Day 41 was done in London. This one was split into two with the match against Spurs in between. I've ran in a lot of rain this year and that night in the capital was up there with the most torrential conditions. I set off from my hotel in Kings Cross in rush hour. There was flooding everywhere.
Despite running on pavements, there was limited space for the most part. The passing traffic, in particular the buses, swept a huge amount of water onto my route. This often left a small space on which to run on.
Once I got to the stadium, I started to cool down. Soaked from head to toe, I spent the entire match freezing. Thankfully, there were some goals and ultimately a victory to celebrate.
I was pleased to get the second half of the run underway after the final whistle. It didn't take long to warm up. The rain wasn't as intense either. I spotted a fox just before I got to the finish line at Kings Cross. It was a timid little thing, obviously on the look out for some supper.
A final time of 03:34:58 wasn't brilliant but given the conditions I'll take that.
Day 42 was a late start on the treadmill. It was a long old day with a 0500 alarm making sure I got the 0540 train on time from London back to Newcastle. I managed to run half marathon number 42 in 03:20:11
Day 43 was another late start. Yet more rain made for another challenging run for the now familiar route to Morpeth and back. I was beginning to wonder if this is a sponsored swim rather than a run!
Another slow and steady run meant that this one was done in 03:29:43. Once again, some brilliant donations helped my morale massively.
Day 44 was another treadmill run and a late start. A time of 03:24:15 was achieved.
I was up early on day 45 to run 9.5 miles on the treadmill. The remaining 3.6 miles were done in Birmingham prior to the match against Aston Villa. It was yet another one of those "hybrid" days where I had to do something a bit non standard to be able to get the mileage done as well as fit in normal life. In this case, a brilliant win in the FA Cup. A slightly better overall time of 03:21:22 was helped by a quicker than normal run on the treadmill. Not for the first time, I realise that if I need to be somewhere or I have a deadline, then my pace is slightly quicker.
After a bit of a lie in and some chores, I set off on day 46 in daylight for once. I was just settling in to a nice dry run when the heavens opened! Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. The travelling to Birmingham and back the previous day and yet another late night made this one difficult. There was little variation in pace and each mile was consistently slow.
I was pleased to finish this one in 03:34:17. The benefits of me getting fitter are just not being realised due to how tired I am. 46 days of half marathons has now seen me burst through 600 miles. That's probably a lifetime best mileage at the start of any year since I started running. I also think that the 1.3 million steps that I've taken is also a personal best at the start of any calendar year.
I managed to finish work at a decent time on day 47. It was another treadmill run which was done in 03:24:54.
Thank you to everyone who has made a donation to St. Benedict's Hospice via https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun365. The current total is £1097.13.
