Fed up with ordinaryExtra ordinary is where it's at

Well, that’s it. The run has happened and I can’t believe it’s now all over.

What started as a crazy idea back in September 2009 has finally become reality. And it’s been quite a journey… I’ve gone from not being able to run more than 2 minutes to the shops to completing 141 miles of hard, cross country terrain in 6 days.

Technically, I’ve become an ultra runner. A couple of my runs have been over 28 miles and one even reached 30 miles.

There have been injuries and set backs. I’ve experienced exhilarating highs and depressive lows. My body has been in the most pain I’ve ever known but it has been amazing – something I’ll never forget.

Rich Atkinson, Steven “Smack” McMurray and John-Paul Walker, you are all legends. It’s been an absolute privilege to go on this journey with you and I hope to do something crazy with you again.

I’m currently writing up some of my thoughts from the run itself as I tried to journal throughout the event. I’ll post that up to this blog as soon as can and add photos and videos too.

In the mean time, here’s the triumphant finish into the sea at Whitley Bay

So with only a couple of days to go, I get ill. I’ve been in rude health for the last few months so why now? It’s not fair *stamps feet*.

Anyway, I’m feeling grotty with a cold, and I can cope with that. Running with a cold isn’t great but I can deal with it. However, I’ve also got (if you’re squeamish look away now) pretty bad diarrhoea. This is more worrying as it’s not something I can run with at all really. And I have to try even harder to remain hydrated.

Lemsip for the cold and prunes and dates to “bulk up” my, you know, movements. Let’s see if that does the trick.

Well, here we are in the final days before the run. I can’t believe it’s this week I start.

To say that I’m nervous is an understatement, but not really because of the running. Well, partly because of the running… more like 50-50… let me start again.

I’m not only nervous about the running. Organising the entire thing has been / is being very difficult and it’s starting to take it’s toll. The last couple of days I’ve been having mini panic attacks when I think about something else I’ve forgotten or look at the still large to-do list. It’s been affecting my sleep and my moods. I’ve been more grumpy than usual.

I don’t mind doing the organisation, but getting the balance between being organised and being like people’s mum is hard. I think I’ve failed on various counts and in parts it feels like I’m organising a school trip. It seems nobody else knows where we’re staying, the route we’re taking or even what time we’re leaving on Wednesday.

A lot of the tasks can’t easily be split: the route dictates where we stay, accommodation availability affects the route. It’s not that I need help doing stuff, just that I feel I need to offload frequently so that the others know what I’m doing and so we feel a sense of shared responsibility. I guess that’s it. At present I feel the burden of responsibility. If the route’s wrong, it’s my fault. If the accommodation isn’t booked correctly, it’s my fault. That burden is weighing down heavily at present and I’m not sure what I can do about it.

Meetings of the group have been really hard to arrange. People are very busy. We’ve been limited to an hour, that practically becomes 40 minutes, every few weeks. I’ve struggled with that. Those who know me, will know that, although I’m quite a verbal thinker. Or perhaps you’re more likely to call me gobby! Whatever you call it, I need to talk frequently. But even in this last week, I’ve not been able to get people together for a final briefing. I’m not sure how they’ll find out what time and where we’re leaving from, but at least I’ll be there!

I’m trying very hard to remain calm at the moment but it’s not really working. There’s still so much to do and so little time. If any of you have relaxation tips, I’d love to hear them!