The BIG run - the middle 40... or the Tom miles

6 October

Having left J just before I reached Cobham as it was getting properly light I carried on through woods, over fields feeling fine. The first 40 had felt very comfortable, which at 5hrs, they should have done. By the time I got the Cuxton car park just before the M2 bridge over the Medway I was beginning to feel it. There I met up with Tom Marriage, who, uninjured would have done the whole thing with me as he's an ultra endurance runner of serious capability. But his knee and hip is bad at the moment - much like J's so he felt he could stick with me for something between 10 and 40k. Selfishly I hoped for the longer end of that whilst saying I didn't want him to hurt himself.

Tom picked me up at 50k and I think I'm truthful in saying that the next 20k or so were the hardest of all. I was feeling tired, (though not sore particularly) and low energy. I'd run 50k, which is quite a distance however slowly you're moving and I had 70k to go. That number, at that point in the run, was, predictably, very intimidating. I knew at that point that I wouldn't be able to run - TO RUN - for another 70 kilometres. I started resigning in my head to walking at least the last 20k, and perhaps the last 40.

Before I set off in my mind I'd said 15hrs would be incredible, 17 would be realistic and 19 hours was a fail. I knew at 50k that even 19 wasn't looking very realistic!

But Tom chatted away to me and let me dictate the pace, which, as it was largely uphill, was very slow. Looking back on the Strava feed I'm amazed we were going as fast as we were, it felt a lot slower and it was certainly tough. The scenery is uninspiring and all you can hear is the roar of the motorways. If I'd been on my own I'd have just walked, but having Tom there spurred me on to run when it flattened out and once I got going again on the flat I found I could keep going.

Then a wonderful surprise at 60k. Suzanna from Living Words - one of the charities I raised for had come out on to the route with big banners and was jumping up and down when we came into view. Her brother-in-law Jonathan was also there and dressed to run. I went from one running buddy to two and I needed them! I was very much still in the hole but I fell into a very happy place running just in front of Jonathan and Tom. They chatted away getting to know one another - I was too tired to talk I fear - but it was sociable - it was companionable. I wasn't alone - and so it felt... sort of normal.

Then slowly, like an engine that had been misfiring for ages, my energy levels started to stabilise. Throughout the 70s I started getting little spurts, 5-10mins at a time when it wasn't hellish. I was still rolling around on the floor at each of the pit stops, but it was becoming... dare I say it... fun again...

In the end Tom took me all the way to 80k and beyond. He saw me through the darkest part of the run and despite trying to stab me with his running poles a couple of times he was a huge part of what allowed me to get the second 40k done in 5hrs40mins. The extra 40mins were simply down to the hills. I believe I am fit enough to run 120k in 15hrs - on the flat. The rough tracks and hilly terrain of the North Downs Way soon taught me to adjust my perspective. 5hrs40mins wasn't bad. Thank you Tom!