Done it!!!
Then reality kicked back in and for some reason, even though I’d stormed something like an 8min mile into town, my legs now refused to function, but I did manage a whole paper cup of champagne and five delicious chips before being supported to the car. I think I must have given it my all because after a hot shower I felt really really sick and lay on the floor in a towel groaning like an idiot while my sister tried to dry my hair and stop me getting cold. Mum came in and made me sit up, at which point Wil’s formerly delicious potato and corned-beef mash made another appearance and I puked for a couple of minutes in the bath. Thanks body! I was pretty much falling asleep at this point, getting too hot, then shivering with cold, the chafing was burning every time I moved and my hip sockets felt like someone was sticking a hot poker in them. They made me drink electrolyte drink and a cup of tea before putting me to bed, where I zonked out at about 10:30pm. Sadly this meant I missed my own post-BG celebratory party!!!! When do I ever miss a party???? This was very sad, but I was asleep so I didn’t mind at the time, and all my supporters got a good giggle over the photos and videos and ate delicious baked potatoes.

The next morning I came down to an amazing BG map cake that Mum had made! And the most delicious cooked breakfast in the world. If someone could put these both in an energy bar I would buy them immediately. Real food. At last. And 19 text messages and a similar number on facebook all saying congrats! I had a huge following due to the tracker, my phone was binging all the time with go for it messages, colleagues were sharing the link, family friends were emailing support, and someone said there’s a nice thread on the FRA Forum since Daz’s support crew adopted me. It was absolutely brilliant that so many people were egging me on and congratulating me on the hardest and maddest athletic thing I have ever done in my life.

The next day I was surprisingly okay and managed not only to get down the stairs but also to walk the couple of miles to the Keswick Mountain Festival to see Kim and Charlie Sharpe finish 3rd and 4th in Ian and Emily’s Scafell Trail Marathon, and well done to Ricky Lightfoot too who came first but did it so fiendishly quick I didn’t see him. Mum bought me a lovely massage with Paul Quine from Atlas Physiotherapy at their demo tent, and now I am left with, in order of painfulness: a very chafed upper thigh area; sore, slow-moving quads; 2 heel blisters; moderately painful calves; aching biceps from the pole action; 3 between the toe blisters; a stitch on the right when I walk and strangely swollen hands. Not lost any toe nails yet, and the lack of sleep didn’t feel too bad. The main thing I’d advise take snacks that slide down easy – banana, porridge, mashed potato and corned beef, grapes, isogels, shot bloks, anything slippery! And just keep going, even if you’re not on time.

Andy Brook-Dobson did his BG in even worse weather conditions the week before in 26hours 42mins, and both of us think we could have achieved it in the golden 24hour time frame if the weather had been perfect. But I’m also somehow even more proud of completing in 26 hours 36mins in ‘orrible clag and rain because that also means I am officially nails. Or mad. Probably both. 40:60. Either way, I did it. I’ll enjoy telling stories starting, “When I did my Bob Graham...” and I’m not going to run next week. And I’m going to eat whatever the hell I like.

So it’s thanks to my more than brilliant support team who I could never have done a crazy-arsed thing like this without, and to you, thanks for reading. If you want any advice from me, I’m very happy to share my new found experience with you to help you on your way. Keep going. Whatever your challenge is, you can do it.

-Ends-