Day 11 - back to reality

So, for ten days I was an 'athlete'. It was brilliant. The group of runners were amazing people to be around. We were looked after incredibly well by all involved. The Body Rehab team are gods. They really went above and beyond to make sure we could all get out on the course each day to run that tough hilly loop around the lake, over and over again. The food was excellent and plentiful - I'm not sure I've ever eaten so much good nosh.

I found day 10 very hard. I could hardly wait for the celebrations, but I was knackered and really not quite in the mood for running another marathon. I'd put everything into the previous nine days, not saving anything for the victory lap, so I felt I was running on empty. My left adductor (the one that had been needled several times by the physios) was pretty painful. But I just spent the time thinking about what we'd all achieved and how great it had been and the final 4 hours 6 minutes passed relatively quickly.

It was great to have Jim there at the finish, along with my mum and dad and lots of other runners I know, including loads of Fetchies and several from the 100 club. Plus of course the five 10 in 10 runners who finished ahead of me and the Body Rehab team. I loved cheering in the remaining five, seeing them finish their challenge in style.

The World Record seems unreal. I don't think of myself as a regular sub-4 marathon runner, so to get a final time of 39 hours, 7 minutes and 49 seconds, seems strange and pleasantly surprising. Apparently only 11 different runners have ever gone sub 40 for the 10 in 10. It's nice to be part of that group.And it was only yesterday that it all finished. It seems longer ago already, as I've been back to the usual work routine today. I went for a short jog before breakfast, then a usual day teaching Maths at college. I've had loads of laundry to do and then we cooked dinner. Life is very much back to normal.

Huge thanks to everyone who's sponsored me and sent lots of wonderful supportive messages and comments. It really helped to get round those last few runs as it started getting tough. I have so many fantastic memories and warm fuzzies inside just thinking about it all!

I guess it's time I need to start getting my head around my next long run, which is now less than a fortnight away...