told that this is an ultra-marathon, not a marathon after all. But as ever, the support of friends cheering you on, the knowledge that you’ve overcome huge hurdles beforehand, and the enjoyment of a cold Badger Beer at the end of a marathon give you the determination that it’s not all been in vain and that we can pick it up and go again. Also, the medal and t-shirt for the Southampton virtual marathon came through a few days later and it was great to have something tangible for the effort. 

Southampton medal

So I’m not ready to quit just yet.

Southampton Marathon T-shirt

I’m ready for a pause, and a change of strategy, at least for this interim period. To that end I am delighted that we are hosting an online Quiz on Saturday 9th May. We were due to host a curry night in Southampton that evening after the Bewl Water Marathon in Kent, but have changed it to an online Quiz. Lots of people have already signed up and we’d love you to join us. Do get in touch if you’d like to play. We are asking for a £5 donation via our Just Giving page, www.justgiving.com/fundraising/marc-harder4 - there are some great prizes too, donated by local friends and the local pub, and wouldn’t you know it, Hall & Woodhouse Brewery. They’ve generously contributed a crate of Badger Beers. The agony of giving a dozen free bottles away to one of our winners, could yet be my biggest challenge of them all :-) 

Marathon 6 and a half: The Corona Marathon

Coronavirus- "a marathon not a sprint". 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

Hey friends, I keep hearing that the race we’ve all been involuntarily entered into is a ‘marathon not a sprint’. I’ve been chewing on this for a while so, having run a few marathons recently, I’ve jotted down a few thoughts/tips 🤔 and if it helps, great, if not, well it was good for me to get it down in writing and it helped me process a few things in my own head. 

Caveat: I’m not an expert. I’m not a scientist, coach, athlete nor healthcare professional. I’m a guy in his mid 40s who’s run a few marathons - I’m in the middle of doing 15 in 15 months, with 6 down and 9 to go. It’s been a real journey of self-discovery and I’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way. I thought a few of these may be applicable to our current situation so I share these insights/ramblings in the vain hope they might be mildly useful. 🙂

1. Develop a Marathon Mindset. I encourage us to not set off at 100m or even 5k pace. We may look back on the weekend just gone as being the ‘easiest’ of the lot, we did a few fun things as there was lots of good weather, Mother’s Day 💐 to enjoy, the children hadn’t started home school yet, and the fact we were not quite in lockdown yet. There’s lots of ideas on social media of ways to keep us and our families entertained and healthy. But really we’re in the very early stages of what is going to be a marathon - or even an ultra-marathon. So we need to save energy- emotional, mental and physical- 💪 for the hard yards which are yet to come, and will be gruelling. That advice might not so quick in coming; the sun may not be shining; there may not be anything to celebrate and the end may not be in sight. Nothing prepares you for that period between 17-23 miles when you’re really aching 😬 and the finish line is a long way off. It’s so important to pace ourselves and to get our mindset right. 

2. Control the controllables. There’s things we are in control of, and there are things outwith our control. On race day I can control the race I run, no one else’s. I can’t control whether the aid station has orange lucozade and not blackcurrant🍹. I can’t control what the government impose. I can't control whether Coronavirus comes to our village, but I can control my attitude, the prevention of its spread by washing hands, educating children, keeping my distance, being resourceful and not complaining that I’m having to eat a can of kidney beans mixed with spaghetti as I couldn’t get hold of lean mince and Parmesan cheese to make a proper bolognese. 

3. Take on board the encouragement of others🙌 , and offer encouragement to others too. I ran my first marathon in London in 2014 and without doubt would not have made it round the course without the kindness of strangers, people you’ve never met urging you on as they call the name on your shirt. And I’d have never made it through the first six of the current 15 marathon challenge without the support of close friends, families, co-workers and co-runners 🤗 . Helping to prepare, offering lifts, dropping texts, sharing training runs. And it’s great when a fellow runner shouts you encouragement, as we’re all in it together. It’s the same now. Get people around you, reach out to those you’ve not seen for a while, not everyone is on social media. it does us all good and helps you run the race. As a family we are trying to call or WhatsApp one group of friends or family every day, this is already helping build up mutual resilience which we all need. Do call me or message me if you’d like to, I’m not going anywhere soon! 👍The truth is, we are cheering each other on in an endurance race we never expected to be running. The difference to the usual marathons is that we are all running it, whether we are young or old, fit or unfit, rich or poor. We need that encouragement now more than ever and we will need it in the weeks ahead. So 'keep encouraging each other, just as you are doing.'

4. Stick to a good nutritional plan🍽; let’s eat well, so far as the shops’ shelves will allow us, and let’s not binge or blow out on the first lap. We need our immune systems to be as strong as they can, so let’s resist temptation to over eat or drink ‘because what else is there to do’. It’s true the weekends will bleed into weekdays and vice versa, but if you tend not to drink alcohol or eat certain foods during the week, keep your discipline now more than ever and enjoy Friday evening and Saturday evening drinks 🍻🍸 as you would usually. I've learned a lot more about nutrition and preparation for marathons recently (thanks Peter Cheeseman) and it makes a big difference.

5. Enjoy the sights, sounds and smells. Always early on in a marathon I try to take in the surroundings ☀️ 🌳 🦅 . Where possible during this time, breathe in the sunshine and the smell of the flowers and sound of the birds, it will be uplifting. So take photos, record your kids playing, the sound of nature if you’re lucky enough to go outside during this time. This will also help us build resilience against ‘injury’ or other problems later in the race. 

6. Wear the right kit👕🥾... If Saturday was day 1 or mile 1, what does day 20 look like three weeks from now - or day 36? Be prepared- I don't mean panic stockpiling but prepare other resources. Can you cook something now and freeze it in case one of the family needs you, or your neighbour needs it next week, or if you or your partner/family are ill/ quarantined? What’s going to hurt you most? Can you plan ahead and mitigate it? For me running marathons it's at 20 miles and it’s bleeding nipples😱! So I put the plasters on before the race. They seem pointless for 20 miles and you literally feel a bit of a t*! 😂 but thank goodness I put them on. It's agony when you leave them off. Are there things we need to put in place to prevent 'injury' later on in this race? 

7. Prepare your route 🗺 🧭 - again this is easier said than done in the current situation. But do you have a plan as to which room you’ll quarantine yourself in, what you’ll do with the kids’ food if you're unable to cook, how you’ll cope if a family member elsewhere is severely ill or dies, and you can’t visit? Have you shared your bank website login details with your nearest and dearest in case you can’t access anything for a week or longer? It's worth having some awkward discussions😬 now rather than leaving it too late😥.

8. Recognise that there are many more bumps to come. The first few miles may be reasonably smooth but the blisters will start, they’ll be rubbing🥵, and it will be painful, so be prepared for the things that annoy you most to be really hurting after a few days or weeks - do what you can to prevent it, but know what helps to cure or soothe it too. If you're an introvert🤫, how can you get time alone? If you're an extrovert👐, how can you share your energy when you're cooped up indoors? In a marathon you may expect there to be an aid station at 15k but when you find that it's at 15 miles (21k) it can be a real shock. 6k is a big difference - so you may have to dig in for those extra few miles unexpectedly😬. The race maybe longer than you thought. When I ran the Portsmouth coastal the mile markers were not syncing with my GPS watch; in the end I ended up running 27 miles not 26. It was agony in the last mile. it took 11 long minutes but felt like 11 hours. Be prepared that the markers are wrong and we may have to run further than we thought. 

9. Celebrate the small successes. Getting through every day is a win! 🙌Getting to the end of our first ‘school day’ yesterday felt like a good success. Just like going past every mile marker, or getting to the first 5k, or reaching a certain landmark. Celebrate the small things - a few of these added together make us feel good that we’ve achieved something bigger and helps us towards the main goal. 🏅

10. Listen 👂 to your coach. Many of us are not specialist healthcare professionals. I’d never run a marathon before 2014 but had a coach who had, and she guided me through. Her experience was vital particularly when I hurt my knee four weeks beforehand and thought it was all over. But I trusted her and we changed the training plan and made it through🙌. Clearly no-one has been in this position in our lifetime, but our coaches i.e. the Medical Professionals and Chief Scientists have studied epidemics and pandemics for years, and they have a far greater understanding of how we prevent it, mitigate it or in time cure it, far more than I do. So if they say isolate or distance ourselves we should trust their judgment. 

In closing I totally get that these analogies have their limitations; for the majority of us marathon runners it’s because we’ve chosen to run it and/or we’re a little crazy😜, we’re running for charity and we have our different motivations. Mine can be found at www.marcathon.blogspot.com

But the reality is that we’re running an endurance race 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️we didn’t choose to run, and as such we’ve not done months and months of training ready for the big day. That’s true, there’s nothing we can do about that. So even more so we have to get our minds and bodies ready for the long run ahead. 

And develop a marathon mindset. 

love and strength to you all.

M

Marathon 6 of 15: Done Deal - the one where I ran on Marathon Day 26.2

Deal Castle

Five weeks had passed quickly since the Gloucester Marathon and I was feeling good. A few sub-25 minute parkruns and a couple of well-paced long training runs had me confident of a good time as the race approached.

The donations to the Sands fundraising page had continued to come in and although the music concert had to be postponed due to a nasty bike accident for the pianist (rescheduled to 11 July), I had set up a curry night for May to help the fundraising efforts and it had been met with an excellent response, so things were looking good.

However, the best laid plans and all that… the poor weather in the week before the race had me checking the BBC weather app with unnecessary frequency, and an increasingly sore heel had me worrying about my ability not only to secure a good time but to even start or finish the marathon.

The Marathon Day Marathon is held every year on 26.2 (you see what they did there?) and this year was a Wednesday. So as usual I had tapered down from a 3 hour run 3 weeks before the event to 2 hours a fortnight before and an hour the week before. It was after this run, to collect the car from the pub the night before, that the heel began to plague me. Even walking became a chore and I convinced myself I had plantar fasciitis – a running friend had been diagnosed with the same condition so I assumed I had just over-trained or under-stretched and despite advice on ice, rest and new socks I felt glum with five days to go that I was going to have to postpone or just hobble through the race.

Thankfully, Rachel, a very close friend of ours and former practicing podiatrist came to the rescue, not for the first time in our lives I hasten to add. Over the phone she gave some really helpful advice and between us diagnosed that it wasn’t plantar fasciitis but more likely a callous or suchlike caused by constant running on a dead patch of skin on my heel. So we agreed ibugel, rest and paracetamol was the best treatment to try to get me through to the marathon on the Wednesday. On the Monday I took a short test run whilst in London and it seemed to hold up well. So with a new spring in my step and with the encouragement of my fab Sands colleagues in my ears I headed home in better spirits.

Early morning course reccie

On the Tuesday one of my closest friends Kev drove us to Dover for an overnight stop ahead of the early start in Deal. It was the first marathon I was heading to without Jayne as she had to work on the Wednesday and take care of the children before and after school, so it was a strange feeling to not have her alongside me.

We set off down to the start line just outside of Deal, which really is as far South-East as you can get. The sun was bright and you could see northern France on the horizon. But with the sunshine came a bitter wind, so as we walked along the front to assess the conditions we knew that the ‘out’ leg of 2.62 miles would be tough into the wind, but that the ‘in’ leg of 2.62 would be more manageable. 5 laps of 5.24 miles would take me to the 26.2 miles.

 

Blustery but bright morning

We found the organisers sheltering between some trees with their papers well secured from the wind, and found out that there were 85 runners, so it would be pretty low key. The event reminded me of the friendliness and convenience of the Saturn X-Run Marathon I had run in October, though I was hoping for a much better time despite the wind. This event was organised by Saxons, Vikings and Normans, which conjures up images of middle aged men dressed in chainmail brandishing heavy swords rushing at each other as part of a summer re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings. I’m told it was named by a group of runners after the Saxon Shore Way which runs from Gravesend to Hastings itself, some of which I was about to run. So if you swap the chainmail for lycra and the swords for Garmins maybe it’s not that different after all. They’re an amazing team and I would definitely recommend doing one of their runs throughout the course of the year. 

 

With Cat prior to the race 

We meet up with Cat, a running friend who works at NHS England and who generously paid for the entry fee. Cat is a Kent local and has run many events with SVN and recommended this to me last summer. She had completed her own 12 marathons in 12 months challenge last year and was part of the inspiration behind my own challenge. So it’s extra special to see her, and her lovely mum gave her a donation to give me for the fund too :-) 

We meet Sylvie from East Kent Sands who is also an amazing supporter, representing the local Sands group who do so much to support bereaved women and families whose baby has died. Seeing her in her Sands top is an unexpected emotional moment, as it brings back to the front of mind why I’m doing the challenge in the first place. And deep breath.

 

lovely Sylvie

After a short briefing we’re on our way and into the wind. It felt good early on and I’m soon in the rhythm, with the first leg going as planned. On the return leg I see Kev and Cat cheering me on, and then towards the first turn point at the aid desk I see Sam, another Sands volunteer, who had been in touch the previous day. It’s fantastic to see her smiley face at least half a dozen times between now and the end, and really grateful to her for some of the photos too.

Thanks Sam for the pics

I’m in the rhythm for the first 3 laps, broadly keeping to the planned 9 minute miles accompanied by the Fighting Talk podcast and then Popmaster, which help me buffer against the 4 degrees maximum temperature. Kev and Cat join me at this point – mile 16 - and before I know it I’ve completed 20 miles in 3 hours and 3 minutes, well ahead of the 4h14m pace at Gloucester.

We keep the pace going – naturally it has slipped a bit but it’s only the last three miles that go over ten minute miles as fatigue hits in. This is much later on in the process than usual – I think the body is getting used to the exertions I’m putting on it. And I’ve pretty much forgotten about the heel injury, being more worried about a slight blister I can feel on the toe of my other foot, but it's minor compared to the extra toe which appeared after the New Forest Marathon. Sylvie and Sam are on hand with lots of water and cheering to keep us going.

Three amigos with about 4 miles to go

Sylvie and Sam create a mock finish tape at the end of the 26.2 miles. I’m amazed and delighted to complete the marathon in 4h08m, another 6 minutes off Gloucester and a full 50 minutes quicker than the one in Reading back in the autumn. 

The finish line!

The improvements have come about through determination and commitment, long runs and stretching of course, but also due to the nutritional coaching from Peter Cheeseman who runs a local fitness company and who has supported me to not only lose weight (through the 60 days fat loss club) but to improve my running performance significantly over the last 3 months. I’ve lost the best part of a stone and a half and feel so much better for it.

greater discipline has brought greater consistency...

It has also been possible due to amazing friends and family, Jayne in particular for supporting the challenge in so many different ways, all the sponsors for their encouragement, Kev for driving and for him and Cat running with me. Kev’s ten miles was his longest ever run, and was a hugely impressive effort!

So after a few photos with the obligatory medal and the fab support team, it’s all over for another few weeks.

Amazing support team!

Every marathon has been an adventure, with many highs and lows along the way, and an opportunity to cross paths with some extraordinary, ordinary, people: this time in particular Sylvie and Sam who represent so many of Sands’ amazing volunteers across the country. They give their own time to help newly bereaved families overcome the loss of a baby, raise money for training and resources, raise awareness and are generally superstars. Thank you both - and all those at East Kent Sands - so, so much.

 

Kev and I retreat into Deal to replenish after our efforts, fish and chips seems too lardy so a la Gwen from Gavin & Stacey I venture ‘do you know what I fancy Kev, I fancy an omelette, I does’. 

I won't lie to you, it was crackin' 

Within a few hours we are back home eating another great meal and a beer with Jayne, Suzie, the children and other good friends of ours. We check the fundraising total and it’s well over £1700 now, for which we are hugely grateful.  

Onwards then to Manchester on April 5^th and what will likely be a very different occasion with tens of thousands rather than tens of others. But for now, with injury scares and severe weather warnings long forgotten, we are left with nothing but positive memories of a fantastic Marathon Day Marathon.

Done Deal.