Day 2 - On the road again

I'm writing this on a picnic table on the lawn outside Brathay Hall, savouring a pint of Brathay 10in10 Ale, the perfect isotonic recovery drink. It's a lovely warm evening although the clouds are starting to fill the sky.

Despite going to bed with a worrying niggle in my left calf, I slept much better last night. I was up at 6.30am and straight down for breakfast. My calf was still a little stiff but the rest had done it some good. Porridge was the order of the day, always a reliable fuelling option.

I had intended to run in my t-shirt again but, after a second brew, the sky between the trees was looking blue with the promise of a sunny day, so out came the vest and cap.

I went down for pre-race physio at 8 o'clock and was on the table for around 45 minutes. Joe gave my legs a thorough work over.

After the customary loo stops and anti-chafing routine, we wandered down to the start line on the road. Malc was off first and I followed after a procession of cars had passed, and the physio team was on hand to cheer us off again.

Today I'd decided to take it much steadier over at least the first quarter, a tactic which worked well on the January training weekend, and also plumped for my Asics shoes over Nikes. I was absolutely amazed that my left calf (and leg in general) felt completely fine – whatever Joe had done was nothing short of miraculous!

I caught Malc after a few miles and we ran together for the next 10 miles or so. It was really nice to have someone to chat with compared to the relative solitude of Day 1. At one point we cleared a large branch hanging dangerously into the road, and he highlighted a wonderful retrospective view of the lake around 9.5 miles in – I never even knew you could see Windermere from the western part of the route!

Jonathan and Rich were close behind us for a while and at one stage Aly, driving past in the "lead car", gave Jonathan a good-natured telling off for running next to Rich instead of in front or behind on the narrow road (the first of several such admonishments).

Malc spotted a friend at the drop box around mile 14 so I pressed on and gradually pulled away. The Rollercoaster was very kind this morning and almost a pleasure to run along, although the heat was building. It was a wonderful day to be alive and running in such a beautiful part of the world!

There was much more traffic on the road with it being a sunny weekend and now and again a passing car would beep in support, a much appreciate gesture. Bowness was very busy and Yuk-Lam (Malc's wife) and children were there to cheer us on.

Ice Cream Mountain soon swung into view where Michelle was multi-tasking. She is our official photographer but was there ready having kindly fished my bottle and gel out of the drop box. This is the amazing support we have on the 10in10 – nothing is too much trouble and everyone goes above and beyond to help in any way they can.

The last four miles were uneventful apart from the relentless heat – I was thankful I'd filled at least some of my bottles with electolyte mix instead of just water on Adam's advice. 

I crossed the line in 3:32:08, a couple of minutes slower but given the weather, plus the fact I felt a lot better generally, I was very happy with that. Today was a good day and to top it off I've just hit my £6,000 fund raising target – thank you everyone!

And as a bonus, in my 1h 15m post-race physio session (ouch!) I discovered that they really do use the karate chop procedure, in my case on a constantly cramping calf!

Day 3 will be dedicated to the biggest single benefactor to my fundraising so far, Dale Contractors – you guys are awesome and your support will tremendously help many young people!