Last day of Run December



Charlie gets in da groove


Well, it's done. There were times there were I wasn't sure I was going to finish it, but my natural stubborness kicked in right when it was required and drove me on through the snow with gritted teeth and a complete lack of self-preservation.

The rest of Team #FitTwits have all completed with smiles on their faces and happy hearts. We are invincible guys!

The final total for the month is 68 miles. Not far, but then Run December for me was never about miles, it was about mindset.

I have spent the past few months, since the marathon with the words "I don't have time. I'll run tomorrow" firmly on my lips. Run December was about shaking that up and doing something drastic, before the marathon training started in earnest.

So has it worked? Not 'arf.

And what have I learnt?

1. You can always fit a run in. You just might have to give it a bit of planning.
2. You can always run. If wind, rain, sun, snow and ice haven't stopped me, nothing else will.
3. I love rest days. And I will appreciate every single last one of them in the next few months.

The celebration of finishing has begun with a pub lunch, a pint of cider and now the breakout of Charlie, my xmas ipod-playing, groovin' monkey friend. And tomorrow I get to have a rest day and cheer the lovely Hughesy on round a New Years Day 10k. Ahhhh rest days.

Take it away Charlie... "I'm livin' for the weeeeekeeeend...."

Run December - Day 31
Distance: 3.54miles
Time: 36.38mins
Weather: Warm and dry, for  change
Surface: Triumphant

Here's a tear in your eye.

Day 30 of Run December

I can't quite believe I'm almost at the end of Run December. I'll probably miss it.The past 2 days have seen me running the exact same route, but maybe not in the same way.

Wednesday is run-down-to-the-park-and-back-again night, so a man in camo can make me do sit ups in a muddy puddle. The run down to the park is (for obvious reasons) a lot quicker than the run back again.

Today was a run to the park again, but this time chasing Hughesy, who is considerably faster than I am. So the challenge tonight was to keep him in sight for the whole route. It seemed to work and he kept me a good 1min 40secs faster than last night. Might have to employ him as my pace setter.

So tomorrow is the last day of Run December. It's going to be another 3miler I think, chasing Hughesy again. Oh yeah, and then I've organised a celebration of finishing the challenge with a night of drinks and fireworks. Working title for the celebration is NYE. Join in if you like.

Run December - Day 29
Distance: 3.06miles
Time: 30.41mins
Weather: Awright
Surface:Looooooooong

Run December - Day 30
Distance: 3.01miles
Time: 29.04mins
Weather: 8C...cor phew, wot a scorcher
Surface: Pedestrian

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 28 of Run December

Hello all. 3 more days to go. Count 'em, 3. 3! 3!!!!

But enough of that, I'd better get a move on, as my Mum is impatient to read this and Upstairs Downstairs is coming on....

The post Christmas Crimbo Limbo period is causing a serious lack of motivation and the lack of a rest day is hitting home. But despite that, today's run was actually good. It was also massively faster than the previous few outings, mainly due to the 2 fruit pastilles I nommed down before heading out. All that has reignited my interest in nutrition and the knowledge that an evening meal of crackers and cheese probably isn't the best way to fuel a run. Ho hum.

So, my new year's resolution is to try to decrease the number of crisp-related dinners and increase the amount of pasta, rice and veggie related ones.

Now, that is a challenge.

Run December - Day 26
Distance: 1.41miles
Time: 18.08mins
Weather: Cooooooold
Surface: Frozen

Run December - Day 27
Distance: 1.03miles
Time: 10.25mins
Weather: Coooooolder
Surface: Frozenier

Run December - Day 28
Distance:  1.07miles
Time:  9.49mins
Weather: 0c... scorchio
Surface: Thawed

Here's (defrosted) mud in your eye.

Day 25 of Run December

Ho ho ho.

"And a jolly christmas to you to young lady!"

At least that's what I think the harrassed looking grumpy sod said as I breezed past today with a "Merry Christmas!" on my lips. In reality his response was more along the lines of "What?!? Bugger off you mental woman."

But despite this slight set back the run today was fun. I headed out from my parents house down to the beach and a deserted sea front. With a smattering of snow falling and the odd (some very odd) santa hat, it was a nice break from the endless eating, drinking and cracker jokes.

So that's day 25 done, and christmas day to boot. I'm off to smugly watch Doctor Who and eat 3 times more calories than I've burnt off in the past year.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Run December - Day 22
Distance: 1.9 miles
Time: 20:29 mins
Weather: All cold and icy
Surface: hilly and pavements

Run December - Day 23
Distance: 1.4 miles
Time: 14.53 mins
Weather: Cooooold
Surface: Icy

Run December - Day 24
Distance: 1.02 miles
Time: 9.39 mins
Weather: Sunny
Surface: snowy

Run December - Day 25
Distance: 2.2 miles
Time: 20.42 mins
Weather: Xmassy
Surface: Snowy

Here's christmas pud in your eye.

Day 21 of Run December

So, only 10 more days to go. I'm a bit sad about it, but let's not cry and instead take a look at what this week has thrown at me so far. There are sub-zero temperatures, cameras, celebrities and small dogs. All that and it's only just Tuesday. Phew.

Day 20 (known to most people by the name of Monday) saw me heading back to the running club. I was looking forward to the run with my usual group of newbies, even though the temperature has been firmly below zero for days and the countryside was swathed in a blanket of frost. However, I knew there was a problem when I was greeted by only the fastest 6 runners in the club. These are the kind of runners who say 'let's go for a little 6 miler' and then 6 miles later you find yourself on the other side of the city with a 3 mile long hill between you and your car. Now, I am a tortoise, not a hare. Actually I am an arthritic tortoise carry some rather heavy shopping. So the only thought to cross my mind was "I'm actually going to die". Luckily another slower runner came along and we headed out together for a nice hour-long jog along the canal into town. Colette on the other hand headed off with the speedy lot and 6 miles later found herself on the other side of the city...

Today was an interesting day, mainly because I became a bit of a girl and went to watch Gok Wan put on a catwalk show for his Fashion Fix Roadshow. Iiiiiiiits ffffffff-ashion. Me and about 799 others cheered, clapped and wooooohooooo'd for 2 hours while watching models who looked like their legs would snap if someone sneezed in their general direction waddle strangely up a catwalk in ridiculous shoes. Oh yeah, and I'm going late night shopping tomorrow for the skirt on the fourth outfit. Then on the way home I spotted Stephen Mulhern heading into the Theatre Royal to do his evening stint in the panto. Oh yes I did!* But I digress, the late home-coming resulted in a little mile, so I could eat a homemade meal for a change instead of cheese and crackers.

What? The small dogs? I got chased by them. I'd rather not talk about it *shudder*.

Run December - Day 20
Distance: 6.38 miles
Time: 65.46 mins
Weather: Frosty the Snowman
Surface: Canal towpaths

Run December - Day 21
Distance: 1.07 miles
Time: 10.33 mins
Weather: Baltic
Surface: Moonlit

Here's mud in your eye.

*I apologise for the quality of this post. But frankly if you are upset by it, you really shouldn't be on the internet, it only gets worse.

Day 19 of Run December

Oh lordy, we are on day 19 and don't I just know it.

The last few days have been a mess of parties, classes, shopping and work. As a result most of the runs have been fitted in around a hectic schedule of hair straightening, present wrapping and gingerbread baking.

The only odd day was Saturday, when the run was brought to you by the colour Camoflague and the letters B, M & F. The usual British Military Fitness session was turned into a running session, taking us 2.5miles around Wollaton Park with a few sit ups, press ups, burpees and hill sprints mixed in for good measure.

So there we go. 19 days down and the worst week over. Time to start upping my mileage in prep for marathon training in the new year.

Run December - Day 16
Distance: 1.00 miles
Time: 8.59 mins
Weather: Cooooold
Surface: Pavement

Run December - Day 17
Distance: 4.13 miles
Time: 42.59 mins
Weather: Baltic
Surface: hills and crossings

Run December - Day 18
Distance: 2.56 miles
Time: 50.00 mins
Weather: Icy
Surface: Parklife

Run December - Day 19
Distance: 1.04 miles
Time: 10.36 mins
Weather: Is it ever going to warm up?
Surface: My favourite pavement slabs.

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 14 of Run December

Yes, yes, I know. I missed another blogging day. Well blog off, I was tired. Dog tired.

Yesterday I went back to the running club for the first time since the snows hit. And boy, did I know about it. I really like being part of the club. They push me much faster and further than I would push myself and you get to chat to that type of 'mature' runner, who never runs fast, but never seems to stop. Last night I ran with one of these runners. He could keep a conversation going no matter what the speed, and when I and another new member were seriously starting to flag, he was endlessly encouraging and never missed a step. I'm starting to feel like I am getting to know a few of the members I'm running regularly with as well, which is always a major plus point. All I need is a couple of pub meets and I'll be well in there!

Of course the downside of the running club is that it gives me such a huge high that I can't sleep for hours. Hence the tiredness. So today I eased off with a strength session at the gym and a quick mile on the dreadmill. Day 14 down, 17 more to go!

Run December - Day 13
Distance: 5.59 miles
Time: 53:44 mins
Weather: Dark, but nice and cool
Surface: Pavementy

Run December - Day 14
Distance: 1.24 miles
Time: 11:29 mins
Weather: Air conditioned
Surface: Plastic

Here's sleep in your eye.

Day 12 of Run December

Go on, admit it. You missed me yesterday didn't you?  Well don't panic, I did my run, I just didn't get time to blog about it.

Yesterday was a hectic kinda day, with a killer supersets (aka pyramids) British Military Fitness session before breakfast, a shopping session and a Fake Christmas Day at my mate's, I just about had time to fit a quick mile in somewhere.

Of course, a full on Christmas meal, plus the odd bottle (or 3) of wine and a late finish, meant today was a veeeery late run. It was meant to be a mile, up the top of the hill and back, but as I topped out I felt good, so decided to keep going and add a few hills in as well. It felt good.

Run December - Day 11
Distance: 1.01miles
Time: 9.27 mins
Weather: Cold
Surface: Tarmac - finally!

Run December - Day 12
Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 32:25mins
Weather: Not too bad
Surface: Up, down, up, down, up (repeat to fade)

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 10 of Run December

Well the ice and snow is finally on its way out. But a combination of my leg feeling a bit stiff, the oven having a malfunction and my contacts playing up all conspired to make today really difficult for a run. I didn't manage to get out until 9pm, got a stitch almost immediately and only did the minimum in the hope that the leg will be fully recovered for British Military Fitness and a longer run tomorrow. Ho hum, there's always another day to run better.

Run December - Day 10
Distance: 1.14 miles
Time: 11.06 mins
Weather: Warmer
Surface: Melty

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 9 of Run December

Tired.
Leg better.
That is all.

Run December - Day 9
Distance: 2.15 miles
Time: 22:22 mins
Weather: Cold and a tad damp
Surface: Half clear road, half packed ice.

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 8 of Run December

I got the run over and done with early today, by running home from work. Badda bing. Job's a good 'un. And why? So I could pile into the car and barrel down to Britsh Military Fitness. That turned out to be bad idea.

Halfway through the warm up my foot found a rut hidden under an inch of icy slush. My foot and knee went one way. My hip went the other way. I felt the muscles in my thigh tighten and knew that it was going to hurt. The muscles tightened further over the rest of the session, until even runnng was difficult.

So I am spending the night with a heat pack and crossed fingers that tomorrow it will just be a dull ache.

Run December - Day 8
Distance: 1.76 miles
Time: 19.29 mins
Weather: Cold and dark
Surface: Icy pavements and little hills

Here's mud in your eye

Day 7 of Run December

Thought of the day - it's a hell of a lot easier to run on ice than it is to walk.

This thought hit me as I was jogging round the city streets tonight, getting a quick mile in after work and before going to dinner with friends. There are a couple of smaller back streets which still have icy pavements and due to the scrum of shoppers in the main streets, that's were I headed. I'd avoid these pavements like the plague normally, but when I'm running, my feet can slip and slide all over the place and I still continue heading forward like a particularly slow-moving missile. I'll be jogging to work until the ice melts*.

It was a nice run tonight and the first one I have taken around the city centre for a year. I headed through the Market Square, past the xmas market and the ice rink. I was even proud of myself for not stopping for a gluhwein en route. All the twinkly lights and xmas trees made the run so much more festive than my usual depressingly dark ring road or bus-packed main streets.

So, quick change in the office toilets and then I'm off to stuff my face at Bistro Pierre. Yummmmmm.

Run December - Day 7
Distance: 1.2 miles
Time: 12:03 mins
Weather: -2C
Surface: Running on the bodies of xmas shoppers who got in my way. Grrr.

Here's mud in your eye.

* If you believe that, you'll also believe that Elvis works in my local chip shop and Michael Jackson was actually a russian spy recruited to collate blackmail material on Liz Taylor. Fact.

Day 6 of Run December

Today the weatherman said it would be a minimum of -8C. Liar, liar, pants of fire. It was at least -72C when I walked home from work (give or take a degree or 5), so the freezing fog and the fact that I had a vouchery thingy from the Council to use the gym and pool free for the next 12 days, meant that I was a namby-pamby and retreated to the sweaty hell of the gym.

It was actually quite weird to be in the gym again after soo long, and I enjoyed a 3k slog on the rower as well as an eye-popping leg press session. I was especially pleased when the gentlemen using the leg-press after me had to lower the weight by 20kg. Bloomin' southerners. Anyway, the mileage is completed for day 6 and I'm feeling good.

Tomorrow I have a lunch and an evening date, so the mileage has to be done post-work and pre-dinner. Which means I'm off to pack a bag for a cold run, a shower and going out. Think I might need a bigger rucksack...

Run December - Day 6
Distance: 3.12 miles
Time: 28:53
Weather: Baby, it's cold outside
Surface: Bouncy

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 5 of Run December

Hangover, achy legs and icy slush. Ahhh the joys of this challenge.

*groan*

Run December - Day 5
Distance: 1.02 miles
Time: 10:56mins
Weather: 3C... Scorchio
Surface: Frozen icy slush

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 3 of Run December

The snow has finally stopped and the sun has finally come out (altogether now... praise the lord, hallaluah). As a result, the hard packed snow has started to melt a bit and refreeze into ice. So for the first time in 2 years, I have retreated into the air conditioned hell of the gym.

I've done the induction, where a nice lady who looked incredibly bored demonstrated random machinery, most of which I'll never use in my life and then let me just get on with it. It's a council gym, so I can PAYG and only use it when the roads are too bad. And I have to admit the gym equipment is rather flash. Ipod compatible, with TV and radio screens on all cardio machines. They even have a games setting, so you can play mah jong while you work out (surely you should be working too hard to do that, right??).

Hopefully I'll be back on the road tomorrow though.

Run December - Day 3

Distance: 3.12 miles
Time: 31:13
Weather: Air conditional hell
Surface: Moving

Here's mud in your eye.
 

Day 2 of Run December

Running in snow is a novel experience. Every footfall means a slip or a slide this way or that and every push off the toes results in a complete lack of momentum as your foot disappears backwards before your body even starts going forward. If you are lucky enough to hit a dry patch of pavement, the sudden traction propels you forward like Usain Bolt off the blocks. Oh yes, and through all of this you are greeted by looks of mingled pity and awe.

Despite that, I enjoyed tonight's run. Only a short one, but it felt good to be out on the road again after so long. Roll on tomorrow!

Run December - Day 2
Distance: 2.07 miles
Time: 24:36
Weather: Light snow
Surface: Packed snow and slushiness

Here's a look of pity in your eye.

Day 1 of Run December

I know. I've been a naughty blogger and been a bit absent on here for a while. But that is alllllll about to change.

My #FitTwit friends have inspired a new challenge - Run December. A group of them, including non-runner Alan Selby, managed to run every day in November and it has inspired a few others of us to attempt the same feat in December. So today was the first day of #RunDecember!

The challenge:
1. Run every day in December (although you are allowed Christmas Day off at a push)
2. Runs have to be at least 1 mile.
3. You do not quit (grrrr, yeah).

Today, after 4 days of snow blizzards, I rustled up the Flatmate and forced her into 3 fleeces and a hat for the run to the Forest Rec Park and the first British Military Fitness session of the month. It was a slow, shuffley run in slush, ice and packed snow. But it was a run. I even kept Fast Eddie (my shiny new garmin) on for the BMF session just to see how far we ran.

Run December - Day 1
Distance: 1.46 miles
Time: 19:10
Weather: Baltic
Surface: SNOOOOOOW!

Here's snow in your eye

Normal people spend Saturday mornings in IKEA

I'm not sure when I realised it. It might have been as I slid down a huge hill into a rowing lake while being soaked by a sadistic fireman, or as I posted myself feet first through a giant inflatable. I'm not really sure. But whenever it was, I suddenly thought "if I was normal I'd be buying a purple coffee table in IKEA right now".

But hell, who wants to be normal, right?!

So instead of spending the morning deciding which size of yellow spatula to buy, I went and covered myself in mud and bruises at the Men's Health Survival of the Fittest race in Nottingham. The race is one of a series of 3 around Britain over successive weekends. The format of each race is the same, but the uniquely sadistic obstacles each race includes are dependent on the topography of the city. So in Nottingham the lovely race organisers use the Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre, the muddy riverbanks and the stairs in the Nottingham Forest football ground. In order to cover all these, the race is slightly longer than Cardiff or Edinburgh at 11.5km.


Runners are set off in waves of 250, with coloured wristbands denoting your wave. You pick up your wristband and your race t-shirt the day before and all runners must wear their t-shirts on the day. Colette and I were in Wave 8 and lined up with our dayglo pink wristbands and shiny white t-shirts (WTF?!?! Seriously, white!?!?!) with about 4 other women and 244 testosterone filled, gung-ho guys. As you can see, we were rather nervous, but very clean and shiny.

We set off at 11.45am and immediately hit the Hay Bale Wall. 8ft of hay bales made into a wall. You get the picture. A couple of miles later there was a bit of parkour, involving running along planks (arrrr Jim Lad), jumping off platforms and hoisting each other over walls, then it was off down the Trent to the first of the mud - the Army Assault Course. Huge, slippery, climbing frames, monkey bars and a seriously muddy cargo net. The mud didn't last long though. It was a quick dash past some very confused looking kayakers and senior citizens walking their dogs and then into the rowing lake firstly via a muddy bank and then via a massive hill slide (with the assistance of Nottinghamshire Fire Brigade). A breath-taking (literally) swim across to another muddy riverbank (are you getting the gist of this yet?) found us on our way back home.

Obviously the home route wasn't going to be easy, and I needed Colette half dragging me along for parts of it. Obstacles on the return included the Men’s Health at Work (clambering over safety barriers, another scare-filled climbing frame and a massive slippery slope to head up), the Urban Jungle (running up and over skate halfpipes, shimmying under park benches, through cars and more bike barriers to try to get over), the inflatables (posting yourself through a large red inflatable... weird) and finally up, down, up, down through Nottingham Forest’s Riverside Stand.
By this time, the finish is in sight (behind the infamous 8 foot MH Wall of Fame). With the assistance of about 3 guys pushing my enormous butt I just about managed to scale the damn thing, then helped haul Colette to the top as well. Scariest thing of the whole race? Jumping off the top of that thing onto a crashmat which make my duvet look plush.

10foot later and we were over the line! I'm a Survivor, I'm gonna make it, I will survive, Keep on survivin'. Don't think my t-shirt will be ever be white again though.

Race report - Survival of the Fittest
Time: 1:31:29 (creditable)
Organisation: Can't fault it... but then it is by Rat Race, so its bound to be slick.
Course: Awesome, crazy, sadistic.
Would I do it again? I'm saying no, but you know what I'm like. Expect me to be out for a PB next year.
After effects: 3 showers later I was still a bit pongy. Oh yeah, and even my mum can't get my t-shirt clean.

Here's mud in your eye (and your ear, your toe, your nostril....)

Hi Honey, I'm home!

It's been a while since I blogged. This is mainly due to the fact that I managed to get my life back after the months of agonising training and partly due to the fact that I actually haven't been doing anything worth blogging about. I doubt you'd be interested in what I had for lunch (pasta with out-of-date chicken).

But my Year of Crazy has taken another turn and not satisfied with a marathon, I have set myself a few more challenges. So here we go!

September
This is now known as 1/2 Marathon Month. I have 2, Hughesy has 3 (yes I know, but he wouldn't listen).

The first is going to be the Rodley Run. This is organised by one of my twitter buddies @Nimblerunner. He's quite an inspirational chap having lost nearly a Dobster in weight and raised over £25,000 for Cancer Research UK in the process. The Rodley Run is quite a small, friendly event. It hasn't got any marshalls or big inflatable start line. It won't have a grandstand finish either, just a BBQ and hopefully a few of my other twittery buddies eating burgers and downing a few beers. This one is going to be a warm up for the rest of the month...

The next weekend, I'm off to get slightly squiffy at The Wedding of the Year and Hughesy is off to do the Great North Run. Bit sad I can't be there to cheer him on as he's been such a great supporter for my runs, but I shall be thinking of him as I down my 4th champagne and bust a move to the grease megamix.

The weekend after that is the biggie - Run to the Beat in London. There are a whole load of us going as a Tweet to the Beat group, in twittery tshirts and possibly garish pink leggings if @nuddypants has her way. I've challenged myself to do this in under 2 hours. So that's what my training is going to be working up to over the summer.

October/November
A few 10ks planned around Nottingham during these months in prep for the new year and...

January 2011
Run Rampage!!! Yes, the twitter mafia has struck again and I am now part of a 3 woman team ready to compete on a xc, muddy, hilly, off-road vehicle-testing track on Bagshot army barracks. Oh yes, in JANUARY. Lots of hilly, fast runs and lunges required for the training for this one. @Harerunner, you have a lot to answer for girl!

March 2011
Probably do the Beast again. Be rude not to. Oh and the Kilomathon if its happening.

April 2011
The pain has subsided, so the new year will be spent on 20mile training shuffles again for the Brighton Marathon. Hoping for a sub-5hr on this one. We'll see.

So there you go, a full run down of my racing year. Looking forward to 1/2 marathon training where my long runs can actually stay within one city, nevermind one bloomin' county. And hand weights have been purchased to help build up my leg strength for all those hills.

Will keep you posted on the way with anything that is vaguely interesting and feel free to tell me when I ramble on inanely.

Here's mud in your eye.

The_sobster

Well, it's over. The Edinburgh Marathon has been completed and I can actually feel my legs. Result. On the down side my face appears to be glowing in the dark.

After months of training and hours of planning and organisation I was ready for this weekend. All my kit was packed. I had a folder full of confimations, maps and forms. I was Miss Organised 2010. Unfortunately fate had different plans. Firstly the hotel kicked both me and my friend Collette out due to double booking. Then I managed to nearly die driving around Edinburgh trying to find Hope Street (note: it's pedestrian. #Fail). I also managed to get the wrong bus and ended up in Leith at 10pm with no idea where the hell I was and no further buses, and finally the weather forecasters all lied like flatfish and instead of 19 degrees and overcast/showers, we had 27 degrees of sweaty, burny sun. Rant over, back to the race.

26.2 miles is (by definition) a buggeringly long way. Nibbling anything more than a biscuit and my fingernails the night before was pretty much impossible due to extreme nerves. I went to bed with my RNLI vest, leggings and trainers laid out on the table waiting for my alarm to go off and me to leap out of bed and attack the day. I didn't wake to the alarm, I awoke to a troop of howler monkeys in the zoo next door at 6am. I was having a dream about cycling around Bournemouth at the time, so the inclusion of a pack of rabid monkeys on rollerskates was an interesting image. I believe I'd even put a tutu on one of them.

I tried to eat some brekkie, which didn't go too well and then headed into the city to met up with Collette and walk down to the start line. The start was 9.50am and we got there at 8.30am. It was deserted. I found this very odd as most races I have been to, the loo queue forms at least 3 hours beforehand and grows exponentially by the hour. By 9am Regent Road was getting busy and I was busier trying to spot some of my Tweeting buddies. Sadly I didn't spot any :o( Hope to catch you next time guys x

The start was good - all downhill for the first few miles, although it was very, very, VERY warm. I was feeling fine and was on schedule for a 5 hour finish. At mile 10 we passed Musselburgh stadium and the finish line. I waved and told it I'd be back round in a few hours. About half a mile later the lead runner went legging it past on the other side of road only a mile or so from the finish. Not only did he have about a 6 mile lead, but he also managed a joke and wave with some bystanders. Freak.

I was going OK and passed the half way point at around 2.30hrs. But after this the shade stopped and the sun came out in full and nearly melted me. The rest of the route was out and back along the coast path. There were lots of supporters for most of it and the people of Edinburgh were brilliant. Many of them had hosepipes out to give us 'field showers' as we melted past. One of the good things about running for the RNLI is that any kid with a hosepipe who saw my immediately tried to "sink the lifeboat!" If it wasn't so hot I might have actually drowned.

Miles 16-18 were utter hell. These were spent running around a park with no shade and away from the coast there was no breeze either. I was suffering quite badly at this point. Passing one or two of the other RNLI runners at cross over points was a highlight as we high fived, punched the air or shouted 'Go Lifeboats!' With so few of us (I only saw 3 others running, and a couple who had done the half marathon), it was a big boost every time we saw each other and could have a litte chat.

Miles 18-21 were better. The aches and pains had eased slightly and the clouds briefly appeared to give us some respite from the heat. I managed to run quite a bit of these miles and although I knew I wasn't going to hit my 5hr finish by then, I hoped to be quite close to it. Alas no. At mile 22 the sun reappearred hotter than ever. By now it was after 2pm, I was sunburnt, my head was on fire, my feet had swelled so I'd had to stop and loosen my laces and my sportsbra had cut off my circulation to my back as my skin swelled up.

Only the Rocky music someone was blasting out from thier garden, blind determination, stubbornness and the knowledge that all my friends were willing me on got me over those last few miles. The shuffling run from mile 25 to the finish line was agony, and I apologise to all the crowds at the finish when I appeared, sweat-stained and grimacing with tears streaming down my face. But you know what? I was an emotional wreck and you didn't help by shouting my name and cheering me on. It was just too much for a The Sobster to take.

Official time: 5.39. Collette did a fabulous time of 4.10, and my twitter friends did amazing runs and got times from 3.50 to 4.50. We are all marathon runners guys!

Huge thanks to all the people of Edinburgh who were amazing, the organisers and marshalls who made sure we all got water and cheered so well, and the wonderfully lovely ladies of the RNLI charity tent who repaired Collette and I with sandwiches, coffee and massages. They are the reason I can still walk today.

A massive, massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored me for my year of crazy, you are all stars xx

Finally, this is not the end of the craziness, I have other things planned, but that's for another blog post. Right now I'm off to the pub for my first pint for 5 weeks. I think I've earned it.

Here's mud in your eye.

Sad afternote: Just heard the news of the runner who fell in the first few miles and sadly died. I had passed him at mile 7, surrounded by paramedics giving CPR. I know it shook everyone and my thoughts are with his family.