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Phil Hammond’s Marathon story continued…
Those of you who know our marathon man Phil Hammond will know that at the Yorkshire Marathon this year it will be his 100th Marathon. To get there he still had plenty of work to do starting with the Great Barrow Challenge which is 10 marathons in 10 days. Below is the edited version of his daily texts!!
Day 1 – Its been raining since 2.30am. No sign of it stopping. 18 secs off a full house, 4 hours 44 mins 26 seconds. Should have waited. If you thought Glastonbury is muddy come and run here. It took most of my energy to stay upright and the puddles!!
Day 2 – Oh dear today will be muddy, very very muddy. With all the rain lately and most of todays route is off road. 27 miles exactly in 4 hours 48 mins and 06 seconds. Which if you add the mud is a good effort. Forecast rain tomorrow, don’t need it, can’t dry my kit in time.
Day 3 – Its not raining…..Until noon. I’m not carrying a jacket for 4 hours, sod it, bit tired today not feeling it hope that goes. 4 hours 31 minutes today. Mostly road only a bit of mud in some fields. Tomorrow starts muddy then goes onto road so should be ok if rain holds off.
Day 4 – Rain’s started again, how am I supposed to keep my kit dry, never mind my sanity. 4 hours 47 mins and it didn’t rain. Yeah! But there was plenty of mud about. I thought I’d got Tourette’s going through the woods trying to stay upright and keep going without falling over. Happy with the time though.
Day 5 – Doesn’t look too bad today no rain forecast. All road route, happy days. Done in 4 hours 28 mins cue “Rocky theme”. All road today really enjoyed it. Sun’s still shining.
Day 6 – 4 hours 40 mins and 32 secs. So faster than when we did it on day 1. So that’s 6 done now and 1 pair of trainers has developed a small tear on both shoes. Not good and tomorrow is the muddy one, soon be done.
Day 7 – Worst route of all 5 today. Muddy , huge puddles. Mostly off road but got the same time as last week all but a few seconds. Rain held off until the last 45 mins. Very windy now. Not my best holiday, still only 3 more here and 1 at home.
Day 8 – Left leg was swollen thanks to a wasp sting. Plus the blister on the ball of my left foot is now making me limp because it can’t dry out and heal up. Fun and games. Can you thank everyone on facebook for their good wishes it really lifts me up when I’m not having fun. Anyway today was another Newmarket course the racehorses are wonderful animals to look at. 4 hours 37 mins 12 secs. A bit slower than last weeks effort on this course. One more all road run Friday then a mixture to finish. My leg has really swollen up now, must have been a bloody big wasp.
Day 9 – All road today, weather’s a bit windy but sun’s shining. Blister’s really starting to hurt now. Need a new foot. 4 hours 26 mins 18 secs the fastest time yet. Get in. Very happy with that and the weather has picked up too. One more tomorrow but its the slowest course of all. Starts off road and doesn’t get much better then finishes in the mud too bugger. Finally after 5 days of hobbling on this blister I relented and had the medic tape it up. I can walk again its a miracle.
Day 10 – And on day 10 our hero scores. 4 hours 30 mins 37 secs, oh yeah. Not as muddy underfoot as I expected and sunny too but very windy with a lot of the time into the wind.
The total for 10 in 10 was 46 hours 11 mins 59 secs. Which I work out as an average of 4 hours 37 mins.
If this wasn’t enough Phil added another on the way home –
Day 11 – Halifax Marathon – That was rather hilly. 2 laps of a new course almost 5 miles uphill each lap. 4 hours 44 mins 52 secs. I’ll take that. Right off home now got a serious pile of washing to sort out.
I have included Phil’s just giving page if you would like to give to his good cause –