Thank you

This is to say a massive thank you for all of your sponsorship and support for my 10 Ultramarathons in 10 Days Challenge!

We have raised over £1200 so far, for the wonderful Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. This is way, way, way beyond what I ever imagined, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support and generosity!

It was a great challenge, and I am so happy to have completed it. Your support and encouragement really helped, so thank you for that too.

I've been feeling quite flat and low since it's finished. I guess whilst you are doing something, you are 100% focused on it and are in "the zone", and then it abruptly ends, and that's that. I think I also felt that I was doing something (to raise money, remember Hannah), and now it's done, I am a bit lost sometimes with where to go with my thoughts. 

But the peaks and troughs are just life, I know, and we must just ride on the waves! 

So, as is usual for me, my hurdles have been mainly mental, and physically I've felt fine really since finishing, which I am very grateful for! I think I was quite close to injuring the back of my left knee, but this may have been self-inflicted by being over enthusiastic with my massage gun. It seems pretty much OK now though. Phew! 

My fundraising page will stay open until the end of the month (a week on Sunday).

Thank you again, you wonderful people! 💙💚💛🧡❤💜💖

Phoenix Running 10 in 10 Series, Day 10 (Invincible Ring), 29.5 miles, 10.04.2023

Day 10 of 10 days! Another 9 laps, and 29.5 miles, for ultramarathon #10/10. It is done!

The weather today was disgraceful, and the towpath was like a mud-fest. The mud did have variety though, I'll give it that. There was good mud, bad mud, "stay away from the sides!' mud, tempered chocolate mud, and tickly mud. Dirty mud, and clean mud. "Mud Alley" was renamed "Puddle Alley". We got so muddy we looked like we had been playing rugby, instead of running on the towpath. Avoiding it was useless, and running straight through the middle turned out to be far the best option! 

Andrew came down too, and did a swift sub 4 marathon - nice work! 

It was quite tough to start with, running in the heavy rain and murk, and sloshing through the mud. But today we just had to get it done, so we stuck to our Three Lap Freddo Strategy, employed the Shrimp Strategy, and kept our spirits up by chatting together and catching up with others. 9 laps became 8, became 7....and soon enough, it was done!

What an amazing 10 days on the towpath, with a brilliant group of people. Huge well done to everyone! I'm so going to miss you all tomorrow! Good luck for the next two days for those bonkers enough to be doing 12 in 12!

Thank you to the ever awesome Rik and Team Phoenix for a fabulous 10 whole days of running fun!

The medal today is the Invincible Ring.

And of course thank you to my princess twin Sarah, for sharing every single step of the 295 miles, for the chats, laughs, randomness, and getting each other through. I never thought I could do 10 ultras in 10 days. Never! But I knew Sarah could. And turns out Sarah didn't think she could, but she thought I could. So maybe we should have added this topic to our chat agenda at the start, and saved each other a lot of secret worry. Oh well, next time! 

Today was also my 100th lifetime ultra-marathon event.  Thank you so much Rik for my presentation and all the stats (I didn't know any of these!), and I'm sorry I got confused about what my first ultra was (I'm so embarrassing).  It was fabulous to get my green and silver Phoenix 100 Ultra Wings with Sarah (who did her 100th ultra back in February). Thank you so much everyone for your kind words! 💗

And - thank you so very much everyone who has sponsored me, to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, in memory of my friend Hannah 💛💛💛 We have raised over £1000 now, over double my initial target! Your kindness in donating and also in your words and support has completely blown me away. Thank you so much from the very bottom of my heart!  My justgiving page is HERE!

Phoenix Running 10 in 10 Series, Day 9 (Unbreakable Ring), 29.5 miles, 09.04.2023

Day 9 of 10 days! 

Happy Easter! 🐣🐰

Today was a beautiful sunny day right from the start, and being on the towpath was like being on holiday - getting some running tans lines already! It was insanely packed, being Easter Sunday. Most people were lovely and friendly, but there were a few rude people out, which always knocks me off kilter a bit, but hey! 

Feeling in a bit of a funny mood today, which I guess is just due to it being day 9 and being a bit tired.

Started a bit later today (because of the trains) and met Sarah, Annabel, Craig, Dave and Mark outside the Travelodge to walk down to the start. It felt just like old times, all catching up.

The Easter Bunny (AKA Pixie) was hopping up and down the towpath giving out her home made Easter pom-poms today. Thank you lovely Pixie! And thank you for being such fun, and suporting us all during the 10 in 10! 

The first two laps were Lovelock Laps, where Craig did some bucket list work. After that, Sarah and I had lots of chats with others on the way round - I love the 10 in 10 gang, and am going to miss everyone after tomorrow! Also did half a lap with the lovely Ben, which was good fun.

The Swan Spa will be open again soon I think, the water level has gone down a bit now, and some swans have started to make a come back to lounging around on the launching ramp.

Car show on at Walton Bridge, and saw Andrew there!

Really nice to sit around in the sun afterwards and catch up with people, and see Jenni's 100th Marathon presentation.

So another 9 laps, and 29.5 miles, for ultramarathon #9/10. One day to go!

The medal today is the Unbreakable Ring. Pink!

Today was also my Flake Ultra (99th Ultra).

Also spotted the secret Phoenix Easter Bunny doing the race results.

Thank you so very much everyone who has sponsored me!!! My justgiving page is HERE!

Phoenix Running 10 in 10 Series, Day 8 (Indomitable Ring), 29.5 miles, 08.04.2023

Day 8 of 10 days! 

Today Sarah and I started earlier, at about 7am. It was a misty morning, and it was very atmospheric for the first couple of laps. Couldn't see the other side of the river, or who was running towards us until we were almost right next to each other! 

Some photos from the walk to the start...

After about 08.30 the sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful; what a day! Sun cream on - felt like being on holiday!

Today was genuinely, belly-laughingly, really good fun. When I first started doing marathons, running and belly-laughing were not two things I would have put together in a sentence, but now they are, and that makes me happy. Over the last 8 days, I've got to spend time with great friends, and made new ones, and we've all been on a challenge together, and I'll have so many memories of good times along the way.

Lots of chats and catch ups on the way round, and some miles with Clare and Peter, Richard, and the last half lap with the lovely Ben.

We did the east bound route today, and our Wildlife Report reads: no midges, no sausage dogs, hardly any swans, one woodpecker. The birds were in a more supportive mood today, and their tweets sounded more encouraging, compared to the swarking/ heckling from a couple of days ago.

Towpath update: "Mud Alley" is back, after the rain from a couple of days ago. And the fence at the far end turn point that was being built on Thursday is now complete. Boaty McBoatFace is still looking glum.

Celebrations today! Congratulations to Victoria on her 100th Marathon, and Stephen for hos 100th Half-Marathon! There is so much cake on the aid station!

Still feeling good 8 days in, which is good news. Sticking to my post run routine, although my foot spa (AKA washing up bowl) has cracked, which makes the foot spa part a bit tricky. Other than that, I think my feet and legs are actually getting looked after better than usual! 

So another 9 laps, and 29.5 miles, for ultramarathon #8/10. 

The medal today is the Indomitable Ring. 

Thank you so very much everyone who has sponsored me!!! My justgiving page is HERE!

Phoenix Running 10 in 10 Series, Day 7 (Intrepid Ring), 29.5 miles, 07.04.2023

Day 7 of 10 days! 

A week of ultramarathons completed - my first time of doing this!

Am back staying in the Blue Bunkhouse (AKA the Walton Travelodge) now, so it's nice to be staying closer to the events.

Andrew is also down for the weekend and ran today, so it was fun to have some extra company, and high quality jokes. 

The weather was exceptional! A beautiful sunny spring day. 

The river is still really high, with a strong current (or sultana).

We did the west-bound route today, and with it being Good Friday, it was busy on the towpath. There was an abundance of sausage dogs out and about. And on the subject of breakfast related things, early on we got to do half a lap with Rik, who on his bacon butty lap!

"Swan Spa" is still out of order, due to flooding. A couple of Eygyptian Geese were still hanging around hopefully. The rest of the swans have moved slightly upstream to the "Swan Yoga Studio" and were doing one legged/ one winged poses all over the path.

I'm worried about Dimitri. I've only heard him cock-a-doodle do once earlier in the series, and haven't seen him at all. Maybe he's on Easter holiday.

Also got to run with Steve, and came up with some ideas of changing Every Run Counts to Every Rum Counts. Mmmm cocktails. Watermelon salt tablets today, as the weather was so nice it felt like being on holiday, and being on a beach with watermelon cocktails sounded a good idea.

Big well done to Peter, celebrating his 100th Half Marathon today (and who had THE most epic cakes!!) and to Stephen, celebrating his 99th Half Marathon. Excellent work you guys!

So another 9 laps, and 29.5 miles, for ultramarathon #7/10. 

The medal today is the Intrepid Ring. 

Thank you so very much to everyone who has sponsored me! Wow! Your generosity has blown me away - and we are now at almost double my initial target, which is way beyond my wildest dreams! Thank you!!! My justgiving page is HERE!!

Phoenix Running 10 in 10 Series, Day 6 (Adversity Ring), 29.5 miles, 06.04.2023

Day 6 of 10 days! 

I feel a little boost now that we are over half way, as there are less steps to go now than we have already done (unless we suddenly start taking very tiny steps).

Am actually feeling good; no issues to complain of yet! 

I think in part this is due to my post run routine, which I am trying to stick to, whether staying at home or the Travelodge. This includes a post-run recovery shake, mint tea and cake/sandwich, a walk, shower, sorting out (aka faffing with) my kit bag, washing things, repacking, massage gun-ing and Deep Heating my legs, organising outfit for the next day (coordinating with Sarah), and using my portable foot spa! 

The weather today was very different to the last few days; much milder, and quite muggy. Cloudy, then bright sunshine for a lap near the end, then the sky went dark and soon after finishing, it chucked it down. Thanks Andy for the lift afterwards, saving us from concussion from giant hail! Staying in Walton tonight, and there is currently a storm. Exciting! 

Wildlife report: We were cheered on/ heckled by birds along the route. Heard a woodpecker. Saw a mini Swan Spa with just two swans a two ducks. No midges until the sun came out, then they continued on their self-destruct mission of flying in our faces to get squashed.

At the far end turn point, there were some workmen building a fence, who were very supportive, and had good tunes on their radio, which was very motivating. There were also some men from the Environment Agency measuring a hole with a tape measure. 

Boaty McBoatface (the boat house on the opposite side of the river, whose side looks like a face because of the things hanging on it - with two black eyes and red nose) was looking a bit glum today. If a boat/oar is parked under it, it can look happy or sad depending on the type of boat/oar, but with nothing there, it just looks glum. Poor Boaty.

Random running chats included what would it feel like to run with fake boobs, fish fillets, "Always Tuesdays", and what noise does an emu make (Google informs that emus make deep booming, grunting noises).

So another 9 laps, and 29.5 miles, for ultramarathon #6/10. 

The medal today is the Adversity Ring. The yellow ring. Yellow was Hannah's favourite colour, and so we wore our Royal Marsden vests today.

Thank you so very much everyone who has sponsored me! Incredibly, INCREDIBLY kind! My justgiving page is HERE!!

Phoenix Running 10 in 10 Series, Day 5 (Perseverance Ring), 29.5 miles, 05.04.2023

Day 5 of 10 days, and half way there!

I've been going back home in between runs for the last couple of days, which although is quite a long journey, has been quite nice to break things up and have a change of routine. Bus to Waterloo, coffee, front carriage of the train to meet Sarah, and a nice walk from Walton-on-Thames station for a couple of miles to the start. 

The sky was lovely this morning.

Today I felt better compared to yesterday, which was a nice feeling to feel.

We were running on the west bound route today. The weather was quite nice, not as sunny as yesterday, but by the end the sun made it out, so the last few miles were nice and bright. It was quite chilly to start, and there was a "refreshing " wind blowing on and off the whole day, which when it hit you in the face, felt like someone had opened a walk-in freezer door (but without any ice cream appearing).

We spent some time running and chatting with Charlie, Clare and Pixie, and Liz, which was lovely.

There were a lot of swans around today! Some of them seemed to be getting quite keen on each other. With it being April, and not having seen any cygnets yet, and the swans seeming only now becoming acquainted, a natural question for my post-run Google list was, how long is the incubation period of a swan egg? It turns out that it can take 2-3 weeks for swans to build their nest, the female lays one egg every 12-24 hours over the next 2-3 weeks, and then the eggs are incubated for 42 days. So cygnets are born anytime from May- July. And mute swans usually mate for life, so I hope the Walton swans are taking their towpath speed-dating seriously.

On the topic of babies, it occured to us that we have never seen a baby squirrel, or a baby pigeon. Well, we learned that Rik actually has seen a baby pigeon, a whole attic of them in fact, but apart from that, in our poll of runners on the towpath, no one else has. I added this to my post-run Googling list of things to look up. It turns out that it is because both squirrels and pigeons don't leave their nests for a relatively long time, and by the time they they do, they look just like the adult versions, only a bit smaller, so unless you saw one next to an adult one, it would look just like normal. 

The towpath has dried out so much, and our shoes today were so clean at the end. We discussed running shoe colours, and what nice/funny/wierd names they have. Mine are called Festival Fushia/ Iris Rose. Sarah tomorrow will wear Marin Yellow. On Googling if these are actual things, I spent some time down a rabbit hole looking at the Pantone colour palletes and codes, which is a very satisfying way to waste time that you don't have to waste.

Saw another Chinook at the end, whilst having post run chocolate fudge cake and mint tea.

On the walk back to the station, we caught up on the Walton dramas. Yesterday afternoon, four beautiful cherry trees in full blossom were cut down on the high street (we saw it when walking past 😔). This is to make way for a new zebra crossing, but the word on the grapevine is that a planning application from 2018 was used, not the current one, so people were not properly consulted about the changes. There is uproar, and the two remaining cherry trees have stay of execution notices on them now. It's very sad, they were such pretty trees, and I always liked to see them. I don't really see why they would have been in the way.

So another 9 laps, and 29.5 miles, for ultramarathon #5/10. 

The medal today is the Perseverance Ring.

Thanks so much everyone who has sponsored me! I am genuinely blown away by how kind and generous everyone is. 

My justgiving page is HERE!