Night Team:

Day 4 would see the night team run through the northern border into Scotland! Indeed, the midgies were there waiting for us...

Ed would, for the first time in the weeks' running experience a great deal of discomfort as his ITB became slightly inflamed and was causing him considerable pain to the outside of his right knee. It was a slow start for him for that reason and he took it easy walking on the downhills and stopping to massage the afflicted area and stretch when necessary. Not wanting to break the pattern Ed took over from the afternoon team in yet another city; Penrith. Ed would simply follow the A6, overlooking lots of pleasant agricultural land and some forestry. Carlos followed him behind making sure he took it easy on his knee; there was still a few days of running left!

Rich took over from Ed after 2 hours and the route was still following the A6 - fairly easy to navigate hopefully! Rich was running well; we'd all benefited from being allowed to sleep in until midday meaning that we were able to get a decent night's sleep in comparison to the previous days. Rich would follow the A6 for another 10 miles or so before reaching Carlisle. After taking us through the Scottish border it certainly felt like we were closer! Rich made good time and made a good dent in the Scottish mileage we had to do finishing on the B7076 near Kirtlebridge.

Carlos had to run his four hours on pretty much the same road running alongside the A74(M); it was pretty mind-numbing but managed to sustain a fairly good pace as this part of the route was quite flat. The road was so quiet in fact that Richard and Ed were able to follow him for most of the way to support him, cheer him on and often wind him up!! During the last hour of the run there was always 4 miles left according to Rich and Ed!! Carlos almost got to Beattock having successfully completed a little over a marathon (~27.6 miles).

Morning Team:

The morning team would begin their 4th shift on a "scenic route to Edinburgh" on the A701 through Moffat. They had taken over the night team on the B7076 just before Beattock.

Anna and Charlie led the way through the rain, over the hills. The fact that it was lovely and scenic made up for the hills just about! The support crew and not the runner found the rain tobe miserable. On her second leg it was wet again! However, she managed to pick up the pace thanks to a favourable wind and gradient. Legs were sore but don't think it's anything other than tiredness.

Gemma took over after an hour and a half and enjoyed her run very much. The fresh rain helped and also that the terrain had become flatter since Anna's shift! Gemma's 2nd shift began at 10:30 and would last an hour. She found it hard as her legs felt heavy but she made it through! Regrettably, Gemma saw no deer this time but she did see two men in a van sticking their fingers up at her - charming!

Rachel took over from Gemma at 07:45 and had a nice run - "not as bad as anticipated". The support crew (Anna, Gemma & Charlie), were able to follow her the whole way since the roads were so quiet. Her legs felt heavy but were ok - it was a bit rainy but nice for running in as was the scenery. When Rach started her second shift that day she was a little worried about her left ankle, but, thankfully, it warmed up after 20 mins. With the wind behind her and some downhill stretches the rest of the run was ok.

Afternoon Team:

The afternoon shift was kicked off by Lesley at 12:30 after taking over from Rachel. Time passed quickly as she negotiated the route through Edingburgh with the help of her Garmin. The pain in the muscles of her backside was quite bad - consequently, Lesley found herself running AND massaging at the same time! Lesley would later run her second shift (the final half hour) starting from about half a mile south of Glenfarg. In this latter run she felt a bit stiff at first but going uphill seemed to alleviate things; coming down was more of a problem! Beautiful country lanes in this later part of the run.

Mikey took over from Lesley in Edinburgh and his shift would take him the rest of the way through the city almost reaching Crossgate. He was pleased to have successfully navigated his way out of the city and it was pretty cool to run over the Forth bridge.

Pete's shift would see him run through Kelty, Kinross (overlooking Loch Leven to the East) and Milnathort on an A road running alongside the M90. Pete describes the last section of his run today as "lovely" and would leave him just short of Glenfarg.