Thursday 8th March MARATHON 48

‎8th March - Day 55. Up this morning after a good, but again, short night, Midnight after all washing and icing! Up at 6:30 with alarm, very comfortable bed, did not want to get up. Had the normal fight with my legs that, at the moment, I am just winning. Bathroom, kit on and out for a run around Ribodesella. It, by the looks of it, is in two half's, split by the river. This side there is a quite nice marina and the other looks more like a working dock, we shall see! Still dark so Framework Hi Vis jacket on and off I hobbled, I ran to the marina, it had a promenade so I turned left and ran 1.6k along it behind the hotel we are staying in, great beach to the right and very nice massive houses and hotels to the left. The sun rose as I got to the west end, I took a few pictures with my phone, back across the bay. The sky was not clear but it still looked great! I ran back, past the marina, across the bridge and along the other bank through the working harbour. Not a lot of action apart from a few people fishing with rods between the fishing boats! Anyway, legs now had enough, I ran back past the shops and cafe's, only one cafe open. Back across the bridge and back to the hotel, 8.1k in just over an hour. A very enjoyable hour. Quick shower and down for breakfast. Succeeded again in getting my porridge cooked, Eduardo had informed everyone in the hotel about us and our challenge, they could not do enough for us. I had been contacted by a reporter from a national newspaper and informed that he and a photographer would be flying out and would like to meet, do a quick interview and take some pictures, all good. They arrived just after 9:30 and we had a good chat and a lot of photos taken. David, the reporter, who coincidentally lived in Berkhamsted in the 70's and 80's. Seemed interested in my mission and my condition, mental and physical! Roland the photographer had more camera's than Kodak and took hundreds of photo's! I had to dig out some smart clothes, clean but a bit creased, and have photos taken inside the Hotel, out the front and out the back overlooking the bay. Dad was involved in most of them, reluctant at first but by the end he was posing like an old pro! Anyway, a bit embarrassing but if it does make the national papers that would be great exposure for our cause and get awareness of my challenge, hopefully to millions of people! Not a certain that it will make the paper but fingers crossed. Anyway, back to the room, changed again, applied voltarol and massaged legs. Kitted up, packed, paid and ready to go by 11:30. The Hotel management and staff were fantastic, they gave us Robes as gifts and all the coffee and tea were not charged, thank you again. More photos by the van in my kit and eventually got going about 12:00. The route took me back across the bridge and through the town. I went through the route with dad at length, dad and I went through the route with David and Roland so we all knew where we were going and they could follow us or go ahead. Dad took a right at the first roundabout instead of a left, because the sat nav told him to, and we lost them! All came good as we turned round, turned right up a steep hill and met them 10 minutes later at the top when they appeared coming the other, correct, direction! Legs felt ok by the time the road levelled out after about 3k and I found a nice rhythm and bobbed along. The route was quite kind up to 7k then a very long, steep, winding hill tested me! I passed the test and got to 10k in 54 minutes feeling good! Roland and David had been stopping, setting up and taking loads more photo's. Hope they got my best side! The views at times were again stunning, most, hopefully, were caught on camera by Roland or dad. I ran along the AS-263 for over 30k to a town called Llanes. At this point the AS-263 split in two and yes dad, along with David and Roland took one and I took the other! No major problem dad turned back and re joined me, David and Roland met up once finished. Marathon complete just past Vidiago in a time of 3'48'23 a hitch with my watch meant the last 9k was timed with stop watch! All good, I felt not too bad, right calf was my main issue but no great problem. We went to find a cafe without success so stopped by an old church in a very sleepy village. Iced legs, quick orange, a few more photos and off to find coffee. Main road cafe was all to be found but very nice coffee. We sat and had a chat for a while, I left dad with them when I went to order, took a bit of time so I think they may have experienced some of dads old story's! All good, we thanked them, they set off to Santander and we set off to find accommodation. The toughest search yet! 3 hours and 20 odd miles later, we finally booked into another main road transport cafe Hostel! Not great but clean and very cheap! Quick shower and now off to find food, legs now very stiff and both calf's very tight! A good and quite exciting day. Over 50k complete!