In order to get the mileage done on day 52 thinking outside the box was called for again. The day started with 9.5 miles on the treadmill. Then there was the small matter of driving to Manchester to watch Newcastle play. The fact that I managed 9 hours sleep meant that I put a dent into the debt that I had accumulated over the previous 7 days.
I used the distance between the car parking spot and the stadium to get the remaining miles done. To nobody's surprise, the rainfall was considerable! Despite a patchwork day, a time of 03:32:18 was achieved.
The drive back from Manchester was delayed due to heavy traffic, roadworks, diversions and .... wait for it .... heavy rainfall. As a result, we got home at 0300 on Sunday morning. Any gains with sleep had been lost.
Day 53's plan was to run back from the in-laws near Whitley Bay. They'd been looking after Órlaith while we'd been here, there and everywhere following Newcastle play. I was just about to set off when "disaster" struck. My GPS watch was out of charge! Fortunately, my phone had an app to track mileage!
The coastline route is the one that I've been running on since 2010. It was once part of a pair of 37 mile runs I did while preparing to run across the USA in 2010. I pretty much know every inch of it. That also means I know where the chippys, CO-OPs and ice cream vans are. Need less to say, that I had a 99 at mile 7! It was purely for energy replenishment!
I felt pretty tired at mile 10. I felt that a long week had definitely caught up with me. If this was one of my usual challenges, I would have given up for the day, jumped in the RV and suffered a mileage deficit. Well, thankfully that's not an option for this 365 challenge. If I fail to achieve 13.1 miles on any day then it's game over. As difficult as this challenge has been, I'm pleased to report that not once have I contemplated giving up. I've even become accustomed to the cold and rain. I'm not a massive fan of the dark, late nights but even they don't seem too bad once I reach the half way point of any run.
Anyway, back to day 53 and those difficult last few miles. I just about managed to haul myself up the bank into Bedlington. On the plus side, it was a nice change to run the last few miles in daylight. I've only ever seen Bedlington front street in darkness lately. I reached home in 03:34:17. Another slow one but another one done in the toughest week so far. From Bedlington to Baku and back it had been a successful week.
Thanks to some kind donations the total for St. Benedict's Hospice stood at £1174.70. A great week all round.
I didn't start running until just after 19:30 on day 54. I had a rough route in mind but it ended up being one of those that I made up as I went along. As you can tell from the route map below, I did a few loops here and there. I had originally intended to cut across due west from Bedlington Station but the road was closed. There was a lot of building work going on in preparation for the new train station opening. A few more local loops helped to get the required mileage done. It was yet another slow one with the distance taking 03:31:58.
I was soaked when I reached home. I hardly noticed the pouring rain at the time.
Day 55 was a treadmill run taking 03:28:56. It was the same again on day 56 with another late start meaning I didn't finish running until 23:30. That time was a consistently slow 03:26:56.
Day 57 was yet another late start. I wrote on the Run Geordie Run Face book page "That was tough! They all are. I must try and shift my schedule to earlier in the day. Setting off at 8pm most nights this week has see some difficult last few miles. My legs are saying that I should be in bed at that time!
I tell you what though, the donations to St. Benedict’s Hospice aren’t half making a difference. The two tonight really helped to give the effort some purpose and meaning. Sometimes, it’s difficult to make sense of why I’m running around Northumberland in complete darkness late at night. With the hat and gloves, I look like a burglar!! Add in my head torch and I could be a safe cracker!
So thank you to Em Gettins and an anonymous sponsor for kind donations to St. Benedict’s Hospice via https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun365 tonight.
One donor’s comment is hard to disagree with “Gan canny Mark. You are both inspirational and mad as a box of frogs. Good luck.”. Thank you to whoever wrote that.".
There's something about the route to Morpeth that I find easier to contend with than most others. I'm not sure what it is. Perhaps I'll know in a few months time when I've ran it a lot more.
Day 58 started at 20:15 which was the latest of any run so far. It was another treadmill effort which took 03:28:11. To say that I was cutting it fine running so close to the midnight cutoff was an understatement!
