Marathon 35 of 40. Now on serious countdown to the finish. This was the Isle of Wight Marathon

The legs didn't ease off that much after the Steeplechase last weekend. The terrain wasn't it as thats pretty much what I run on every time I go out running. I dont even think it was the man flu as the muscle soreness was confined to specific areas. I think it was solely due to that first climb direct up Mam Tor. I could literally feel the giders fraying in my calfs and although I was able to run on and complete the race without issue, I knew that I was in for a treat as soon as the inflammation set in.

And so it was that the days ticked through the week but the legs didn't ease. Oh dear. I did improve on my ability to climb the stairs, but anytime I was still the muscles just set. Add in a long journey down south and I was jiffling around and barely spent anytime in the car seat. A nice good pottering walk around Southsea helped on Saturday, but all too soon race day was upon us. It was going to be a long day.

My brother in running shoes was to be the legendary Matty H, whose general ability to rise to any challenge at anytime has seen us escape from many a hairy situation climbing in the mountains. I was therefore sure he could pull it out of the bag regardless of a lack of training and, not wanting to be left out of the sore legs front, deciding to throw himself under a car whilst cycling to work the previous weekend. Thankfully he and his bike got away quite lightly.

So we had a plan: To run about 3:15 pace but hopefully finish in under 3:30 if/when it all went a little pear shaped. We settled into a fairly comfy pace and indeed went through the halfway mark in about 1:37 but my legs, and more specifically my calfs, were starting to feel a little worse for wear, well actually pretty awful and lacking any power. Not good when you along way from home. ie. finishing and getting back to the ferry in time to actually get home!

Initially it was just the uphills that were a struggle, but then inevitably the downhills joined in leaving just the flats to plod through. I actually had a few ropey kilometers where I had to walk for 150m and run for 850m but luckily these were minimal. Then came the HILL.. Yes, that hill! Anyone who has done this course will know what I mean. Who in their right minds decides to put a whopping hill in at mile 24! It was a definite separator on the course.

Once at the top it was all flat to the finish, medal and then the rain started! What great timing.Just time for a quick shower to warm up and drive back to the ferry. In fact only just time as the ferry had an ambulance on it and it goes when thats the case. Just made it. Back to Romsey, eat and bundle the kids in the car and then head home for work the next day. If I thought that my legs were hurting during the race, this was recontextualised by the drive afterwards.....Derbyshire is a hell of a long way away when you can't sit still and are desperate to walk around.. Must keep moving, must keep moving....

So 35 marathons done! I have pretty much always decided that this challenge would end on the 1st November which would be 40 marathons in 34 weeks, but since I had 2 weeks where I couldn't actually run, I am left still with getting one more marathon mid week to catch up. This I have provisionally targeted for Thursday. Yes this Thursday, so I need to get things back on schedule with regards to recovery.. Anybody got any bright ideas..... If you fancy showing your support to this challenge or to the hospital which I am raising money for then this can be done HERE. It would be greatly appreciated. Many many thanks for taking the time to read this set of ramblings.