Monday 9th April MARATHON 86 & 87

9th April - Day 87. Managed to watch a bit of golf whilst washing kit, which was nice. Kit all washed, spread around the Radiators, little toe cleaned separated and sprayed and in bed by 11:20, better but still a bit late! A better nights sleep but still up to see most of the night hours, up with the alarm at 6:10. Kitted up and out, Andy along this morning to do at least 6k, back to the hotel, Andy stopping and Jamie joining me for another 3k. Good plan! We set off at 6:50, right out of the hotel, to the mouth of the harbour and back along the key side past all the restaurants and bars. My left little toe is healing nicely with no sign of infection but it was not too happy at being squeezed into a running shoe and smashed against the floor! The weather was the same, overcast and raining! The pain became just about bearable after a few kilometres and allowed the pain in my knees to make a show! I have a sore throat and slight cough, I think that is what was sapping my energy so much yesterday and again this morning. Very nice run through the centre of Dieppe, very nice cobbled streets, good shops and a few good squares that are probably humming in the summer. We turned at 3k and made our way back, enjoyable but still a bit too much pain! Andy stopped at the hotel, 6.2k complete and Jamie joined me. We took the same route to start with then made our way through the back streets to the huge and very old church. Great building but unlike all the other churches we have seen, this one appears to need a lot of maintenance! A few lefts and rights and we ran past Jamie's favourite restaurant, it has a picture on the glass window of a topless Barmaid sorry Mermaid! Jamie said that the French were strange! Anyway back to the hotel, 10.27k complete in 1'09". Nearly there I think for another make up marathon! It was my aim to get to 10 days to go with 10 marathons to do! A few days earlier would be great for my moral and my legs! Up to the room, quick shower and consultation with Andy about a lump that has appeared over the last few weeks in my lower abdominal muscles. A Hernia or a muscle tear was the diagnosis! Oh well, my daughter Jemima is a dancer at Tring Park school and has a hernia that is being operated on this summer, everyday she puts herself through much tougher movement exercise and has coped with it for nearly a year! If she can do that, then I can cope with whatever mine is, for another 14 marathons, just keep on keeping on! Anyway down stairs for breakfast, porridge by far the best thing! Andy and Jamie packed and shot off back to Calais just after 9am. Thanks for your valued help, see you both back in England. The south coast is not far from the Premier Osteopathy practice in Bushy, I hope he may join me a few more times before the VLM on the 22nd? Back to the room, dad and me sad to see them leave, dad and Jamie get on so well, but I think dad is happy that he can get back to his normal sleep routine, as much as possible whenever possible! Packed, paid and loaded van by 10:30 and off to the start point of today's marathon in Mers-les-Bains. Weather dreadful but hopefully wind behind, which is good! We set the sat nav to avoid all major roads to our destination, Rue. Still persisting down with rain, video taken and set off at gone midday! There were a lot of lefts and rights due to all the small roads we were going on, so the sat nav had to be watched all the time! We went wrong within a kilometre! 2.82k done and we were going nowhere! Stopped, re programmed the sat nav to go on the D940, re set the Garmin watch to zero. I thought I had about 2k more to complete the last catch up marathon so I used the navigation hiccup to hopefully do that! Set off again up a fairly steep hill on the D940. The wind behind helped but it was still hard work, thighs ached at the top but I got in my stride and fairly easily reached 10k in 50 minutes! Our sat nav decided to take us off the D940 and through small villages. All good normally but the wind was not always behind me! I tried to re set the sat nav whilst running, not a great success! Sat nav back in the van and I dropped a glove, I quickly stopped to pick it up, something in my right upper thigh felt very strange, like an electric shock! I carried on, now in open farmland and again with the wind on my back. 14k complete and I got shot by a sniper in my right thigh! I hobbled and slowed to just above walking pace, dad was 1 mile ahead, I did not want to stop in case I could not get going again! I got to dad, the rain heavier but still a tail wind, dad asked why I had slowed, I explained, said I thought I had it under control but it was going to be a long day and do not go any further than half a mile just in case! I had to stop at 17k, I was soaked through, freezing and my thigh was pinging every other step! I got in the van, wet clothes off, towel dried and dry running kit on, banana and pain killer consumed, Voltarol applied to dried thigh and massaged and lastly a tuby grip bandage pulled up over my thigh! Strange feeling but I had no choice, I had to get on and complete the marathon! I got to 18k and my thigh was pinging at every step, I pulled the tubey grip down to my knee walked, looked at dad and thought that was that, all over! I did not know what to do so I started the slowest jog ever. I think the Voltarole started to work and the pain killer kicked in, I could sustain the jog! I prayed that it would hold out at least for today then assess the damage later. Due to the quick first 14k, I got to half way in 2'05". The weather did not improve but the tail wind remained. I battled through to 29k, had a quick stop for another voltarol spread and pushed on. I did not look anywhere other than 6ft in front of me at the Tarmac so I cannot tell you about the scenery. A dog came from nowhere and joined me for the last 10k nearly getting run over a good few times! I completed marathon 87 on day 87, in a time of 4'30"53! I had caught up another marathon before I started! Now very concerned about my thigh injury and the 13 marathons in 13 days I still have to do, so near and yet so far! The next few days will be tough and I fear very long, I will have to cope one way or another! I got in the van after a very shaky completion video, dad was freezing. All wet clothes off again, towel down and dressed. Had my orange felt a great sense of achievement for catching up and completing today's marathon in such tough circumstances! Dad had made peanut butter baguettes, spot on and I had a bit of the Easter egg from yesterday. We drove to our town of residence for tonight, Berck! Not far, we found Hotel Regina, checked in and up to our room. Very tired looking place but large room, big bathroom and very warm. Quick bath, shower broken, lovely, change and down to the dining room to get food. It was like a scene out of Faulty Towers, the food however was good, vegetable soup followed by Dorada fish, and vegetables and apple tart and ice cream to finish. My left knee cap started playing up at the table so we made a quick exit, getting a bag of ice on the way and back to the room. Now icing, dad asleep and washing to do! I am praying I will be able to run tomorrow!