Night Team:

The night team, looking for the afternoon team, drove into a car park to radio the afternoon team for their location. Rich radioed Michael and rather conveniently he was standing in the petrol station only 100 yards away! After liasing with him and getting our thermos flask filled with hot coffee for the night ahead at the petrol station, we drove on to find the present runner from the afteroon team. We took a few wrong turns and got stuck at a railway crossing so, knowing we were going to be delayed, we phoned ahead to warn them!

We were not feeling great at this point in time and I'm sure that none of us wanted to run. It wasn't so much the amount of running we'd all done in the last two days but more to do with the loss of sleep. The past two days we had to leave the B&B's we were staying at fairly early, and, because we were finishing running at 5am and getting to bed at about 6am, it meant only a few hours rest for us (especially if we wanted breakfast!).

The first part of Ed's 2-hour shift was all uphill coming out of Shrewsbury. However, he was feeling good and set a good pace for himself. Weather was good too so Richard supporting on bike was pleased too! Ed's run would be spent primarily on the A528 essentially a country road with lots of farmland around. After the initial incline, the terrain levelled off allowing him to continue digging deep. He would finish his run, having past Wem, on the way to Whitchurch on the B5476.

Carlos took over feeling terrible. The last two days had taken their toll and he was mentally drained. He managed an easy-going pace on the B5476 through Whitchurch, then joined the A49 at Hinton. He followed this road with a few diversions for approx. 3 hours at what he thought was a relatively comfortable 4hr marathon pace; he had in fact been going a little slower than that and with an hour left to go there was still just over 7 miles to cover to complete a marathon! He has set out to complete at least a marathon in every 4hr shift, so he wolfed down some dates and some lucozade and dug deep. Got to 26.4 miles with 5 mins to spare, which he used to catch his breath and pass the baton on to Rich.

Rich's turn on the late shift (01:00 - 05:00). The bad thing about staying in the car between 21:00 - 01:00 is knowing that you'll have to run later - and no matter how much sleep you think you'll be able to get in while the other person is running, you get none! Rich took over, still on the A49 and made his way to Warrington crossing the M56. He seemed unaffected by the previous days of running and urged us to go on ahead 6 miles or so so we could get some kip. There was some confusion after Warrington and both car and runner got a little lost. A careful look at the map revealed that we did NOT want to get on the M56! Rich carried on to Platt Bridge just south of Wigan where he made his final sprint on the A573 before meeting Anna, who'd be running next, and the rest of the morning team.

Morning Team:

South Wigan isn't the prettiest (especially compared to yesterday)! Richo emerged out of the dense fog in Platt Bridge covered in dew and looking a bit like a yeti for changeover!

Anna's run included a few hills, but nothing that Charlie and her couldn't handle. This time the shifts had been broken up with Anna and Charlie running the first hour or so, Rachel the second and Gemma the third. The team was pleased this was done as it was better for legs and it was felt that the team might do more mileage if this was done.

The day was nice and sunny - took the B6430 off the A6 which was nice and quiet. Anna felt good with 40 minutes to go of her second hour long run. Rachel commented that that was a tough one. Legs are tired and definitely feeling the pain. But the whole team seems upbeat with how far we seem to be getting.

All good so far, the route has been very varied. Started off in the foggy backstreets of Wigan, then into Preston at rush hour and finishing on the scenic A6 to Carnforth, in the beautiful sunshine. Looking forward to lunch at Lake Windemere - woo hoo! During Anna's final shift her legs were just about working; they felt like Rich's in the later stages of his Ironman, but onwards and upwards and felt great to finish.

Afternoon Team: