My '50th Birthday Challenge' is complete

Sunday was the big event, the Kent 50 Mile Challenge, that I have been training towards for 12 months. I should say straight away that I would not ordinarily choose to run even the normal marathon distance of 26.2 miles in the summer months because I don't do well in the heat; so to opt for a double marathon could be considered pure madness. Ah, but that's why it was called a 'challenge', because it was such a tough thing for me to do!

I'd taken the precaution of having a final session with Mary Massage Lady to iron out the remaining niggles in my groin so I knew I felt good. This gave me a much-needed mental boost because it had been playing on my mind. Everything was organised, we'd go to the village barbecue the evening before, relax and socialise, then early to bed, up at 3am and out of the door by 3:45am to head off to Marshside. Or so I thought.........................

On Friday Mike had a big job come in, the sort you can't turn down. This meant he had a heavy workload for the next week with tight deadlines and no room for manoeuvre. It looked as if he would have to work Saturday just to keep ahead. Then another phone call came which I knew would mean he couldn't come to support me. He was gutted. I was gutted. Ordinarily I wouldn't have batted an eyelid because I'm used to doing my marathons alone (except for the London Marathon which he came to this time) as I prefer off-roaders where the only support is from the marshalls and at the finish line. This was different though as it was such a big thing for me to do that he'd really wanted to be part of it and share in my achievement. Anyway it was not to be so there was no point getting upset about it. So, I decided that rather than get up at 3am and have to travel to the start I'd go up the evening before so I could have a lie-in until around 4am. It was jolly tough leaving him behind on Saturday night and I did have a little cry on the way.
This is my hotel room. I took my knitting with me just in case I couldn't sleep but I never actually did any as I couldn't concentrate! Settled down to sleep soon after 10pm but couldn't get to sleep due to the pub/restaurant next door throwing bottles into their container at regular intervals. Finally dropped off but woke up again at 12:45 and was restless for the remaining few hours until the alarm went off at 4am. Then I was up and on the go. Brekkie consisted of a banana, a choccy SlimFast shake and a cup of coffee then I headed off to the start at 4:45am.

I got in a bit of a panic en-route because the directions I had didn't correspond with the road signs so I just trusted my instincts and followed the signs to Marshside hoping that I'd get there eventually................and I did! The road through the marshes was quite eerie so early in the morning as there was no-one about until all of a sudden there was a car behind me, which could only be fellow runners, I turned a corner and there was the pub which was the base camp/start/check-point.
There were lots of people milling around already, some people had camped in the pub garden overnight. It looked really jolly with all the flags strung up. I headed off to the car park and started to prepare. The first person I met from the Runners World forum was Andrew Smith who gave me some very good advice. He said that the forecast was for a very hot day later so it would be wise to do the first part a little quicker to make up for slowing down in the heat. Next was 'Too Much Water' who I saw loads of times on the course. Both are very experienced ultra runners and I was grateful for their advice.
I ambled off to the start area and immediately saw Ruth, aka 'Plodding Hippo', who I last saw on my birthday. This is Pip, aka 'BearB.Hind', and I couldn't resist taking this photo of her and her bear who's wearing his running kit and has the same number as Pip. She does loads of long distance events. There were so many forumites and it was lovely to put some names to faces. We all had to sign a form to say that we were physically fit to attempt the 'challenge' (didn't ask about the state of our mental health though!!!). I had a cup of coffee, a quick trip to the loo and then all of a sudden it was nearly 6am and we gathered at the start.

Mike Inkster, the Race Director, gave an inspiring speech and reminded us all that it was not a race but a personal challenge. We could take a break for food, drink or first aid for as long as we liked as long as we finished within the 15 hour time limit. The route was 8 loops of 6.55 miles starting and finishing outside the pub. At the end of each loop we had to get our number and lap time recorded before we started the next one.

Then we were off and it was real. I stayed right near the back and tried to settle into my pace. I'd trained for 13 minute miling but I heeded Andrew's advice and upped it to 12 minute miling. It was a bit humid and there were lots of grey clouds around but the temperature was OK. If only it could stay like this I thought. About 3 miles in it started to drizzle then at 6:50am Mike phoned just as I'd reached about 4 miles. He'd been woken by an almighty thunder clap and looked out the bedroom window to see torrential rain and lightning and he was hoping we hadn't got the same. At that same moment there was a thunder clap overhead and that's when it started - thunder, lightning (very dramatic!) and RAIN!

The marshalls, who were stuck out in the middle of nowhere could have been forgiven if they'd taken refuge in their vehicles but these 2 valiant souls braved the elements to stand there and cheer us all on whilst getting thoroughly soaked. This one took refuge under a large umbrella.




While this one made a fashion statement and constructed himself a rather attractive sarong from a black bin liner. Well, they say that necessity is the mother of invention! I had a lovely chat with him on each round and later on he and his helper were so encouraging that I just wanted to hug them.

The first lap was very wet and it was nice to get back to the checkpoint. I had a banana and a drink of water and then headed off again. On each lap I took a walking break of about 100m to eat and prepare for the next round. Laps 2 and 3 were largely uneventful as I just put my head down and got on with it. There was something quite exciting about battling against the elements as the rain was really heavy. The main problem was the water, puddles and long grass. The course was made up of several elements - a section of road, rutted grass tracks (vehicle tracks with a grass hump in the middle), cinder paths (lumpy for tired/sore feet) and vast expanses of concrete (hard on the feet and reflected the sun like mad - more of that later). As the vehicle tracks filled with water we all started running either on the middle or at the sides and it was quite hard on your legs as the grass was long. This meant you had to lift your legs higher than usual. After a few laps it was OK because we squashed the grass down. I chuckled to myself as I remembered the Steyning Stinger marathon I did back in March - it rained throughout that but then it was very cold too so this felt quite different. The worst part really was having wet feet and legs splatted with stinky grey mud.

I decided I wouldn't take any photos until the last lap as I knew the weather was going to improve and also I didn't want to stop and walk too early on.

However, around mile 17 the rain had eased off and I couldn't resist snapping this beautiful swan at the side of the river.



Just as I was trying to stuff my camera back into my belt, along came a young photographer who took this photo of me! I later found out he was the son of Gavin, aka 'Pit Stop Crew', who has kindly sent me his photos.


As the rain eased off, the sky brightened and the wind whipped up. It was like being dried by a giant hairdryer on the 'warm' setting. The mud on my legs dried to an attractive light grey and there were chunks of grass embedded in it. Lovely! It looked a if I was wearing knee high socks. I reached the 26.2 mile mark in under 6 hours (which had been the plan) and so decided to take a comfort break to change my socks, dry my feet off, visit the loo and have a snack.

Time for the second half. By now the sun was bearing down on us as it was midday so I slowed my pace right down and just started to pound out the miles. It wasn't a very scenic route but there were lots of things to look at and listen to so I busied myself by looking at the flora and fauna of the marshes.

Here's a photo of a concrete section I took around 12pm when the wind and sun had started to dry everything off. This was one of the better sections as some of the others were sloped and had mini rivers cascading down them. In the distance you can see Ruth, aka 'Plodding Hippo'. If you enlarge the photo you will see that she is not, as she claims, hugely fat and is actually rather trim!


Here is the same section about 6 hours later. The wheat on the left looks a much better colour. The marshes are intersected by lots of drainage ditches and there are lakes for fishing. There were plenty of fishermen out even in the torrential rain, undeterred as they had gigantic umbrellas under which they could shelter.

This small hill is the only one on the route. It was a very noisy section as it runs parallel with the busy dual carriageway. When the sun was out all the concrete sections were especially tough as the sun reflected off the concrete and the marshall in charge of that section was very sunburned by the end of the day. This hill is nicknamed "Tourette's Hill" because by the time you're on your 8th and final lap it feels like a mountain and people have been known to utter expletives whilst dragging their weary legs to the summit!!!!

I stopped at this drainage ditch because I could hear a bullfrog croaking. I didn't manage to spot him but I noticed there was lots of Reed-Mace or Bulrush growing on the banks (which you can't quite make out in the photo). This is a perennial plant found in most open marshland. The leaves are often used for weaving chair seats and the cigar shaped flowers are highly decorative in dried flower arrangements.

This, however, is not a welcome sight. It is Fairy Moss and is causing problems in our waterways as it multiplies like wildfire and clogs up the whole surface of the water thus stifling all other life. It was introduced into garden ponds many years ago and when people realised how invasive it was they tried to get rid of it. I say 'tried' because once you've got it then it's very hard to eradicate so people started throwing it into rivers (although why they didn't chuck it onto the compost heap is beyond me!) and the problem spread to the wild.

This section was rather hard on your feet as it was loose cinders. On the penultimate lap I found myself stumbling on this section as I wasn't lifting my feet up properly. There were beautiful silver willow trees on either side. In the fields they were growing wheat and oil seed rape (which getting rather stinky and had that unmistakable smell of rotting cabbage).

It was nice to see some mature hedgerows with a mixture of native shrubs in them. Many of our ancient hedgerows were ripped out in the 1950s and 1960s to make gigantic fields. Now we realise what an important role they play for shelter, stabilising the ground and supporting wildlife and farmers are being encouraged to replant them. I heard a Turtle Dove in this section several times. I'm probably rambling a bit now but this was what kept me going. Some people listened to music but I prefer to immerse myself in nature

Mike had been brilliant and had been phoned me to check on my progress every 3 hours. He knew how much I hate the heat and was quite worried about me. We were very lucky to have such fantastic marshalls at the checkpoints to offer us water etc to keep us hydrated but we also had a team going round the course in a landrover and they were handing out ice pops which were very welcome. It was on lap 7 that I had a little lapse in concentration. Several things happened all at the same time - I'd just finished a phone call with Mike and was trying to stuff my mobile phone into the back pocket of my shorts whilst negotiating the edges of a large puddle when the ice pop landrover came along. I dropped the phone and it landed in the grass beside the puddle. I wobbled on the edge of the puddle as the landrover came alongside, accepted the ice pop, had a chat and then carried on (notice anything?). This as just after about mile 5 on the lap. As I plodded along the road towards the 6 mile sign I suddenly realised that I hadn't retrieved the phone. Great! Now I could have left it there but then Mike might have phoned and not got a reply and then would have worried or someone could have heard it ringing and picked it up. There was no option.......I had to double back to find it. I knew exactly where it was so wasn't worried about finding it. You can imaging the strange looks I got as I went past people going the wrong way! Everyone was really nice and said they hoped I'd find it and thankfully it was where I thought. The detour did make a difference though as I'd run faster to get back there in case anyone else found it so I then had to slow right down until the checkpoint. I'd added over a mile to my total distance so far.

So here they are, the lovely ladies who sat there for over 12 hours, taking note of our time for each lap and carefully recording it against our name/number. They were really encouraging and I couldn't thank them enough. I had a quick slurp of electrolyte drink and a banana to keep my energy levels up and then headed off on my final lap, number 8.


I did my usual walk to the turn in the road and then started running again albeit very slowly. I stumbled along the cinder path and the first grassy bit and came across Mike Inkster, the Race Director/organiser. He said I should take great care as I'd nearly completed the challenge and it was then that I made the decision to walk the last 4.5 miles as I was risking injury by stumbling along. There was nothing to be gained by running anyway as I was well within the time limit of 15 hours and that way I got to enjoy stopping to take photos and chatting to the remaining marshalls. I can't thank Mike Inkster enough - there aren't many Race Directors who would be out walking and even running the course all day to check the runners and marshalls were all OK. Goodness knows how many miles he covered and he always had an encouraging word to say when he met people. What a star.

This was one of my favourite marshalls. He was part of a great double act at the cross-overpoint at mile 1.5/4 and they really lifted my spirits. I stopped and had a chat with them each time I saw them.

Shortly after that I saw Pit Stop Crew and his son walking towards me. Here I am, actually still running at that point (I thought I'd stopped before then but must have got confused). Looking at the photos I'm amazed at how quickly the ground dried up. You'd hardly believe there had been gigantic puddles there in the morning!



I look as if I'm doing an impression of the late Tommy Cooper "not like that, like this". I definitely didn't do any running after that and I remember looking down at my arms and seeing lots of black wiggly things about 3 mm long. I had to take my sunglasses off to see that I was covered in corn flies. YUK! They made me itch like mad but thankfully they don't actually bite.

Here's Pit Stop Crew as well, encouraging me to keep going as I was nearly home. That was another thing I noticed - everyone was so encouraging and supportive, no matter how fast or slow people were as we were all sharing the same gruelling experience. It was just a fantastic atmosphere. I think I was about 2 miles from the finish line at this point.



Then I rounded the corner for the last time and saw the pub and the clock and lots of fellow forumites sitting around and they gave me an almighty cheer. Andrew Smith very kindly came and took a photo of me next to the clock so I had a record of my time - 13 hours 20 minutes (the '1' has only got a top bit!!!). I got a lovely big medal and a certficate to say I completed the 50 mile challenge and my time. When I looked at my GPS watch it read 53.7 miles so because of my little detour to rescue the phone I'd added 1.3 miles to my distance! I had another drink and a chat with some people, phoned Mike to let him know I'd finished but didn't want to hang around as all I wanted to do was get back to the car and have a jolly good cry.

I sat in the car and tried to undo my shoes which was awkward then I had to peel my socks off to reveal the true horror of my feet. I don't normally suffer with blisters but as my feet had been drenched and then forced to run 53.7 miles it was inevitable that I'd get some. Oh my, there were some corkers! Both my little toes looked as if they had giant balloons on the back of them. I had matching blisters on the inside of both heels and a giant puffy mass under the ball of my right foot. Then I realised that my sports bra felt quite uncomfy too even though I'd smothered myself with BodyGlide but I hadn't got the energy to get changed so I sat in the driver's seat and had a bit of a sob. I had to hobble round to the boot of the car to get my flipflops, closed the boot and hobble back again. Then I realised that I'd left my energy bar in the boot but I couldn't manage to hobble back again so I drank some Lucozade Sport instead (which made me feel sickly). I managed to compose myself and headed off home. Thankfully it was only about 1 hour 30 minutes away so not too bad and I knew Mike would look after me when I got in.

The drive home was OK until about 20 miles away when a giant thunderstorm erupted again. Thankfully it had stopped by I got home and Mike was there to greet me and help me into the house. After lots of hugging and congratulations all I wanted to do was peel off my mucky clothes and get in the bath. Eeuuuuuuuk! Now I know just how much Mike loves me as it was not a pretty sight. I looked as if I was wearing leg warmers when we pulled my shorts off - the lower part of my legs was splattered with grey mud that had dried like concrete and the top half was bright red from the sunburn with a white line of skin that hadn't been exposed. My feet looked a right mess and Barney tried to help by licking my blisters (I nearly launched him into orbit when he decided to nibble my toes though!) The top half wasn't much better as my sports bra was literally stuck to me (perhaps too much detail here) and when we peeled it off there were lots of friction burns. Anyway, a good soak in the bath sorted out most of the problems and then Savlon dealt with the sore bits. I managed to eat a piece of toast with cream cheese on and drink a cup of tea before falling asleep. I slept soundly that night.

Barney and Tinker decided they deserved a little snooze after all their support during the day.

Someone commented to me that if I had run all the way, not stopped to change my socks, not chatted to the marshalls, not dropped the mobile phone and gone back and not walked at each checkpoint break then I would have completed it much quicker.

Well, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt:

"It is not the critic who counts, nor the person who points out how the strong stumble, or when the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions. Who spend themselves in a worthy cause. Who, at best, know in the end the triumph of high achievement. Who, at the worst, if they fall whilst daring greatly, know that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat".

Pain-free running

Monday's session with Mary Massage Lady was soooooo painful. I knew it would be as she had to get right into the sore bits (right up on the bone in my bum). It makes my eyes water just remembering! BUT, yesterday I headed out for a gentle 3 mile plod and I was totally pain-free for the first time since the lawnmower incident, which is 4 weeks ago. I'm still not out of the woods yet and have to do lots of stretching but it made me feel much more confident. I'm tapering for the big race now so my runs this week will be no more that 3 or 4 miles and then I get complete rest next week. I hope that my body will respond well to all this rest and deliver the goods on the big day. GULP!

A 'strawberry tea' on a rather wet day

The weather has been vile for the past few days, with parts of the country on flood alert. In June, how ridiculous is that?! The local fund-raisers had been working hard to raise money for our beautiful village church and had organised a 'strawberry tea' and a visit to a local garden. When I was out for my morning run I saw Jo, one of the chief organisers, who had made the wise decision to move the event indoors to the church itself - very sensible.

Mike and I dressed for the occasion as we wanted to have a look round the garden. As we were a bit early, we had a go on the swings beforehand. Check out my multicoloured poncho! It made everybody smile on what was a very wet and grey day and it kept me dry to boot.

Not many people braved the garden visit so we more or less had it to ourselves. Then we headed off to the church to claim our scones, strawberries and cup of tea. Yummy. We chatted with lots of villagers we knew, including Gordon our vicar. This is me with Micky, one of our lovely neighbours.

In the foreground are Don and Grace, our elderly neighbours who we visited the day before my birthday. It was lovely to see that they'd managed to make the journey to be part of the event.

We were entertained by a jazz trio who were very good and their music was not overpowering and suited the situation well. The stained glass windows in the church are beautiful. I tried to photograph some of the others but they didn't turn out well.

What really made me chuckle was when one of my neighbours came bounding over to see me. Carol and her husband Peter live in Kenya during the winter months and then come back to England for the summer. Back in April, she turned on the television to watch the London Marathon and the first thing she saw was my interview with Jonathan Edwards. She couldn't believe her eyes!

One very exciting thing that happened this morning was that a Turtle Dove landed on our patio. I've heard it's beautiful purring song in one of the fields but I've never seen it before. It's on the RSPB's Red Alert register which means that it's numbers have declined dramatically in recent years so we felt privileged to have seen one.

One down one to go

At long last I've finished my first ever glove knitted in the Fair Isle style of stranded work (I hope that's the correct way to describe it as I know that Fair Isle is just one technique of stranded colourwork).

I found it incredibly absorbing, very frustrating at times (when I couldn't work out how to do the fingers) but most of all enjoyable and I am looking forward to starting the next one. I love the colours and they will go really well with my winter coat. As we have already passed the longest day the nights are already drawing in!

I'm starting to feel much better about the 50 mile challenge now as Alison's stretches are starting to make a difference to how my hips/legs/back and groin feel. In fact, this morning was the first time for several weeks that I've got out of bed and haven't winced at the pain in my groin. I did 5.5 miles of hills on Tuesday and 3 miles cross country yesterday and felt OK so I'm taking a rest day today. I've got an appointment to see Mary Massage Lady on Monday next week and I know she'll help loosen up the residual stiffness in my lower back. In the meantime I've been using the Stick to massage my ITBs and piriformis and although I was quite sceptical about it's efficacy to begin with, I have to say it really has hit the spot. I was due to run the Bewl 15 this weekend but I decided against it as I don't want to cause any more damage. I emailed the Race director and told him my predicament and he replied by saying that he'd transfer my entry to next year. How very kind!

I couldn't resist snapping the two boys dozing. Barney's saying "he's my brother and I love him"

Awww, how sweet!

I'm trying to load this sweet little "knitting kitty" logo onto my side bar and I just can't get it to work at the moment. Hopefully Michelle will be able to sort me out!

At last - 2 fingers!

Well, as I didn't have to go out for my usual 4 hour Sunday training run I found myself with some time on my hands. It's been chucking it down with rain since I woke up and I couldn't go and play out in the garden so it seemed like an ideal opportunity to take another look at the FairIsle gloves (which have been loitering in my knitting bag because I was fed up with getting the fingers wrong!).

I am a slow knitter and this has taken me forever but I've finally finished the little finger I had so much trouble with. Encouraged, I managed to do another one too and it didn't seem half as difficult. I found the first one really fiddly to do but this one was easier because I was more confident and adjusted the shaping to suit my chubby fingers.

Now I'm gaining in confidence with the process I suspect that the second glove will be executed much neater than this one. It's been a very useful learning exercise for FairIsle technique, tension and making gloves.

What a pain, yet again!

OUCH.

That's the only way to describe it really. The pain in my groin hasn't gone away and I've noticed that my hips seem slightly out of kilter so I had to bite the bullet and face Aunty Alison, my trusted Physio. Now I haven't actually had cause to go and visit her since August last year which is quite amazing bearing in mind the gruelling schedule I've given myself. So I knew that when I told her what I've been up to there would be a lot of eye rolling and tutting and I wasn't wrong! She was, however, amazed at what I've managed to achieve without getting injured and she loved the running and knitting stuff. It was great to catch up with her.

Anyway, my self-diagnosis told me that my hips/pelvis were twisted (an old riding injury that keeps coming back to haunt me) which was causing my Iliotibial Bands, hamstrings and piriformis to tighten leading to a degree of sciatica when I sit for any length of time plus I've got a dull ache in my lumber spine. I wasn't sure about the origin of the groin pain.

She confirmed that my hips/pelvis were tilted again and straightened them out for me but was more concerned about the groin pain. She poked around, twisted me into strange positions and then told me that it was the psoas muscle that was causing both the back pain and the groin pain. This is most difficult to treat as it is so deep inside the body. Poo!

She's given me some really tough stretches to do 4 times a day to stretch out my ITBs and they are really painful. I have to hold them for 2 minutes each time and they really make my eyes water. Needless to say, I will not be running this weekend and I will have to withdraw from the Bewl 15 which I'd planned to run next weekend.

I'm trying to remain positive about the 50 mile challenge as it's still 3 weeks away and I am officially tapering down anyway (that means reducing my mileage to allow my body to recover).

50 things I've never done before

At the start of this year I decided that it should be full of new experiences so it would be an extra special year to remember. But, I didn't write anything down so I'm just going to jot some of the things down on here as I do them otherwise I'll forget what I've done! In no particular order:

1. Do more than 2 marathons in a year (6 so far!)
2. Run an ultra marathon (over 26.2 miles) - done 2!
3. Knit a pair of gloves
4. Try FairIsle knitting
5. Knit my way round the London marathon
6. Get a Guinness World Record
7. Appear on national/local television
8. Do a live TV interview
9. Attract interest from the national newspapers (not just the local ones) for the work of the Alzheimers Research Trust
10. Make Elderflower cordial
11. Go to a performance by Michael Collins (clarinettist)
12. Knit in a public place
13. Start a blog - oh yes to that one!
14. See Peter Katin (pianist) play live
15. Run a marathon with a balloon attached to me!
16. Try willow weaving
17. Try enamelling (albeit briefly)
18. Visit the De La Warr Pavillion in Bexhill-on-Sea
19. Collect shells on the beach at Glyne Gap
20. Visit the Science Centre at Herstmonceux
21. Go to England's Medieval Festival at Herstmonceux Castle
22. Try my hand at 'horse whispering'
23. Win a competition (see here at Peruvian Connection)
24. Stay up and watch the Swift-Tuttle meteor shower
25 Ride a Haflinger pony (and buy one into the bargain!)



Wish List:
Knit some socks
Knit a lace shawl
Auction something on eBay
Walk or run our Parish boundary (or as near as I can using the footpaths)
Race a 5k (although I've run several, they've always been for charity and I've never actually raced to see how fast I can do it)
Make a clay pot and smoke fire it in a pit or maybe a dustbin outside
Make Rosehip syrup
Visit All Saints Church, Tudeley to see the Chagall stained glass windows
Organise a local team for the Cancer Research UK 'Race for Life'
That's as far as I've got with it but I'll come back and add things as I think of or do them. It's quite hard to think of interesting things! As I'm now officially in my 50s I shall try to complete these things before I turn 51. It will be interesting to see which, if any, fall by the wayside.

The day before, the day itself and the day after

15th June - The Day Before

When Mrs Duck lays her eggs you never know how many, if any ducklings will make it. Her first nest by the garage contained 16 eggs, all of which were devoured by something (fox/badger/rat/magpie) after 12 days of her sitting on them. Undeterred she set off to make a new nest but we didn't know where so we were very pleased when she came to show off her brood this morning before taking them to the pond for their first dip.

We counted 9 ducklings and hope that they all make it through.










Here they are sampling some grain with the big boys outside the barn.







In the evening we went to a party at our neighbour's home. Don is 93 and Grace is 91 and they still manage to care for themselves at home (with a little bit of help from others). Mike took the last photo of me in my 40s!


16th June - The Day Itself

I'd worked out that it would take me about 2 hours to drive to the South Downs marathon and as I had to get there by 8am to park at the finish and catch the bus to the start, I had to be up bright and early - 4:15am to be precise! Inevitably I woke Mike up too. I fed the animals, had my brekkie and prepared all my things (making sure I had some dry clothes for the finish as the weather forecast was not good). Their wasn't much traffic about and my journey was pleasant, but the weather was very changeable - sun one minute then torrential rain the next. Guess what it was doing when I parked the car up and made my way to the coach? - yes, that's right, it was pouring with rain and I got soaked to the skin!!!

By the time the coach dropped us off at the start the sun had come out again and there were lots of people milling around. I headed off to the portaloos (I always have to visit the toilet several times before a marathon, "just in case"!) then I headed off to the snack bar to get a cup of coffee. The first person I met was 'Birdypie' from the Runner's World forum I'm sure she's lost weight as I didn't recognise her at first! She had intended to take part in the marathon relay by running one of the sections but had pulled a calf muscle the day' before so had to drop out. Then I met Carol (aka 'OneBlueLeg') and her friend who I'd last seen at the Steyning Stinger in March. They have done 31 marathons so far and are trying to get to 100 so they can join the 100 marathon club

Coffee in hand, I set off to see if there was anyone else I knew to chat to. That's when I came across Ruth (aka Plodding Hippo who is well on her way to joining the 100 marathon club with over 60 marathons under her belt) and Jo (aka Limper because she's got a sore leg) who were clutching a balloon saying '50th birthday' for me. How very sweet of them! I was really touched that they'd gone to the trouble of bringing it for me. I attached it to my belt and it blew around in the wind. People stared but I didn't mind as it made me feel nice. More of that later. Here I am with Ruth and my balloon.

Then we were off. A short circuit around the woods at start area then out towards the South Downs Way We started near Arundel and were crossing the hills to Petersfield and it was a very scenic route so I took lots of photos so that Mike could get a feel for what it was like. Here's a link to the course route



First we passed along a single-file track alongside a field of barley.










Then it widened out into a track of flint and chalk.










The black clouds were gathering but it was dry and warm so far. The first real climb came around the 4 mile mark at Bignor HIll and we started to get some good far-reaching views. I was amazed at the variety of crops that were growing on such difficult land.





Here's a photo I took further on showing just how inhospitable the soil is - it's just a mass of flint boulders! Some sections of the route were difficult underfoot because of the loose flints, chalk and tree roots all of which conspired to trip you up.









A view from the top.







A stone memorial to a dog named Toby who must have accompanied his master on many a walk across the Downs.








More dark clouds looming and obscuring some of the views which were amazing when it cleared. What was really nice was that every time I passed runners, walkers or mountain bikers they all called out "Happy Birthday' to me when they saw the balloon so I was very grateful to Ruth and Jo as it really helped to make my day special.







And so it continued........










Up hill and down hill...........











Up hill and down hill.............and the weather got hotter and hotter. The wind across the high points was most welcome to help cool us down.







We passed an area of woodland where the trees had been felled and I just had to take this photo of the beautiful foxgloves that had sprung up as soon as the light had reached them. I wondered how many years their seeds had lain dormant - rather like Sleeping Beauty!



At the top of the next hill I paused to take this photo showing the path snaking up the next hill. It was really hot now and I was wishing that I had put my sun cream on and worn my sunglasses (both of which I'd stashed in the boot of the car as the weatherman said it was going to be very wet). What do the weathermen know, I thought to myself!





On the next descent, the cows decided to run alongside us and I tried to take this photo whilst running.





At the bottom of the hill I was passed by a young American couple. They wished me many happy returns (thanks to the balloon) and the girl said she couldn't believe I was 50 and it must be the running keeping me young, which made me feel nice. I had to hold onto that thought as just then the black clouds descended and the rain came down and the wind whipped up. It was really heavy and it was hard enough walking in it let alone running.


Then the rain eased off and the cloud lifted a bit. Phew. Here I'm looking back to where I've just been. You can see the last of the black clouds and you can just make out the path we followed.






Some of the paths were quite slippy now though and I had to be a bit careful on the descents as I'd worn my road shoes (the soles fell of my trail shoes after the Steyning Stinger and I haven't replaced them yet).






I saw lots of cows and sheep en-route and I always stopped to have a little chat with them. These heifers were particularly friendly and kept licking me! Then all of a sudden we were a couple of miles from the finish and leaving the Downs behind and entering the Country Park. The tracks were through woodland and were a bit muddy plus you had to watch out for tree roots which can trip you up when your legs are tired and you aren't lifting your feet as high as usual. Amazingly I didn't fall over.

Then I was running back through the car park towards the finish line and Carol and her friend were there singing Happy Birthday to me as I went past. As I crossed the finish line the MC noticed my balloon and asked if my birthday was today. When I signalled that it was, everyone gave me a cheer and a big round of applause. It was a lovely welcome.

One of my fellow forumites from Runner's World measured the ascents and descents using his Garmin GPS device and found there were 4583 feet of climb and 4608 feet of descent. Crikey!


I got a nice tee shirt and a lovely medal, both of which I wore all the way home and throughout the evening. I phoned Mike straightaway to let him know I'd finished in one piece. He'd been phoning me at 2 hourly intervals to check on my progress and was very pleased that I'd finished in around 5hours 50 minutes 34 seconds. Then I got changed and headed home, which took a bit longer than in the morning. No worries though as Mike had been busy all day cooking me a special vegetarian meal (chick pea and coriander soup, followed by non-meat meat loaf with Rosemary potatoes and broad beans then a lemon chiffon pie that I'd made the day before). It was scrummy!

We opened a bottle of champagne and drank it whilst I opened my cards and presents. I'd asked people to make donations to my charity rather than buy me a gift but Mike wanted me to have something special just for me. After much thought, we decided it should be something I've always wanted to do but have never had the opportunity and 2 things sprang to mind - welding/metalwork and willow weaving (I've always wanted to try my hand at sculpure). I contacted West Dean College and they had 2 Summer Schools in these subjects. Fate took a hand in the proceedings as the metalwork course was full but there was a place left on the Willow workshop. So, in about 6 weeks time I shall be heading off for a self-indulgent week of crafting whilst Mike takes care of himself and the animals. Now that is one heck of a present and I feel like the luckiest birthday girl in the world!

17th June - The Day After


The day after I felt fine (well, maybe just a teeny-weeny hangover!) so in the afternoon we decided to go for a walk up to Great Dixter and round the gardens which was 6.5 miles. We walked through our village then followed the footpath through the apple orchards and then through a field of linseed. I took this photo because there was a beautiful pale blue haze from the linseed flowers and a pinky/purple haze from the long grass in the next field.


Mike strode ahead through a field of oats. You could barely see the footpath because the crop was so tall.









In parts, it came up as high as my chest!











There are some fantastic views from the top of Dixter Hill - looking across to Bodiam....................










.......and looking over towards Sandhurst. You can just make out the white windmill which was restored a few years ago.









The first thing we did when we reached Great Dixter was head off to the cafe for a tub of ice-cream and a drink of water. We were joined by a very friendly old cat who enjoyed both my lavender ice-cream and some of Mike's toffee flavoured ice-cream too.



Great Dixter was the home of the late Christopher Lloyd, an innovative plantsman for whom I had a great respect. He famously ripped out the rose garden and replanted it with tender exotic plants which caused a furore at the time but was enormously influential in garden design and planting.



There are always lots of pots dotted around containing interesting and unusual plants.









The house from behind showing one of the many wildflower meadows pioneered by Christopher Lloyd's mother.





Part of a mosaic in the 'Sunken Garden' showing one of Christopher Lloyd's beloved dachshunds.






After we'd had a good look round we headed for home, tired but happy. I found that the walking seemed to have loosened my groin and it wasn't anything like as uncomfy as it had been.

In the evening, Barney enjoyed the box that had contained a bottle of champagne from my sis-in-law and her family and he and Mike had great fun chasing around with the balloon!