pickupthepacepaul

Another day, another marathon. On 4 April 2023, I continued my marathon streak with another 8 laps up and down the towpath at Walton-on-Thames. Today’s theme was Resolute: admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering. Determined and unwavering are certainly qualities needed on day 4. Catch up: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

This morning, it was cold, colder than yesterday, with an iced windscreen, and the ground looked like it had a light covering of snow. But straight away, it was obvious it would be a beautiful day, with clear skies, and this soon became a lovely sunny spring day.

I started running with company, and it felt great to keep a steady pace. Running with others also distracts the mind and allows your body to push through barriers that otherwise take more resilience. It wasn’t until the end of lap 3 they Nigel broke away. He was running a half and only had one more lap, but I needed to go to the toilet. This is the first time during the TiT (Ten in Ten) that I’ve had to stop for the toilet. It added about 5 minutes on to my time, but most importantly, it meant I had an extra lap that I had to run alone.

After halfway, it became more of a struggle. In fairness, I held a good pace and didn’t drop much below 10 min miles whilst running, with a couple of minutes at each aid station. But my legs are beginning to feel tired. It didn’t really slow me down today, and it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, but I felt it. They are certainly feeling more tired than yesterday.

It was great to see everyone today still digging deep and carrying on. It’s getting tough out there, but for those running 10 marathons, tomorrow is halfway. It feels like a gigantic journey, but we are almost halfway. Today I finished in 4:24:10, which is 2 minutes quicker than this route on Sunday, and this also included a toilet stop, so all in all, I will call that a solid run.