My week at the Btr Tour of Merseyside, the race that wasn't a race..that was a race..that wasn't a race....race!

The Btr Liverpool Tour of Merseyside 5th July-11th July 2015.

Well I'm back again at the Btr Liverpool Tour of Merseyside, and this is the third time this unique event has been held. This was the second year in a row for me and I was planning on making this my last as I wanted to move onto other things next year.

Unfortunately for me 3 weeks prior to this event I injured my right hamstring at the Liverpool Rock'n'Roll half marathon and I ran through the pain of the injury in order to finish it. This meant I couldn't run at all for the 3 weeks between that event and this, and It was with great worry and trepidation (I honestly don't even know what that means) that I took on the Tour this week and at great risk of ruining my whole 14runs charity running campaign this year if I remained permanently injured from now on. But this event is a whopper of a funfest with fantastic friendly, supportive, loving and caring people..no!.. not people, that would demean their true value in my life, they are my friends and my running family.

On the subject of friends and if your familiar with last years Tour blog, you will remember my on going battle with my female running nemesis Sarah. Sadly this year I had to retract the running gauntlet that had been laid down again this year after previously taking the 1-0 win at last years tour. This was because of my hamstring injury and being male I'm stubborn and knew I would find it hard not to race every stage on a daily basis against her. Not to say I wouldn't have the odd little battle along the way of course. This would mean an automatic win to her, and a 1-1 draw with regards to quickest overall Tour time wins between us. We agreed this was not a race...but secretly knew I think that it was at times indeed still going to be 'Game On' and indeed a race, but if I lost a stage it wasn't so there...


To give you a quick run down the event was held over a week from Sunday the 5th July to Saturday the 11th July 2015. You run for 3 days back to back then have a day off and then run for another 3 days back to back, 6 days running in total. The event is held in stages, one stage per day and each stage is held in a different location or Borough of Merseyside.

The event is classed as a multi terrain event in as much as it is not all road or all trail based etc. You actually run road, multi terrain, cycle path, road, cross country and finally Coastal path and in that order. The distances you run in miles are 13, 6, 10, 5, 6, 12 a total of 52 miles over the week and a big ask of most runners, unless you try and take it really easy by going slow and comfortable, but if you do you spend a hell of a lot of extra time on your feet and that will come back to bite you in the a**.


So lets get down to it starting with the first day of the Tour...

The Tourists about to commence the Tour.

Stage 1 of 6... 13.2 miles at Southport Half Marathon, the long boring one apparently.

Southport is my hometown so I was looking forward to this my local run, but as I mentioned above I haven't run yet since my injury, not even 10ft I kid you not. It was a bright sunny day and in true Southport Half Marathon form Vital Events and it's owner Rob Macleod had clearly booked the heat to test us all. We as 'Tourists' were in fact guest runners at this event as it is not a Btr Liverpool event but merely one we are allowed to run in as part of our 'Tour'.

We all arrived slowly but surely and some of us with only 5 minutes to spare (oops!) to collect our run number for the day and promptly got on with attempting to pin our numbers on our vests. If your a tad OCD like me this is a mental challenge in itself if it's not quite straight. If you want to stress me out pre race just tell me "Your numbers not on straight" and I'll **** a brick!

Once the big 'Tourist' photo had been done pre start (yes I missed it, sorry) we all made our way to the start and we were shortly on our way on our 6 run 7 day journey through Merseyside.

We started with a winding trail along a few of the paths within Victoria Park and then off out onto Rotten Row and then onto the Coastal Rd towards Pontins Roundabout and Ainsdale. This is a long out and back and mentally tough and apparently to a few people  'boring', personally to me yes it is long and daunting and this in itself makes it tedious i.e. not pleasurable, purely because you can't help but realise that this road through the dunes is never ever ever ever going to end, and when it does at the roundabout you have to turn round and run back again, this is a true test of grit and determination and is all part of a hard testing run.

The plus point with out and backs on this course like the one mentioned is you can see your friends and fellow runners who are in front as well as behind you at several points over the course.

I in fact at 3 miles or so on this section had discovered that my fitness had clearly fallen out of the bottom of my running shoes on the way today, a consequence of not being able to run for 3 weeks. But I was also not feeling right at all, I was clearly struggling to breathe comfortably and I was rapidly wilting in the heat and by mile 4-5 I felt sick and started to look at the side of the road for good spots to be sick if I had to.

Water stops now became my friend and a chance to have a little walk to try and cool down whilst pouring water on my head, in my hat and anywhere else I thought it might help. My run was now about actually finishing it, never mind getting a decent time and never mind my hamstring which was starting to go numb with the pain.

The rest of the course is along the Coast Rd and seafront and then around the top of the Marine Lake and along the Promenade, then around the bottom of the Marine Lake back onto the Coast Rd to eventually go back into Victoria Park for the finish. I carried on my water stop to water stop strategy and little walks and had a few chats with fellow 'Tourists' as I went, Adam, John and Chris to name a few.

The end finally came in sight and I got through it in 1:55:15 which was 16 mins slower than my PB 3 weeks earlier at Liverpool, but to be honest I was glad just to get to the end as I had serious doubts that I was actually going to make it.

Back to the Btr hospitality tent now for our welcome bags and our running numbers for the rest of the week and a chance to say hello again to everyone old and new. Then for many of us it was a visit to the Sandgrounder Pub on Lord St to partake in a nice cold beverage or two and a little bit of nourishment.

So 1 down 5 to go.

Almost finished quite literally, but still smiling, or is that a grimace?

Stage 2 of 6... 6 miles at Thurstaston, multi..multi..multi terrain..through flying midgets and into Narnia.



So day two had arrived and it was now time to take on the first of the 'Tourist' only events, as all the daily stages from now on would be Btr events and just for us. This meant we could all mingle properly and chat to people knowing they were on this roller coaster ride of fun and trepidation (I still don't know what it means).

Transport for me today was courtesy of the legend that is David Marsh and my travel companions were Rachel and Vicky, good friends all.

Weather today was fairly warm but was threatening rain on/off so it was hard to 'choose wisely' as they say with regard to what to wear and what to ditch into the baggage tent.

Choosing running shoes wisely was the key tonight as this was multi terrain so over all sorts of stuff, road,beach,path,woodland trail,hills,mud,cycle path etc..etc. There had been a discussion the previous night on the Tour of Merseyside Facebook page about shoe choice and most people heeded the advice of the Tour veterans who had done the course before. I personally chose my Hoka Challenger ATR's which are a great shoe for mixed terrain and well cushioned to boot, which is rare for trail shoes.

So now it was almost time to go and lo and behold here came the rain just as we were lining up. This made it pretty uncomfortable while you waiting on the start line for a few last minute race instructions and announcements about who was in positions 3,2 and 1 in the male and female categories.

Off we went down a fairly long stretch of road towards the caravan park and my hamstring was not liking it at all, I wanted to try and get a decent run in tonight as I knew this stage was one I could possibly sneak a little win over Sarah on, but the pain meant I couldn't push past people on the road and start to catch up.

Next we were on the beach,and I love this bit as it is difficult and slows all the fast runners down. It is technical running and foot placement and foot turnover is the key to a successful run on here. I managed to slowly overtake people on this stretch but blimey it is long and never seemed to end. If I remember rightly it is roughly 2 miles and slow ones at that.

Shoe choice came into its own on the beach as it was slippy in parts, sandy, pebbly and rocky, and yes it was wet wet wet as we passed through a fair few little channels of water and major puddles etc. After a while it was just sensible to run right through it as you were going to get your feet wet whatever you did.

Finally the exit off the beach approached and we saw an ever friendly face, that of Captain Peacock a.k.a Keith, who welcomed us all with a smile whilst offering 'well dones' and guiding us back onto the coastal path.

It was now a long gradual uphill slog towards a residential area and into some woodland for....wait for it.....the 'Steps of Doom!' these steps as they call them are just put there clearly to trip you up every time every last bit of energy has just been sapped from your muscles from the subsequent uphill. Every time you cleared a set of them and thought you had seen the last of them you turned yet another corner and...no! you didn't enter Narnia, you found more steps.

What goes up must go down and after peaking the hill it was time for a rapid downhill, unfortunately it was a little wet and slippy and the people in front of me were clearly not having any of it and carefully took their time down the hill. This meant the time I planned on gaining here was lost as I usually fly down hills in my Hoka's as they have heavily cushioned heels and you don't get punished for heel striking on the way down hilly bits.

We now returned to the residential bit and back towards the coastal path and even got to go past runners further behind us as we had now looped back.Past a water station and  into some more trees etc and we now hit the cycle path of sorts. This I knew was going to be a long hard slog but a chance to make up some spaces or indeed open up a little gap if possible on the people behind. I honestly at this point thought I was ahead of Sarah as I had not seen her at all and even thought I might of gained at least one little race win for prides sake at least.

On and on the path went through the clouds of flying midgets as John Courtney lovingly calls them, and as ever the path was endless. The final mile marker appeared and it was time to push on a little, but this was the longest mile I have ever known and we were steered off the path that was until this point going directly towards the finish area and steered off to the left with a friendly " only 200 metres to go" so off we went thinking only 200 metres to go and stepped on the gas around several tight little corners whilst being able to hear the familiar beep beep of the finishing line as people crossed it with their chips attached. But hang on..200 metres? seriously? either my maths is crap or someone was clearly taking the 'hit and miss' with the 200 metres estimate. Finally the line approached and I managed a decent smile as I crossed the line in what I thought was a respectable 50:28 considering my injury, it was over 3 minutes slower than last year but the beach was tougher and slower this year.

Off to the hospitality tents for some snacks, Banana's, the ever popular LU bars and some water and Lucozade and not forgetting Laura Andrus's lovingly protected Chocolate Digestive biscuits :)

It was time to welcome in fellow runners one by one which has become Tour custom to stay behind and cheer in every last one of the runners, and tonight was no exception as the heavens opened and a lot of us dived for cover under tents, trees and anything else remotely waterproof.

But the slower runners were still out there getting drenched and what an inspiration they were as they carried on soaked to the skin coming in one by one or two by two etc.

Oh and by the way Sarah was a minute and a half ahead of me which was why I didn't see her, just as well it wasn't a race (cough).

2 down 4 to go...

Nice day at the beach.

Stage 3 of 6... 10 miles on Sustrans Cycle Trail at Walton..the land of the Hobbits and the smell of Old Oak or is it a whiff of weed?

So stage 3 and day three, and this was going to be a tough one on tired legs as the effects of the previous two would start to take its toll as the miles went by tonight as 10 miles is a tough call after a half marathon followed by a tough multi terrain at the beach.

My transport tonight was courtesy of Rachel and Vicky, thank you both.We arrived safely and well in time and chatted to new friends. I noticed a fair few new faces as this year the capacity for the event was 300 and at least a 100 more than the previous years limit of 200, so there was a fair few people to chat to.

One of the people I was most keen to catch up with was Buff man himself Paul Barrett, as he had kindly organised and arranged for a custom 'Tour of Merseyside' Buff to be made for pre order for any Tourist that wanted to purchase one at the event. He was the first person I made a beeline for in the car park to introduce myself and collect my new Buff.

So race start approached at 7pm and it was off to the start/finish area ready for the start, the usual race instructions and positions of the leaders later and we were off...

I'm not sure how I felt on this run as I knew from previous runs here that I would start to struggle as the run went on and my legs tired. The one thing I was worried about was the heat, but it seemed a little cooler and overcast so fingers crossed I would be OK.

The first mile went OK and although in pain I could still push on a little while slightly limping. I did however soon realise that my nemesis was indeed just ahead of me so I caught up and ran behind her in the vague hope that I could at least keep up for some of the race just to see how I could compare on time.

It did become apparent that although I could keep up, I was not enjoying this run at all, as all you can think about when your tired is how long you still had to run as you ran 2.5 miles out one way and back to cross over the start/finish area and then another 2.5 miles out and back the other end.

I decided that I would at least keep up upto the halfway point where Sarah's friends would be, knowing full well the shouts of "He's behind you" would at least spur her on to a faster pace and overall time and to at least show that I was almost up to the challenge, but clearly not able to finish it.I consoled myself in the fact that on an injury free day I could of least had a good battle.

In the end I kept up for 7.5 miles and then at the final turnaround to head back said "it's all yours, I'm having a little walk" in which I got a "well done" back. I was glad to have the chance for a little breather to compose myself again and take it easy a little as my hamstring was still hurting but I was getting used to running through it, but it was only 3 stages in and I had to be careful.

I ran on and had a second walk at mile 9 again to conserve myself and then ran on past Catherine and friends for a photo op. As ever she had come along to support and take some great pictures for us all to use later, we always appreciate her constant support and is rapidly becoming known as 'ever smiley Catherine'. She did try and encourage me to get a move on, but I wasn't having any of it.

So I finished in 1:19:32 which believe it or not even with the little walks was only 2 minutes slower than last year, so I was happy with that.

Btr tent again and several LU bars later and it was time for home, and guess what?...a day off from running..whatever will we do?.. well some said they were running, some cycling, some swimming, but mostly I think most were resting as it is indeed a long week.

3 down 3 to go...

Clearly early on while still fresh.

Stage 4 of 6.. 5 miles at Hale Village...where the men wear skirts and the women? well they just try every flavour of ice cream apparently.

So it was the first day back after our one day of rest and for me it was a welcome relief for my hamstring to get a little break. I had planned on going to the gym for a little cycle and a jacuzzi to rest my legs .but I had had a nasty episode with my big toe nail after Southport that entailed me ripping it entirely off after it had lost the will to live months ago, and it had not been keen to leave peacefully. Needless to say I made a mess and tore the flesh under the nail and had a sneak preview into what the inside of my toe looks like. So it was panic stations and dressings on and regular changes in the hope that it would all seal up and heal quickly without infection. This was the reason I could not now use the beloved jacuzzi as they are just a festering pit of germs and other peoples dead skin and any sweat that they couldn't be bothered washing off after their workout if they even bothered to shower in the first place.....anybody else a member of DW Fitness?

So I rested and to be honest felt a little lost and out of sorts as they say. I couldn't put my finger on it and my daily routine of sleep, eat, rest and repeat had gone out the window with the extra time on my hands. I won't lie I kind of got depressed and ended up going to bed again at 5pm til late evening and then got back up again to check out everybody's run posts and pictures on the Tour of Merseyside Facebook page.

Anyway back to stage 4, today's transport was courtesy of an 80's themed Rachel as tonight's run had somehow been allocated as the 'fancy dress one' and a lot of the runners were dressing up in fancy dress, and there had been a lot of speculation about who was wearing what and lots of mention of 'sticky backed tape and plastic' and various other Blue Peter style references (by the old ones anyway).

Paul Barrett...Tour legend 2015.

It was a corker of a hot night and I was glad of the excuse of the heat for why I was not taking part in fancy dress. I cannot run in heat and the temperature was easily going to be 22+ degrees and in full sun and when running you can add another 3-4 degrees to your running temperature.

It was all smiles in the pub car park were the start/finish line just happened to be and lots of "who the hell is that under there?" and "look at them legs, hang on that's a bloke!"

7pm fast arrived and it was time to line up at the start where we were going to be set off by the Mayor of Hale no less, although at first we just thought he was just a runner in a good fancy dress, and several runners had already tried checking his credentials out by grabbing his sleeve to check out his 'realistic' looking Mayoral Crest.

I was quietly confident of a good run in this event as it was a shorter and faster run with it being only 5 miles and I was hoping for a quick start to try and build a little lead on a fancy dressed Sarah who came tonight in matching outfits with her boyfriend Marc. They came as Cave man and Cave woman complete with clubs, this was a little worrying as I was expecting a clout around the head at some stage on the run.

So off we went to a flying start around a few streets and a few blocks around the pub before going past the start area again and off out onto the country roads around Hale Village.

I'd done this one before so knew what to expect and had gone off at suicide pace to force some kind of lead over people around me. the field of runners spread out quite nicely and we had gaps in front and behind where I was. The people in front were just a little too fast for me to catch up and I gave up trying when I was huffing and puffing a little and just decided to settle down and run a little more comfortably.

The plan had been to run fast to start, settle down and up the pace at the last mile from 4 and out sprint Sarah if needs be, not that I was racing of course (ahem). Needless the say the wheels almost fell off at 2.5 miles and I was hanging on for dear life, and blimey it was hot!...I slowed and eventually turned down the last long section of road at 3.5 miles and tried to run home pushing a little if I could.

Thankfully mile 4 came and went and as I got back into the village I looked over my shoulder and couldn't see my rival so happily ran over the finish knowing at least I got one consolation win in a respectable new PB time of 36:34 .

Next it was clap in the remaining runners time again, one of the best bits, and seeing all the fancy dressed runners was class. There were some good contenders for best outfits and funniest, the Unshaved Brazilian Baywatch twins were class a.k.a Davie and Adam, and so was Stan 'the man' Cottier who today was clearly more 'the lady' Cottier.
Other favourites were Paul Barrett who had made an entire Lego Man costume from scratch in true 'Blue Peter' style, and also Rob Griffiths with his Alan from The Hangover outfit complete with pint in hand as he ran down the finishing straight to the finish line.

That was stage 4 and a great night was had by all, but now the the little pangs of 'oh no, only 2 more stages left' were starting to kick in and we would start to see a little sadness in peoples eyes and the guarded smiles as we slowly sensed the end of our funfest would soon be near....

4 down, 2 to go....

Some of the cracking costumes.

Stage 5 of 6... 6 miles at Stadt Moers....where the grass is green and the hills are?...well just hills really, I mean if it was easy everyone would be doing this on a Friday night.

So Friday night and stage 5 at the lovely green Stadt Moers Country Park in Knowsley. This is a nice bit of park and great for running cross country events on as many people already do or at least  train here for them.

Tonight's transport was kindly provided by Mr Marsh again and our travel companions were the delightful Rachel and Vicky who were both doing well this year as Tour newbies and as far as I can tell were loving every minute of it.

The usual hello's took place and little catch ups with friends and in some cases with nearest rivals with regards to their overall placing within the Tour. I couldn't partake in this this year as it would be stupid of me to try and beat my nearest rivals nightly as I was injured. I had settled on having a couple of good runs at the shorter safer distances where I would be able to sneak back a few little wins against you know who, and tonight was no exception as it was fairly short compared to the others and multi terrain.cross country which plays into my experience with running through the dunes of Sefton on most weeks on my days off.

Start time was here again at 7pm and we lined up in front of a daunting long grassy slope up the first bit of a hill. Off we went and ....zap!! my hamstring gave me an intense pain that rocked me to my core and it wouldn't actually let me extend my leg muscle as it was cramping or seizing and refusing to let me move properly. I hobbled up the hill in pain and panic and hoped it would disperse, it did get me to the top and I lost loads of places as I then tried to merely keep moving along at any kind of decent speed.

The hope was now that it would ease up and loosen up and let me run as the miles progressed. But hell this was really painful, each step was like I was being stabbed in the back of the leg. I carried on (Yes I know I should of stopped, please don't this at home folks) and managed to slowly navigate the course while maintaining my place most of the time. I did eventually mange to get through the worst of it and discovered you know who ahead. (Yes, you guessed it, stupid is as stupid does)  I quickened my pace to catch up and once I did I tailed her again in the hope that her pace would be matchable, it was so I hung on in pain and carried on round.

Lap 2 ensued and several smiles for the camera for Catherine, Ann Marie and others as I was clearly happy to at least be putting a decent run in for a change. It was now getting increasingly tiring as I'm sure most of us were now feeling it in the legs with all the ups and downs and twists and turns and it was heating up again with it being a very warm night.

The last mile fast approached and my nemesis was clearly having a cracking run, as she was indeed having every night and getting loads of support and rightly so as an advancing Tour star in the female runner stakes, and as for Marc her boyfriend, well he was miles ahead as always and storming the field further ahead.

It was know decision time, last year I stormed up the last hill, broke level with Sarah and then sprint finished while being careful to stay at leas a couple of feet ahead as we ran in.
The hill this time was going to be too early as I was tired and I was pretty sure I couldn't hold her off that long, so I decided on using the downhill as I noted on the previous downhill that she slows down and doesn't take advantage of the momentum gained while running down hills.

So the last hill, it's do or die but....damn!..someone is running alongside her and I cant get past if I run on the nice new path they have put in. I looked to the left and right and weighed up the rough soil and sloped soil at that, and with 10ft to go had to go on the inside and overtake on the corner, we hit the tarmac path next and it was sprint for home time in a last ditch attempt to hold her off, I managed about 100 metres I reckon mainly encouraged by the cheers along the way and then....ping!! my hamstring said 'enough is enough' and 'see you later sucker' as it zapped me with excruciating pain and refused to let me extend my leg fully so I had to pull up, I paused briefly looked at the finish line and looked behind me, but I was on a corner so could not see how far behind Sarah was, so I ran..hobbled..squirmed..walked..and then ran again to get over the line just as Sarah appeared behind me..phew!!

Job done one more race won that wasn't a race but was a race etc..etc.. and one screwed hamstring all done in a new PB of 46:32 .

I had a lie down for a while and watched the other runners come in and then managed to get up and walk around. My hamstring thankfully does let me walk around slowly when it's stuffed and usually numb, and it helps to keep it moving and the blood flowing.

Btr tent up next and more LU bars and a few more chats with people to see how they were doing. I am extremely thank full to the genuine support and concern I got off other runners (Trevor, Paul, Ian, Ultan, Tom and John in particular and several of the ladies) who were aware of my ongoing hamstring issue, admittedly I never shut up about it, but it was important for me to get it across why my times at most races were down as we men are stubborn in our pride and slower times is not always easy to swallow on a year were you are otherwise progressing with new PB's etc, although my PB last night and tonight were eye openers for me.

Eventually I got a 'well done' of Sarah who by now was suspecting that I had a sneaky master plan all along and was trying to steal runs back, but honestly the most I could of wished for was taking the 3 short runs of the Tour as wins, but on overall Tour time taken for all 6 runs I could never beat her.

Anyway 5 down 1 to go....oh no it's almost over!

Just about to overtake like a legend and sprint like an idiot!

Stage 6 0f 6... 12 miles on the Wirral Coastal Path...what do you mean it's a 10am start?

So it was the last day and after getting home at 10pm the night before we were now getting ready to run at 10am for a grueling 12 miles on very tired legs, never mind legs that were still asleep and in my case a leg that was not having any of it.

I had had an intensely worrying night after getting home, and honestly did not know what I was going to do this morning, as on other days my hamstring always had the daytime to recoup from the strains of the previous nights 7pm run. But we were now running at 10am so no recovery time for my leg at all in relative terms.

I won't lie I genuinely thought do I have to quit? as I clearly cannot walk 12 miles in a time suitable for the guys waiting at the finish to cheer us in and indeed in a time suitable for the organisers as it was the last day and they needed to get packed up and off to the presentation and after party later.There were obviously some slower runners who we knew would be last in, but even they would be quicker than me if I walked, I calculated it would take me over 3 hours if I had to walk, that was not acceptable to me to ruin it for others.

If I quit I would get no medal, no t-shirt and no sense of pride and achievement and indeed I would of let all my sponsors and supporters down if I didn't finish the week.

Most of all I would of let all the children and parents down who suffer on a daily basis with family members with life threatening diseases, and terminal illnesses. The charity I run for THHN do there utmost to bring a little happiness into their lives for a least a few days a year by providing them with a free holiday in Torbay and it's surrounding area's.

I am proud to be a THHN 'Memory Maker' and I wear their blue vest with pride, so I had a serious word with myself and told myself pain is relative to your situation and to suck it up, stop complaining and get it done.

I arrived courtesy of David Marsh again, and we reflected on the week we had had and how the Tour itself has retained it's uniqueness even with the increased field of 300 runners, at that point although I had had a great week I was not planning on returning next year as a sense of 'I have already done it before' had swept through me.

10am was here and after the usual hello's and toilet trips and little warm up runs (cough) mine was of course a very painful hobble up the path as I tried to work out the best way to do this with a least a bit of running in order to get in in time.

So we were off on the final leg and I had a sense of impending doom as I couldn't fathom how the hell I was going to do this, but I am good at denying the obvious and hobbled on.

To start it was painful as expected, I managed to just about work out how to run with my left leg and then land on my right dodgy leg and hop straight off it back onto the other.Each second step was bl**dy painful and made me fear for my future running commitments in my charity fundraising campaign, this was 12 miles, how much damage would I do?

I managed a decent speed considering, and was doing roughly 10 min miles and was ahead of people behind me. I did take great comfort in the thought that at least at this speed I shouldn't actually get tired as it was a slow and comfortable speed to do a longish run in, and after all the view wasn't too bad either on the coast, I like being on the coast near a beach.

I won't bore you, I did plod on through miles 3 to 6 and discovered the lovely beach section and the welcome water station, and I stopped for a little chat, a delicious Salted Caramel flavour GU gel and even a photo op for a photo  :)

6 mile pit stop and time for a Salted caramel treat.

The return leg saw me discover a new running style as I skimmed across the beach with ease looking like a constipated Penguin that had indeed **** itself. But I didn't care, by just leaning back a little and landing on the back of my heels in little shuffling steps I was actually going past people who must of wondered what the hell is this hobbling limping idiot doing shuffling past me with a huge grin on his face saying "well done" to all and sundry, and why does he remind me of a Penguin?

The miles passed, and I indeed passed several friends along the way and I was enjoying myself. My hamstring finally went numb at mile 9 about 7 miles too late for me, and it was now starting to get a little warm as the sun came out to play.

Mile 10-11 saw a familiar face in Martin Connell who was there to support and take a few photo's of fellow running friends. At this point I was a little panicked as I am on one of Martins teams for the upcoming Adidas TR24 Thunder Run in 2 weeks time and he was slightly alarmed to see me approaching with a hobble at least 30 mins slower than I should of been at my normal pace. I sheepishly admitted that my hamstring went again last night and hobbled past as quick as I could before he could throw that famous look of disapproval at me.

Finally the finish line approached and I knew it was nearly over and true to form someone wanted to run past me at the finish, I as ever thought 'I'm not having this' and sped up until my hamstring send me a little reminder of what happened the previous night and I begrudgingly ran in behind them losing any chance of a nice photo at the end of me crossing the line, but at least I got over it.

A well done of Keith and a great medal around my neck and it was Btr hospitality time again as I filled up on banana,chocolate LU bars and Lucozade and then watched fellow finishers and running friends achieve their first, second or third Tour finish.

A hard earned medal and worth every mile.

Time to cool our tired feet after 52 miles of fun.

Reflections...

This is where the race that is not a race that is a race..race comes in, because as the week progressed and indeed ended with you crossing that line after 52 miles of blood, sweat and tears the realisation that it was indeed all over was soul destroying and depressing and for me I hated it. It's not a unique feeling to this event, but this truly is the only event I have ever done that I didn't want it to be over soon and have wanted to stay out there on the course just a little while longer even when in serious pain, just so the feeling never goes away and so I can remain with my new livelong friends and running family for just that little while longer. The realization hit me like a 10 ton truck that the THHN families must feel like this as their time together comes to a close on their THHN weekends away and in fact in life, as they wish for just a little time longer together with loved ones. It is for this reason that you will never see me quit and you will never see me let down the families I strive to support as a 'THHN Memory Maker'.


If you would like to support the charity I run for THHN and help them provide valuable fun time away as a family for those who may not get another chance, then you can donate through my fundraising page via the following link :

https://www.justgiving.com/14runsthesequel/

God bless you all, and I will see you at the Tour next year xx