Day 10

Day 10 I woke extra early, this is a big day after all, plus my physio Michael pictured below after marathon 4 was feeling inspired, him and 2 other members of the physio team had decided to run the marathon route today. They had special permission to head off at 8am also to avoid the masses which was really nice for them. I'd given him some advice about pacing , as his normal pace was pretty fast and I didn't want him to blow a gasket.

I had my morning physio, unfortunately my achillies was now really sore and even difficult to walk on, so I had to have some tape applied to give it some extra support today which Adam the lead physio applied, it did feel a little better if I'm honest once this was in place. There was no way I wasn't running today anyway, it was not even a passing thought.

The logistics of this morning were a little different, we had to meet over the in the main hall at Brathay for 8:45am, we did the usual 1- 20 roll call, with the exception of Duncan and George we were all present, both Duncan and George had suffered injury and headed out at 7:15 am in order to be back for the presentations at 3:30pm , it was a shame we missed them in the morning, but it was more important we were all together for the presentation we felt. Aly gave us a final brief , told us how much she'd enjoyed the event, before saying 'enjoy today, you are the class of 2018 10in 10'ers, now go and enjoy!' even Chris Heaton said only, "go out there and enjoy today!" no other instructions. As we walked across the lawn to the start line we were met with what seemed like 100's of people all clapping us out..............it was quite a moment, quite a moment indeed. Once on the lawn we posed for pictures before forming a circle with our arms around one another, one last final few words from Rich Rex........it was a powerful moment as the crowd dropped to silence and only the voice of Rich Rex could be heard......a rally call, a war cry, an emotional moment, whatever you want to call it I'll never forget this moment. When the words finished a roar blasted out from all 18 runners and the gathered crowd, lets do it I thought, lets do it.

After hugs with Sarah , friends and family we were away, I'd kept Aly and Chris's words of 'go and enjoy today' in my mind, and it's what I did, one last lap of the lake, nothing silly pace wise just get it done. I'd almost forgotten about the pain in my right heal..almost as I pressed on to mile 13 and almost half way. The main marathon field set off an hour after us so I kept having the occasional look over my shoulder to see if the race leader was catching me, no sign yet. Running through the empty streets all along closed for the main run , it felt pretty special, just the odd person clapping and people manning the drinks stops clapping my as I ran by. Occasionally I heard my name mentioned over the radio as I passed support stations as they were of course tracking me, the plan being to assemble my family at the finish line. I'd run every one around the 3 hour 50 mark so far, which is about 1:20pm finish, I'm consistent if nothing else in running....so I knew when I would be back or though so...

As I pressed on the race leader from the main Marathon hadn't passed me, I felt an opportunity to come in before the main pack having set off an hour before, I lifted the pace as I headed past mile 18 towards Bowness, good support for a change as I passed across the harbour, the sun was out and 100's of people were stepping aside and clapping as I ran through the village, I caught a glimpse of Malc up ahead so I knew I was running well.

The final few miles were a blur as I passed ice cream mountain, I heard again my name on the walkie talkie , "Sean's just past Ice cream mountain, 5 miles out"! I held on to a higher pace all the way to Brathay, as I ran up the drive I was clapped up the hill before a before silence as I rounded the corner, once round the corner it was an amazing moment as I ran under the finish line to Sarah..........10 Marathons in 10 days done, I could not believe it ! And my fastest time yet 3 hours 44 mins,!

 

Final thoughts to come once I've composed myself..........................10 in bloody 10

 

Day 9 - an emotional day

It does seem to be the norm now at the 10in10 that emotions are heightened in every sense, the a smallest thing can make you smile, such as the sign the children at the local school had made for us knowing Saturday was their day off, and they wouldn't be there to high five us as we run past, through to nice gestures and comments making you cry. I probably underestimated how big the mental challenge of this event would be, and today was another example of that.

It's day 9, not a normal day really, it's last day eve I guess, we were all suffering in someway or other with soreness and injury, some far worse than others, my problem continued to worsen which was my right achillies heal which was now very difficult to put weight on, strangely seemed easier to run than walk on, we decided at Physio we wouldn't tape it up this morning as I'd got this far and I'd see how we got in today. I iced it last night a few times and warmed it up on the spin bike this morning and it felt 'ok'.

See below my physio treatment so far..

Days 6 - 9

Days 1 - 5


After physio we all moved through to the athletes room for to kit up and get the morning brief , each and every morning Aly would do a roll call to be sure we were all there, 1 - 20, as a group we'd should out our number in the order before we headed to the start line. This morning was different however, earlier in the week Michelle handed us all a picture of ourselves taken during the event and asked us to write a note on the back to Aly. So when the roll call started this morning each of us stood up, walked over and handed Aly our picture.........now whether this was planned our not, it was silent as one by one we handed our picture over until all 20 were complete. It was another 'sun glasses on inside' morning. We could sense the end now....Chris Heaton gave us our brief which in summary was "concentrate today, we're very close, don't forget we've a job to do....there will be a lot of people on route wanting to support you but keep it together, don't stop to chat, get the job done" .

As we headed down to the start I could see Duncan was really struggling to walk, I found this very difficult to see as we were so close to the end and really wanted everyone out and every one in, to lose a member of the team now.....would be difficult. I was losing the battle to fight back tears as I set off to huge applause along the road outside Brathay.

I struggled to settle in to my pace once on the road, but I've said before running helps me, and it did help me today get my head together, and as Chris said 'concentrate'. There was good support on the road today with Sarah here again on route along with Adam and Lisa, I needed it today to be honest, it was one of the more challenging day, mainly due to the emotions of being so close I guess. I finished well, perhaps a little slower but only by a couple of minutes at 3 hours 51 minutes, I was glad to be back in, my friend George was there to see me finish who runs his first Marathon at Windermere tomorrow, and the place was really busy with runners arriving for the run tomorrow . Again I struggled a bit at the finish......I asked Michelle straight away how Duncan was getting on, well it seemed considering which was good to hear, although both Richard and George were having difficult days with injury but still expected to finish and did, 20 out and 20 in, a great end to what I found a difficult day, both on and off the road.

The mood lifted over dinner, and the marathon set up was all ready for the final day outside, a weird feeling going to bed, mixed emotions of happy we were almost there, and a sense of sadness it was almost over.

Day 8 ..

Day 8 started in the usual manner, opening the window to clear blue sky's, another warm sunny day on the cards. If I'm honest, I've kind of gotten used to the warm weather running, not sure in I'll be able to cope with the normal rainy conditions of Manchester when I return to normality next week.

There is still plenty to do before then mind, in the shape of two Marathons, I'm in fairly confident mood now, I managed to run 3 hours 48 minutes today, my fastest time so far, albeit by only a minute or so. With the exception of my sore Achilles heal which I'm treating with ice each afternoon and evening, I'm injury free, just a bit knackered as you'd expect.

It was one of the teams 100th Marathon today, any runner will know how special a day this is, once in a life time, and certainly not everyone's life time , an elite few. To run the 100th at this challenge and on the 8th Marathon is on another level, so the morning had a special feel to it. We normally set off roughly in order of pace, I'm roughly top 5 so set off early, today however Adrian led out the team of runners which was nice for us all and gave us an opportunity to catch him on route, a special day indeed. It was also good to see Sarah and her dad Bill at the start line, quite emotional seeing Sarah, been away from home is part of the mental battle of this event, I said yesterday I've made good friends here which I'll miss, but I've missed Sarah and home as well, I think it's partly why emotions are amplified here, we're hurting, we're happy, we're tired , we're excited but we all miss home as well.

As is becoming normal I began to get into my 8 min 30 sec pace and held this well, my heal was bloody sore but I just tried to put it to the back of my mind, and by mile 8 or so had warmed up and wasn't bothering me anymore. I ran on my own for most of the day until I caught up with Malc about mile 18, we ran through Bowness together where Sarah and Bill were there which was a nice booster, I stuck with Malc until about mile 21 which always helped tick the miles off, but Malc up the pace from there I and didn't chase down , I'll need to get Malc to show me how to run down hill, he glides down hill effortlessly.....

Discussing sore bits with Adam and Michael

Sarah at the finish

I ran on at my own pace today again and as said finished at 3 hours 48 mins, overall very happy. Sarah was there at the finish which was great also. My physio Michael and head Physio Adam were also at the finish line and asked me about my heal. Once I'd said my goodbyes to Sarah I was straight on the cool down spin bike and into Physio, Adam had a look at my heal and said it was just some thickening of tissue due to over use, shouldn't stop me!

Had a nice eveining with Sarah and her dad Bill in the Brathay bar also, as well as Mandy and Lee (Sarah's brother)

Good to go tomorrow , I'm told tomorrow will be busy, the tranquil peace of Brathay will be shattered by 1000's of runners arriving to race the Windermere Marathon on Sunday, our last day.......feels close now, really close.

Day 7 - Run for those that can't

Earlier start today as mentioned on my previous blog as I needed some ice applying to my Achilles, which by the way is really sore, in the morning especially. Once I get some ice on it, and physio treatment along with getting it moving it improves dramatically.

I can't complain, can't complain at all, I'm 7 marathons in to the event and I'm still running, and running reasonably well. There are other runners carrying more injuries than me and also getting around. It's a real team feel here now, as I write this I'm sat in the 'common room' with some of the other runners, we're all nursing some kind of soreness or injuries. It's always a nice time of day this, the mood is often good as we're all got through another day, I'd say my favourite time of day, I'll miss this part, and these people greatly when this journey ends .

After physio this morning we gathered in the athletes room as normal to get our race kit on and receive our morning brief, once the time arrived for the brief Chris Heaton said a few words about the approach to day 7 , weather etc. before handing over to Mark Haynes one of the other runners, we all gathered in a circle , all 20 of us and Mark passed around a message from his daughter , it was an emotional moment as we each read the message and tried to keep it together. Mark said also a few words, in summary he said we are so lucky to be here, don't let it pass you by, so lets go out and run this beautiful course for those who can't...........................................it was a 'sunglasses on indoor' kind of moment......

We walked down the road to the start line with thoughts in our minds of members of the running community who we've lost recently, in particular those members of the Brathay family #runformatt


Once on the road it was good to get down to business, I set off at my usual pace, it was about the 8 mile mark I realised I hadn't eaten my protein bar at the brief as I was trying to keep my shit together during Marks speech, fortunately I was able to pick up a couple of custard creams from the support team at the drinks stop at mile 16, ok so it's not a protein bar.....but 7 marathons in who cares, its just about calories now.

I had some difficult moments today, in particular around mile 18 - 21 and felt I'd lost too much time form my planned finish time of 3:50, however I had a real good end to the day and ran well from Ice Cream Mountain all the way through the last 5 miles to the end, two Spit Fires flew over head as I approached Brathay across the clear blue sky, quite a moment.
When I ran down the lawn to the finish banner I was pumped up, punched the air, threw my water bottle and shouting 'get in there!!!' Not been like that before, but I fought for today, really fought to recover a couple of bad spells I had

Day 7 done, back of the net, get in! Green Light to go again and we move on to number 8 tomorrow, I'm literally in dream land and on the edge of something amazing.

Cant thank everyone enough for the nice comments and donations, had a £100 donation today!!!!! :)

Day 6......into the unknown

Today I felt was a big day, I said yesterday that reaching the halfway point is both terrifying and encouraging, well today we take that on in the 6th Marathon in six days, which in itself is ridiculous. The weather forecast for today was for cooler conditions which was music to me, as I've had 5 hard days running in the sun which is starting to grind me down a little.

Michael spent a little more time on my calf muscle this morning, my left calf was beginning to get quite sore both from the treatment and mileage. I guess the other issue I have currently is my Achilles in my right ankle which is also.

During the morning brief Aly said put sun cream on anyway, as the sun may come out, I was debating whether  I'd need to wear my cap today as it was cloudy and to be honest I was fed up of wearing it! In the end I decided not to gamble and go with the cap, good job as not long after setting off the sun came out and stayed out, so another warm day on the cards.

When I got to the first feed station I was glad to see Mike Sprot at the first feed station along with Tim Brown both runners from last years 10 in 10 challenge. I do like meeting other people who've taken on this challenge, and completed this and it was a bit of a boost to keep seeing them at each drink stop with encouraging words.

I stuck to my usual pace of about 8 min 30 seconds looking for my usual time of around 3 hours 50 minutes. I have held this relatively comfortable over the 5 marathons to date, and whilst I came in at 3 hours 51 minutes it was a struggle to hold the pace at times, especially from mile 14  - 19, which anyone who has run this course will know is a tough section. Some of the physio team had come out onto the road today to support us which was nice, I was glad to be cheered on just before Bowness doing the above mentioned tough section, shortly after cheered on again as they passed me in the car heading back to meet the runners on the finish line. Whilst travelling back however there was a problem on the road and I ran past the physio's car stuck in traffic about 3 miles out , luckily my man Michael was not one of them. I joking said as I ran past and said 'run back with me' , well.....in the end some of them had to in order to be there to meet their runner! Now that's dedication , a top team indeed

Happy overall with today, and a beautiful evening here in the Lake District, red sky at night as they say.........oh bugger... 

I've got to be in physio extra early tomorrow in order to apply ice to my Achilles ......once again something to look forward to. However, we go gain tomorrow! Nothing significant enough to stop me.

Day 5, half way house

I woke this morning with thoughts of this being the 'halfway' point, which if I'm honest both encouraging and terrifying at the same time, encouraging in that we are half way there (whoooo) but terrifying in that we have to do this all over again after today........

Anyhow, after the usual carry on of breakfast etc (no point in repeating the groundhog day) I headed down to breakfast, I was on the phone to Sarah whilst walking down and I noticed my Friend Garry, as always really good to see friend! It was ladies day today which means all the male physio team dressed as ladies, it's a great laugh and lifted all the runners spirits, although I think Garry thought this was the norm....... The morning is always a nervous time , all of us know every time we go out something can go wrong, we're always happy to get back free from injury and illness, the team is great and forming a really strong bond.

We set off at 9:30am as always to great support by the 'ladies' and Garry was there also, I was in good spirits this morning and settled into my rhythm pretty quickly, I was also on my own quickly as a few of the usual runners I run with had set off at slightly different times than usual. Each morning we set off one at a time, to avoid congestion on the roads which are not closed of course, we're only a small team in reality. Still, once we got going Richard soon caught and passed me, and I stuck with Malc up until the second drink stop.

I was on my own then until Newby Bridge (about 12/13mile in) when Paul caught me up, Paul is the race leader and having an excellent run. I never try to chase any times or anyone outside of my plan, my plan being to stick around the 8 min 30 second mile giving me 3 hours 50 mins overall each day, or thereabouts, just want to get through really and not push it. Once Paul pressed on I carried on at my planned pace throughout finishing in 3 hours 49 minutes, Sarah and Adam were there to greet me which was amazing to catch a hug from Sarah, my third of the day in fact after seeing them another couple of times on route today.

I had a much better session with Michael in Physio today, he does have some concerns over my left calf and right Achilles heal, which we'll need to look at in the morning...but overall positive I'd say. Adam is the head of the physio team, I worry if Adam needs to get involved as that often means high pain levels, Micheal said we may need to get Adam to have a look tomorrow...........that will be nice....


And day 5 done, half way, and another 5 to go.....blimey

Day 4...what's a day in the 10 in 10 like?

So what does a day look like on the Brathay 10 Marathons in 10 Days challenge ? Something like this..

• Alarm goes off at 6:30am, normally awake before then...
• Head down to the Athletes Kitchen and make some breakfast, Porridge , banana and raisins
• 7:15 pack bags and sort out racing kit for the day, such as change of clothes , kit, hats, sunglasses , sun cream (basically all the stuff you'd need to take to an event)
• 8am physio , just a general check over and flush out

• 8:45 meet in the Athletes room and get race kit on, sun cream, plasters, Vaseline (don't ask) 
• 9am general check in, last minute stuff and 'roll call' for runners

Room mate, myself, Richard Storr, Paul Brown and David Green

Athletes room for briefing

• 9:15am Briefing for the day, weather, roads, safety etc
• 9:30 race starts

Race ends

Race start

• 13:15 pm finish
• 10 - 15 minutes on the spin bike to cool down
• Straight into rehab (deep tissue massage for 2 hours) and food
• 15:30  coffee and food to recover from Physio
• 16:00  back up to the lodge for shower, wash kit and change
• 17:30  sort out drinks bottles and recover drink for the next day, place into boxes which will be placed on route
• 18:30 evening meal
• 19:30 back to the lodge , write up blog and .............chill
• 10pm ish bed

As you can see, its full on, and we go again in the morning.

In summary todays run has gone well, but I am finding in increasingly hard in the sun, with another hot one forecast tomorrow. Really hoping it cools down soon, as it's having an impact on my ability to run as well as recovery, I'm from Manchester at the end of the day, I'm not a good hot weather runner. Whilst the run went well overall with another solid 3 hours 49 minutes time today, the physio was m most painful yet and I had to take a time out.....really took it out of me.Thanks I feel much better now and have the all clear to go again tomorrow, so lets do it!