The route soon headed towards Bedlington Station. There were some tremendous fish and chip shop smells along the way. All of a sudden I felt hungry! I headed for Barrington Road which I suspected would be quiet enough to run on and ice free. I was right. There were a few cars but a quick step up on the path kept things safe.
I reached the end of the road and turned back. By now, it was raining and I hoped this would help to clear the paths of snow and ice. How wrong I was!
I made it back to Bedlington front street after 7 miles and decided to do 2 x 1 mile loops around the town centre. Once again, this felt mentally easy. I headed west toward Nedderton after that. It was at this point that the temperture dropped and the rain water turned to ice. I might as well have ran the remaining 4 miles on an ice rink!
I made it to the edge of Nedderton when the street lighting ended. I ran all the way back to Bedlington and turned back to my house to put another 13.1 miles in the bag. There was still 1/2 a mile to my house so I hadn't quite got the optimum route quite right. I was relieved to get back home in 1 piece. The conditions underfoot were the worst I'd ever ran in. The final time of 03:37:55 reflected that. There was a good dose of fatigue building too. In true Mick McCarthy style I thought "It can't get worse than that". Well I wouldn't have to wait too long to have that answered with "It can!".
On Wednesday (day 7) I was on the bus to work at 06:21. I felt very tired and had a banging headache. I've had better hangovers! I got the bus as I would be running after work, going to the match and would drive home with Donna.
Once again I didn't have a planned route. I set off around Gosforth at 1545. As soon as I started running, my head started to pound. If this was any normal run on any normal day then I would have abandoned it. I don't have that option so I just walked in the hope that my headache would ease off. As you can see from the map of my route below, it was another random route. I did many loops around various streets in Gosforth before getting to the Town Moor at 4.25 miles. It was at this point that I tried to run again. Unfortunately, the result was the same. A pounding headache. I didn't try to run again after that.
The Town Moor was pretty slippy and with the temperature dropping I thought I was in for a repeat of the previous night. Thankfully, that wasn't the case but it was still dicey in parts. I ventured around St. James Park (where I'd be a few hours later) and then headed west.
I was quite hungry at mile 7 so decided to stop off at Greggs for a free sausage roll (thanks to a banking app I have). It was piping hot and much needed!
I eventually hit the coast road and headed round Jesmond and back up to Gosforth. I met Donna at mile 11.25 at our usual match day parking place opposite the Town Moor. I quickly changed in to some warmer clothes and we both walked to St. James Park. I took a slightly longer route than usual to the match and managed to make my 13.1 mile finish line right outside my turnstile. The time of 03:56:48 was absolutely pitiful. Given the bad headache I had, there was nothing I could have done about that.
Day 8 and 9 were both treadmill runs. While I find these mentally tough, having the treadmill set the pace (and the lack of ice of course) is so much easier. 4 episodes of Stranger Things on the iPad got me through. I managed 03:10:05 and 03:09:55 on days 8 and 9 respectively. I had always planned to use my treadmill if, say, there was a storm. I've never once considered icy conditions. If it wasn't for this option then this challenge would be over already.
So to Saturday and day 10. I had managed a really good sleep and felt pretty good. One thing I've noticed over the last 10 days is just how deeper I'm sleeping. I had almost 5 hours of restorative sleep last night, for example. Add in 3.5 hours of light sleep and I was ready for a good run.
I set off at 1030 on the same route to St. James Park as last Sunday. I used that run as a target to beat (03:28:13). There was one main difference on this run compared to the other 9. Days 1 to 9 all featured the urge to take it easy, run nice and slow and walk some of it. Today was different. The urge to run absolutely overrode those previous feelings. At many points on today's route, I tried to pick the pace up. I was running without fear and without any consideration for the numerous half marathons ahead. 15 minute miles soon became 14 minute miles and they, in turn ended up as 13 minute miles. That may seem dead slow to many runners out there but on day 10 having ran 117.9 miles over the previous 9 days, it felt good. It felt like a turning point.
The urge to go even quicker was sadly not matched by what my body was able to deliver. I'm confident that will come in time. I have a genuine belief that, as a result of 365, I will become the runner that I once was in the 90s. As I've talked about many times in the past, when the mind and body work in unison then great things can happen.
I was due to meet Donna at the 13.1 mile point, get changed and go to the match. I'd ran a lot quicker than expected and was ahead of time so I eased off the pace with 3 miles to go. When we did finally meet I felt really fresh. I was very pleased to have knocked a good chunk of time of last Sunday's equivalent route. 03:19:02 while still slow, was a pleasing improvement.
