Just a perfect day ....

I'm glad I spent it with you :)

That's perhaps a misleading title as I had an almost perfect week with the Mainly Marathons group across the South Western USA. I have to say the line from the song "Feed animals at the zoo" bought back some aid station memories of pancakes & hot dogs, obviously I am not suggesting the runners are animals ;) although come to think of it ?!!!! ;)

Where do I start reviewing my week ? the start would be the best point I guess ?

Day one of the 6 day Mainly Marathons series for me was actually day 3 in Bluff Utah & is a day that for so many reasons I will never forget. I would have loved to have done all six days of the series but couldn't abandon the 150 runners taking in part in my own Enigma Fireworks races over the weekend in the UK & I needed their entry fees to pay my own entry fees, plus flights, food & accommodation in America's worst motels. I spent a whole 24 hours travelling just to make the start line - Steve Martin & John Candy would have been proud of my travels. My Partner Sarah drove me 3 miles to the train station heading for central London, once their I headed for the Piccadilly line on the London underground that would almost an hour later deposit me at Heathrow Terminal 5 ahead of a 10 plus hour flight to Dallas - Fort Worth, a beer & Nachos in Big D's airport & I was heading for my gate & another flight this time to Durango Colorado where my friends had run on day 2 in Colorado. My stay in Colorado would be a very short one as "Mr Marathon" Nick Nicholson met me & the airport & quickly chauffeured me to Bluff Utah, my first impressions were simply "it's dark" our room card key was under the reception door mat, it was by this time 11pm local time, the time zones I had gone through had confused the hell out of me & all I really knew was I wouldn't be getting much sleep ahead of my Utah run.

I woke up an hour prior to the early race start & threw on my race kit before heading 2 or 3 miles down the road to the race start, i collected my number & started looking forward to my Titanium run, now for those outside the circle of running you are thinking "what's a Titanium run ?" a good & valid question which require explanation - The Marathon Maniacs is a global organisation, based in the USA with I would imagine a 75% US membership, I'm a small part of the other 25%. (there are just over 14,000 members at present) I became only the 315th person to make titanium level with the organistation. I chose the easiest way for it to be done by US residents which I would also suggest is also the toughest way to make that level for Non US residents. I ran marathons in 30 different states or countries in a 365 day period a journey (the other options are 52 marathons in 52 weeks & 20 different countries in that time frame too). My journey would start in Asia where I would run about 200 yards before reaching Europe running the Istanbul marathon, that journey would take in US states from Hawaii to Florida & Vermont to Washington as well as running closer to home in the UK, The Netherlands, Austria & Poland.

The Race Director Daniel made reference to this being my Titanium Run & then also bought up something I had forgotten, it was my birthday which had totally slipped my mind, I have had plenty of birthdays but would only have one Titanium day, I've even had more weddings than Titanium days so you can see how special Titanium was for me. My friends proceeded me embarrass me by singing happy birthday, wasn't quite Marilyn Monroe style but as I'm British they won't let me be their president either - their loss !!! It was now time to get down to some running & I felt quite strong setting off down towards the beautiful copper coloured canyon in the distance, the scenic was breathtaking as the sun came up, the Bluff bear Ears looked like Wile E Coyote's hide out & I could envisage him dislodging one of those very rocks in the direction of the Roadrunner below ( I would get to see my first Roadrunner but not until 3 days later in Nevada ). I faded by 20 miles & walked a few with some good friends i had met on previous Stateside trips - Road Kill Bill,Clyde,Ed, Ila & Trisha to name but a few. George on of the 3 amigos who run the show had selected Pink Floyd for our listening pleasure & had to chuckle as "Shine on your crazy diamond" was playing on one of my aid station visits. I eventually finished the 50km in just under 6 & a half hours even registering the win, to celebrate I went out & won the 5km race too - could it get any better ?

Day two took us to Flagstaff Arizona, a brand new state for me as I aim to run a marathon, 50km ultra & 5km in all 50 states. the temperature was colder than the UK as we started at minus 2 degrees celcius (around 31 degrees F I believe ?) I managed to run a slowish 2.6 mile first lap & was out of breath, it was at this point as i started to walk someone informed me that Flagstaff was 7000 feet about sea level, that & third miles !! The highest UK "mountain" is around 4,800 feet !! the plan was to run a 50km & a 5km but knowing I wo

uld need another trip to AZ for all my goals I bottled out at marathon in just over 7 hours, my second slowest ever at 26.2 miles,I had nothing to give. Having a beer at at Cafe / restaurant called "Altitudes" the night before should have been an obvious clue ?

Day three took us to the Casino City of Laughlin Nevada where our hotel was modeled on a paddle steamer & of course featured a Casino in the lobby & thankfully a Jacuzzi - the cheapest hotel i have ever stayed in at £17.66 (about $22 US) but certainly not the worst hotel that delight still awaited us ! The room was great apart from the lack of free Wifi. I had a better run along the Colorado River overlooking the Davis Dam & spent part of the day with Karen "Evil twin" Vollan who is nothing if not direct in her opinions, we shared some colourful miles highlighted by Karen chasing a Roadrunner in the hope it would fly & we would see it's plumage, I guess they are called ROADRUNNERS for a reason ?!

Day Four took us to America's worst hotel in Needles California, The Regency Inn & Conference center in Iowa & Chek in Colorodo were blown out of the water here, the sheets were stained, the curtain pole bent, The broken taps hung out of chipped tiling in the shower & the clientele wandering around outside were a little scary - I think the term "crack whore" might have had more than one mention ?!I got to meet a Facebook friend & share a few beers with Eddie Hahn & David Jones both interesting characters who make me look rather sane by comparison. Needles would mark another landmark in my running career as I would make it to 300 lifetime marathons / ultras & get my name on the coveted global rankings list. I'm not one for much emotion as it's just running a hobby & not life & death, but I can say the final half mile had me almost in tears, the course wasn't the most memorable & that's me being kind, My buddy Clyde celebrated with me out of the course with shots of Whisky, Clyde Shank is one of the most friendly & supportive guys you could ever wish to meet on the running scene, always encouraging whether folks are taking 3 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours etc ... you get the idea ! Next shots on me sir.

Days 5,6 & 7 would take us to Las Vegas for the Jus Run 3 of a kind series in local parks on the outskirts of Sin City, I running form was returning to some extent & i would come home 2nd in the 50km on day one & 1st male on day 3. day 2 saw me do something i have never even considered attempting & probably won't do ever again, I ran two marathons in one day. This was a day that would require strategy, time management & a strong mental will power, I ran the morning marathon with the great Jus Run crew in mountain View park, I felt good but still decided to ease back to give me a chance to run the Rock n' Roll Las Vegas marathon at 4.30pm that night. I paced my second half as I had planned to finish 9 seconds inside 5.30 before Heading off to the Monte Carlo parking lot in downtown Las Vegas with Nick Nicholson, Nick would be attempting 2 in one day although taking it a step father he had completed the 50km in the morning.

The starts pens in Vegas weren't the most organised but we put our heads down from the entry point at pen 14 & weaved our way through the crowds to pen two to give us the most of the 5 hour cut off after the last person started & who do we bump in to ? Traviss running his 400th marathon, Rachel his partner & Georgina from the UK 100 Marathon club, we shared a few "war stories" about races & our travels before a wonderfully observed minutes silence for those murdered the previous month outside the Mandalay Bay & the National anthem which was well sung with a real passion. The gun sounded the flames flew up from the starting gantry & we were off. My plan was to do 9 ish minute miling until half way which would then allow me to walk with minimal running 15 minute miles to finish in 5.15, the first half went a little better than planned as we ran past the Vegas sign, past the Bellagio, Caesars Palace & headed towards the Stratosphere in the distance. Once over half way i still felt good. Mainly Race Director Daniel & his wife Samanatha spurred me on for a further mile before disappearing into the distance, shortly after Paul Addicott from the UK pulled up on my shoulder & amazingly I was able to hang with him for maybe 3/4 of a mile ? I was still clinging on to 10 minute miles at this point & wouldn't be forced to walk until 18 miles but was still able to keep every mile under 14 minutes & was now confident of beating the cut off & even started thinking of a sub 5 hour finish, the second half of the Vegas course is the most bizarre course i have ever run - gradually decreasing circles separated by steel barricades that covered the space of a football stadium but kept you in for around 5 miles !! the miles ticked away before a deja vu situation in the back lot of Circus circus this time the small loops were distinguished by more cones than you'll see on the M1 motorway (interstate) finally we escaped the madness & were in to the final couple of miles, with maybe a mile & half to go I saw Ollie Dawson & exchanged a high 5, Ollie was running his 100th marathon, just 50 yards behind him was Nick & I knew seeing me that he would come after me & so I moved that 14 min miling down to 8 minute miling in the hope I could hold him off & I managed to finishing just a minute ahead of him although looking at him post finish he had left it all out there in his pursuit of me, a few minutes later & we both welcomed home centurion Ollie. The next challenge was to carry a bottle of water, gatorade, chocolate milk & 2 bags of pretzels - this might have been a bigger challenge than 8 marathons (or ultras) in 7 days ? finally we obtained bags from the organisers although the term organiser seems to suggest this was organised, it wasn't !!

The best part of the fianl day was the finish line pizza & post race beers when it was over, it wasn't pretty but then neither am I !!

a huge thanks to all the race Directors, organisers, volunteers, spectators & fellow runners who made my week so memorable & rewarding.

Six states to complete now, see you all in Mississippi in April

Foxy has left the building !!

Almost heaven....

West Virginia, not quite sure I would describe the course that straddles the West Virginia / Virginia border as heavenly. It's a tough old course to do on back to back days when setting out on 9 ultras in 9 days as well as picking up the 7 states needed over 5km.

The course is rather undulating but at the same time interesting with a variety of viewpoints on the almost question mark shaped out & back course. There's a baseball stadium, trains, a tank & a Christmas light show already to go & all this against a beautiful backdrop of trees in all their Autumnal (Fall) glory. I got to meet so many old friends in the very place 3 years previously they had become new friends, Bluefield in 2014 was the very place I had gotten to meet new Mainly owners Jesse & Daniel, Ila, Trisha, Chuck, Clyde & so many more of the familiar faces that have become my American running family over the past 3 years. The day also bought a new friends as I met my room mate Greg & we instantly got on sharing many laughs & tales.

Two days in Bluefield & I was ready for a change of scenery, I'd driven across Tennessee in 2015 calling in at Gracelands, Sun Studios & Lynchburg (all for rather obvious reasons I would suggest !!), but I had never run in the State before so was looking forward to a new course in a new state & it was a lovely course through a park with a stream & a lake to look across. I struggled earlyion but recovered in the mid part, by 23 miles I could sense my buddy Nick was catching me up. He caught me & we had an 80 yard sprint for the finish line, his long legs were no match for my short stumpy ones & he did me by 3 yards. In hindsight a rather silly thing to do as I crawled around the remainder of the 50km distance in a rather poor time for me but I was pleased to bag another state, my 41st & confident my performances couldn't get worse - How wrong I was !!!

Day 4 took us to North Carolina, a state that has witnessed both my greatest triumph & greatest tragedy, tragedy is perhaps a little dramatic ? In 2013 I set out to run my first US 100 miler, The Graveyard 100 along the Outer Banks of the Atlantic Ocean. A pulled groin ended that attempt & for 2 years the mental anguish of that DNF hurt far more than the pulled groin that had forced me to stop & hitch a ride with a young lady who's first name was my surname "Bayley" - what a bizarre coincidence, a year later I completed marathon distance with Mainly in Morganton finishing in second splitting those "pesky" brothers from Minnesota although that's not the triumph I am referring to, the triumph I am referring to was heading back to the Outer Banks in 2015 with a score to settle, I was on good form following a 3.26 at Little Rock the week before & a 3.14.59.7 the week before that to perfectly qualify for my home capital cities marathon with a whole 0.3 of a second to spare in Tokyo. Not only did I finish the 100 miler that I'd started 2 years previously I also managed to break 24 hours after confusing myself when my Garmin died & daylight saving began during the run - I'd calculated the hour difference the wrong way, these things happen when you are tired. This NC race would take place in a new & better venue in Fletcher.

Day 5 saw us run Seneca, last time on rthe course I was almost swimming, it was rather wet, this time the opposite as we experienced record temperatures, the 50km plus 5km distance each day was really beginning to take it's toll & I was dragging myself slowly round the courses by now but refusing to give up on my 50kms & 5kms, part of my motivation of the 5kms was the cost of plane tickets to come back for such a short distance.

Day 6 was a rather confusing course in Georgia & rather hilly but I had good company out there with a variety of people including Tre, who for some reason was wearing one of those collars that the put around dogs necks to stop them biting themselves after surgery, but she had it on the wrong way round !!. I took a Garmin but a calendar might have been a more appropriate piece of equipment as I had never spent so long in my life completing a 50km course. We had spent the night before in Macon & it seems they don't get many foreigners in Macon as I spent 10 mins as a celebrity or perhaps in more of a freak show as the Englishman - it was rather a Love Actually style moment but sadlty without Tara Reid :(

Day 7 took us to Alabama & Dave Jones who had treated me to many fine local ales the previous night kept me company for much of the day as I completed another new state & even struck a business deal while taking in the scenery which included an Alligator - working & running who says men can't multi task !!

The final two days would take us into Florida where it was rather warm to say to the least, having already run a 5km in Florida these would be rest days with "just" 50km per day to complete.

I finished 300.7 miles in 9 days to set a new Mainly marathons mileage record for a series & have now made it to 42 marathon states, 20 ultra states & 25 at 5km :) Next month if all goes to plan will see me hit Titanium level with Marathon Maniacs on Nov 7th (my birthday) in Utah - I will have completed the 30 states / countries in 365 days by running in Turkey, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, the UK & 25 different US states from Florida to Hawaii & Vermont to Utah, I will finish that week with my 44th State California & my 300th lifetime marathon / ultra what better way to celebrate than heading out to Vegas for 3 x 50km in 3 days & running only my second ever lifetime half marathon along the Vegas strip :)

Getting closer to my running retirement & taking up golf - Too old for this sh*t !!

A great vacation with lots of running, probably even more drinking & so much fun with friends old & new.

Gotta run (to the kettle for a cup of tea) !!

Foxy

Living in America ...

The title of the blog isn't just a fantastic song by Mr James Brown, it's a homage to my adopted second home. I've never lived in America although my youngest son holds a US Passport. The US of A has always been a country that has intrigued me, I have lost track of the number of times I have visited over the years & especially over the past 5 years.

My latest visit bought back so many memorable milestones, I lined up to start a marathon outside the Pendleton Round up,a Rodeo stadium I guess with huge grandstands towering over a fast flowing shallow river, maybe a creek is a more appropriate description ? this was to be day 2 of the Mainly Marathons North West series on Sept 3rd, the previous day I had dragged myself rounds the same course for 50km followed by a 5km race as a warm down !! Today was just to be the classic 26.2 mile distance that the Queen had kindly given us on 24th July 1908 leaving Windsor castle at 2.30pm that day heading for London's White City Stadium.

Sept 3rd is for me an historic day on that day in 1995 I first set foot on US soil, whilst not as dramatic as Christopher Colombus or my countrymen aboard the Mayflower it was a day that would change how I looked at life, the world & many different perspectives, It wasn't quite as dramatic as the movies but it was just as exciting. I had gotten married the day before & found myself on honeymoon in Myrtle Beach, SC, a place we had picked at Random on a map !! that first week on US soil saw Cal Ripken break Lou Gehrig's Iron man streak of consecutive baseball games & was inspirational just to watch on TV (that's the reason why i my baseball number when i played was number 8 & why when given a choice of race numbers to wear number 8 is my preference).

A few days later I found myself back in Washington state somewhere I had first visited 16 years earlier & historical part of the US for me. Back in Sept 2011 I headed out to stay in Seattle with a penfriend (remember those days when chatting to someone overseas was a once a month experience & a letter dropping on your doormat ?) just prior to my trip another penfriend had invited me to North Hollywood & with my Seattle penfriend having to work I though why not take in 3 days in the sunshine state ? Sept 10th took me down from SeaTac to Burbank airport to meet a lady possibly called Barbara,the fact that I'm struggling to remember her name shows just how memorable that experience was !!! I'm an easy going guy who gets on with most people I'm pretty laid back but we were polar opposites on just about every subject, i actually got the impression she was looking for a stereotypical British banker (I did work in Banking at the time) & also got the impression she was a bit of a goldigger looking for a moneybags British banker which I certainly wasn't.(i was single having split up from my first wife almost 2 years previously) That day we met was Sept 10th & I still remember watching Monday Night Football that night & Ed McCaffrey of the Broncos having his leg broken. the following day is possibly one of the most remembered days not just in US history but world history & we all know why. I found myself feeling alone, along way from home & wondering how I was going to get back to Seattle & indeed back to London ? the next couple of days were long solemn ones, Disney & Universal studios were closed & I was just trying to find a way home. The airports were closed, I tried booking a train & they were full so the evening of Wednesday 12th September saw me board a Greyhound bus & head North up Interstate 5 on a 33 hour Road trip arriving back in Seattle in the early hours of Friday 14th September. I got to see the bus stations of LA, Fresno, Stockton, Eugene, Portland, Tacoma & finally the old bus station in Seattle before it moved down to near the ballpark in 2014.

That Friday turned out to be memorable too, I went for a late brunch with my penfriend at a dinner up Near Green Lake in Seattle & by chance we bumped into a friend of hers in the parking lot who came back inside to chat, 3 years later that girl in the parking lot became my second wife & subsequently my second ex wife 11 years later.

My running always keeps bringing me back to the USA, I have spent time in all the US states except for Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri & Arizona (I have run in 40 of them).

This year has been a rather mad year for me in the US - it started out with the furthest West I have ever been on the beautiful Hawaiian Island of Kaua'i a part of the world I could only ever dream of visiting as a child watching Jack Lord repeat the Iconic line "Book 'em Dano" & a few years later watching a mustachioed fella roaring round in his bosses Red Ferrari - I'm sure i wasn't annoying doing my best ba ba ba ba ba ba to the ventures classic theme some from the 70's show for 2 weeks before flying out !! It was horrible there eating breakfast on the beach watching the sun come up with a cup of tea - honestly horrible !!!!

March took me out to run in 5 different states on the "Dustbowl" series & if you thought I was annoying humming the Hawaii 5-0 theme for weeks that was nothing compared to me belting out the Tony Christie classic as we would be flying in to Amarillo before marathons in Texas, Oklahoma (another cue for a song from my mothers favourite musical !) Kansas (where the songs in my head were a mix of Toto classics & Wayward Son both for obvious reasons !!) & on to Colorado, I had been to Colorado in 2013 in the hope of running the Boulder Vale marathon which was cancelled due to flooding, the upside was getting to see Peyton Manning in the flesh on Monday Night Football destroy the Raiders. The final day of the series took me to Clayton New Mexico & for my homework in preparation I had watched all 6 seasons of Breaking Bad over the course of the previous 5 weeks, every time I saw an old motor home (RV) a wry smile came across my face :)

May would see me tackle 7 marathons in 8 days starting in Vermont, the trip started in Boston in the pouring rain watching the local Celtics eliminated from the NBA playoff in Cheers, I got lost leaving the bar & ended up doing 2 miles of walking in the rain when my accommodation was a mere quarter of a mile away across Boston Common. The following day I headed out for a few miles along the waterfront before hitting Dunkin' Donuts on Boyslton street - perhaps the most iconic street in the marathon running world ? later that day my friend Donna picked me up & we took a leisurely drive up to Burlington Vermont taking in breweries on the way in MA, CT,NH & VT !! I awoke the following day to news that my son Owen had a seizure hours after arriving in Seattle with his mother, the next few hours were traumatic, i readied myself for the possibility of having to fly out West but thankfully the ambulance crew had got things under control & within 12 hours he was eating ice cream with grandpa showing no ill effects & it would seem a lack of sleep & dehydration was the cause. After a lovely run round Vermont ( a race I really would recommend) I headed back to Logan airport to fly to Chicago to meet my buddy Nick from the UK & head out for races in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin & Minnesota plus a surprising extra race my mate had found in North East Philadelphia before heading home for a glorious English summer (June was wonderful by UK standards 32 degrees which i reckon is about 90 F ?)

My next US trip was my most recent one taking me to the North West, the running for the most part was replaced by walking & talking with so many great folks i have met over the years - Dee Dee very kindly chauffeured me from race to hotel to bar - repeat x 5, 2am unable to sleep gotta love jetlag.

Four trips done taking in races in 19 different states, 24 races in total (I only ran 20 marathons last year) with 2 trips to go taking in 16 more races across 12 more states, typing that I have realised I will have run 40 marathons in the US in 2017, the most I have ever run in a year in total anywhere on the planet is 30 (I have 10 other races in Europe too this year) really not sure how those numbers got so out of control especially considering I didn't run in Feb & only ran once in July !!

Next stop "Almost heaven" West Virginia.

right now to try & sleep ?

Keep on Running

Foxy x

Tougher than the rest ?

I'm not one for blogging,I once was but then I guess I got lazy & didn't see the point ? as a friend of mine said about blogs "never has so much been written by so many & read by so few !" & he's right, so why am I blogging ? what's the purpose ? a good question given my opening statement. Why do people blog is it for attention ? sponsorship or maybe a personal therapy ? for me it's probably a bit of therapy, the chance to be honest with how I feel about what I'm doing & to justify that to myself.


The last week & a half I challenged myself to something physically tougher than I have ever done before, however the true challenge was within my head, a battle with myself to not given in,not to quit when it would have been so easy to do just that. Had I not hit my goals & comeback from the US having done what I set out to do the mental scarring would have been too much for me to bare, I have been there before.


In 2013 I went out to North Carolina to run the Graveyard 100 miler & I failed. I got to 72 miles & injured my groin forcing me to pull out, my first ever DNF in a race. I had failed for the first time & it really hurt me mentally. Two weeks later I completed a 100 miler back in the UK pulling my other groin but refusing to quit, three weeks later the groin was fixed but the mental anguish of that DNF stayed with me for 2 years until I went back & completed the event in 2015 just to heal me mentally.


The most recent challenge was something I had concocted in my head & in some respects I am not really sure why although as with many things in life money paid a part.(more race for the flight money !!) I enjoy running in case you hadn't noticed ? I need a challenge though I can't just run for the sake of running there has to be goals whether that be a number of miles in training, number of races, times etc ... there always has to be something. Sometimes that something really is too much ? Last week the challenge was to complete 5 x 50km races & 5 x 5km races plus a marathon. The races would take place across 6 different US States & why was I doing this ? a great question & the answer might seem a strange one but I was doing it to colour in a box on a virtual map. My mental maths also told me I had the chance to do something I had never done before & run 200 miles within one week.


I have some multi day marathon experience having completed the Brathay 10 in 10 (10 marathons in 10 days) on 6 Occasions, plus a handful of 7 in 7's, 5 in 5's etc..... even for me to go out & do 5 ultra marathons in 5 days & follow them up with 5kms was frankly a bit stupid.


On day one in Indiana I went out at a stupid pace, I wanted to see how my legs felt good after running a marathon in Vermont 48 hours earlier, flying in from Boston & finally reaching Portage, IN with just 5 hours sleep & the legs felt great, in fact they felt too good & went out at 7.30 mile pace which is 3.15 pace for a marathon (I haven't run a marathon in that sort if time for over 2 years & my closest in that period is 26 minutes slower, a whole minute per mile.) I worked hard, faded badly but hung on to win in 4.57. With 5 miles to go I decided against the 5km as I had done the hard part what was the point ? but after a 5 minute break I got out there & did it. An almost 3 hour drive then lay ahead for me to stiffen up on & I paid for that on day two in Illinois on a beautiful course in Fulton, IL.I had zero energy,I had woken up at 3am drank some water & left 30 minutes later for the start in the dark along the banks of the Mississippi, I struggled & almost quit the 50km but I'm just too stupid to quit at times as I know how much that would play with my mind so I battled on taking an additional 2 & a half hours but finally made it home & only avoided a last place finish catching another runner in the final mile, not that finishing last will ever be an issue for me as long as I can finish. The joy of finishing also came with the relief of not having to travel as the following day would see us cross the river to run on the other banks of the Mississippi overlooking the previous days course. Another tough day taking 2 minutes longer to complete the 50km but bouncing back to record the fastest 5km time of the day, a small victory before a 3.5 hour drive to Sparta, WI.


The course in Sparta was beautiful featuring covered bridges & a huge penny farthing statue (Sparta is known as the bicycle capital of the USA). It was a hot one & one of the ladies picked up heat stroke & she was from California !! I got through again & next it was on to Minnesota & my inspiration to perform better in MN was simply a logistical one to get to the airport to catch a plane.


I had made it I had run 5 x 50km & 5 x 5km in 5 days - total recorded distance including a Monday jog around Boston was 179 miles, I was so close, all I had to do was finish one marathon in Philadelphia & I would hit all my goals, after 34 miles a day the thought of "just" a marathon was an exciting one & I ran reasonably well (especially the first half) I met some great guys on the course & came in at 4.43 on the clock - job done.


Now a few of you out there are thinking how can that 6 days have been harder than running 10 days in a row ? firstly my 10 in 10 was based in one location, with massage provided day & night, running on GMT rather than a time zone that moved between 5 & 6 hours different to the one I am used to, that event also didn't include 4 flights including 2 transatlantic, stay

ing in the worst motels America has to offer & it didn't include 1000 miles sat in a car driving through 10 different states, it didn't involve early starts with no breakfast & not even coffee or tea to start the day, I lost 8 lbs & in the 30 hours I have been home I have been on a seefood diet - see food & eat it !!!


The experience leaves me with so many more questions.Why did I do it ? what do I do next ? & will whatever I do ever be enough for me ? but coloured in lots of squares on my map, I really need a hobby !!!


I do know the people I got to meet & the people I got to run with were instrumental in getting me round, So grateful for the support of so many people even just a "good Jawb" or "You got this" really helped when the going got tough.


Am I tougher than the rest ? No.


Am I more stupid ? maybe.


Thank you all


Foxy x