With a Little help from my friends

On Saturday I stepped out on to a flooded Lake Windermere for 26.2 miles with team of 10 in 10 2015 runners - this Epic band of runners will tackle the UK's ultimate marathon challenge of 10 official road marathons in 10 days. To put that into context that's 262 miles which is exactly the distance as the crow flies from Buckingham Palace to Brathay Hall on the banks of England's largest lake, On April 26th I will run past the palace to hopefully complete the London marathon before then heading up to Windermere for a crack at the 10 in 10. I have run the Windermere marathon course a few times before, however not for 18 months & my memory must be going as I don't remember it being quite that tough.I knew it wasn't easy but maybe my advancing years means I'm not as fit as I used to be ? or maybe my memory is going as my age catches up on me ? I set off as part the "3 Amigos" with Paul Sutherland & Rich Rex with the hope of creeping under 4 hours & we shared a few laughs out there at Andy Townsend's expense, With plastic drinks boxes out on the course Andy would have been pleased to see the 3 of us had "good engines" & were indeed "box to box players". All was going well to plan but then EU working conditions "forced" us to stop at 14 miles for a cup of tea & a few jaffa cakes. 50 yards beyond our brew was the fist of 4 knee deep flooded sections. With no option we plowed on through laughing as we went. With 3 miles to go Andy Townsend got his revenge as my engine gave up & I was forced to walk but didn't give up as I kept the walking down to one minute for every mile & came in just a couple of minutes beyond Paul & Rich. The question is can I drag my aging body round a course that tough 10 days in a row ? That will be something I really have to think about ? I don't want to let anyone down, I know my friends, family, colleagues & sponsors have every faith in me, however I have to wonder do I have what it takes to go that far in so few days ? I ran 133 miles last month but have to do basically double that in less than a week & a half. I need to look beyond myself if I am to complete this challenge as the funds I'm hoping to raise are to help Brathay Trust raise valuable funds for their work with vulnerable young people around the country. These Children face bigger challenges than the one that stands in front of me. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated towards my fundraising.We are well over half way to the £5000 target & I'm really gonna try my best not to let you all down - thank you so much. If anyone wants to help me towards that goal I'd be so very grateful www.justgiving.com/foxyagain

I'm a bit emotional I'm afraid so gonna head to bed. Big hugs David "Foxy" Bayley.