Night Team:

The night team was well rested today (as much as they could be!) having been allowed to sleep in until 13:30 at the B&B in Crawford and also being served breakfast at that time! We felt ready to make some good progress towards John o' Groats...

For the night team, day 5 would begin just short of Glenfarg; there was a little hesitation due to concerns over Ed's inflamed ITB. We made sure that he warmed up thoroughly and stretched well. He started off cautiously and thankfully did not experience any significant pain throughout the rest of the run. The 2 hours he was running took him all the way through Perth and got the team onto the A9 - a road we would come to know only too well!! (All 160 miles of it!). Carlos was warming up in the first layby on the A9 when Ed and Rich came to exchange.

He soon realised that the A9 was all that he'd run on today. Feeling good, Carlos began with a strong pace, the first few miles being uphill. With some major road works and temporary traffic lights it looked like Rich and Ed would be stuck in a queue for quite a while. It would be 50 mins before he got a drink - should've carried a bottle with him. Having begun quite well, after 2 hours he was slowing down considerably feeling utterly drained of any "go-juice"! It became a little game of aiming to do the next few miles in order to get to the support car (which was also associated with food and lucozade!). There was always lows, even in the 1st day, however, the further into the week we went the more frequent and intense the lows became. Met up with Rich and Ed having ran just over another marathon, a mile or so from Killiecrankie.

Richard's turn to run the 'graveyard shift'. We had all benefited from the extra kip at the B&B and Rich was raring to go. Disaster struck however; after waiting for approx. 3/4 of an hour only 2 miles down the road Rich still hadn't passed us. When he did it was very clear that he was limping and in a great deal of pain. He had hurt something in or around his left knee and was making it very difficult for him to run. Ed and Carlos both offered to share his shift between them, such was the amount of discomfort he looked to be in. But, Rich being who he is, just wouldn't have it! After a while he managed to get into a routine that seemed to make it more comfortable - something like dragging his back foot ten steps, hopping another ten then walking ten. In his own words, "...this is ridiculous, what the **** am I doing??". There were moments of tears crossed with moments of laughter, but Rich pushed on forwards if only slowly. That day he covered about half a marathon and we met the morning team just after Calvine, still on the A9.

Morning Team:

The morning team waited for Rich to hobble-jog along despite his injuries to a point on the A9 just past Calvine. Anna & Charlie led the way with a few gentle uphills and a head wind and rain to contend with. The weather today was horrible, so much so, that even Charlie had to be pursuaded to get out of the car for her breakfast!

This first shift left Anna cold and wet but touch-wood not injured. Anna was a little sceptical about running her second shift yet again on the A9, and, yet again, in the rain! She was finding it tough but getting through it. she found encouragement in Gemma and Rachel singing "Everybody Hurts" by REM for her, and being given the thumbs-up and a beep by a lorry driver who had seen her do a little dance! "This is the stuff that motivation is made of!" Sadly, Charlie was not joining Anna on this leg - it was the thought of left-over birthday cake that spurred her on.

Rachel began her shift at 06:40 in horrid weather! She felt good at first and her legs were better than yesterday. After 40 minutes of running however, she felt exhausted and mentally drained so she carried on until she could do no more - an hour and 15 mins into her shift. Her second shift was also tough; despite her legs feeling better, there was nothing left in the tank. Seeing a sign to Wick (131 miles) brought it home that it was nearly all over, with probably only one more shift to go! !

At which point Gemma took over. She had been dreading this run but she felt good overall "woohoo"! She did 1h33m, which would make her second shift a lot shorter. The over-abundance of roadkill and bottles of urine thrown out by lorry drivers proved too much to dodge she failed to dodge a dead bird that she trod on! The last 40 mins Gemma ran at the end of the morning team's shift felt loooong! She was chuffed to pass the baton on to Lesley and to know that her team was done for the day. The morning team finished in a place called 'Bogroy' - very apt given Charlie is in the team! :)

Afternoon Team:

On their way to meeet the morning team, Lesley, Mikey and Pete found it very windy but not wet thankfully! They were greeted with wild, open moorish scenery and views of the sea. Lesley comments that her legs feel better today than they have for a few days!

Lesley began running a few miles north of Aviemore. It would be a day of hard core uphill with close to gail force winds and rain head on while climbing up to Slochd at 405m.

Mikey experienced fairly tedious roads largely downhill but al least in the dry! He was blown inside out crossing the bridge between Moray Firth and Beauly Firth. His run took him to North Kessock where Pete would take over.

Pete felt good apart from his tummy! It was very windy crossing the bridge to Cromarty Firth. There was news that the night team may be late in meeting the afternoon team due to some car trouble - for that reason, Pete carried on for an extra 10 mins before Lesley started her final half hour.

Despite car trouble and getting lost on the way the night got to the exchange point on time past Evanton, just before Alness.