Marathon Day 57, Wednesday 11th May - Stirling Castle

Having studiously updated my blog through the course of the day, you can't possibly imaging how p****d off I am that I've lost everything that I've done since 6am.  Word of warning - autosave is wonderful but take it from me, there are conditions when it can screw you up. If you block delete your text in error, for instance, it is possible that autosave will save this "latest" version before you've had chance to recover the situation!

Anyway - this will not get things back to normal - lets do it again!!

. . . . . . . . . . . . Woke up several times during the night to the sounds of rain hammering on the RV roof but eventually dragged myself out of bed at 6am to a fine, if somewhat overcast and cloudy start to the day

Breakfast was scheduled for 7.30am at the YHA  and by the time we strolled down to join the rest of Team66, race preparations had already commenced with areas being coned off and a general high level of activity.

A full Scottish fry-up was on the menu and was just the start we needed for  the day and when we returned to the Castle, the car park had already started filling up and maintenance staff were working at full pace making their final preparations.

Andy in a pensive mood, pre-start

Stirling had really pushed the boat out for this one - the event was officiated by the Provost with a light gun specifically brought in to start the race as an alternative to our air horn!

Who's in the firing line?

Andy's route today starts at Stirling Castle and ends at Queen Victoria School in Dunblane via Bannockburn, Stirling University and Bridge of Allen . He  was guided along the route by two cyclists  with a fully equipped coms landrover following behind. This vehicle was  in communication with a similar one at marathon headquarters and was able to give accurate reports on Andy's progress and position at any time.  With this in place and with Sophie's planned excursions to check on him, there was no shortage of support for him - and no hiding place either!! lol.

And the Provost said "begone, young man!"

To the sound of the gun and a Highland Piper, Andy set off on what I'm sure will be a nostalgic trip for him in and around his birth city.

The Piper flanked by Team66 girls, Nikki & Sophie

There being nothing pressing to do at our current location, we travelled the short  distance to Dunblane and set up camp again! 

Queen Victoria School provides a wonderful setting for the finish of this 57th Marathon.

Reports coming in indicate that a lot of attention has been paid to Andy’s itinerary today with  people for him to meet or see or things to do at just about every 5k!

Quite by chance, Steve Cram was in the Peak Sports and Football Centre which was on Andy’s route and was pleased to meet him, pose for the obligatory photographs and provide an autographed Scottish Flag which we can hopefully auction at the Gala Ball in June.

 I don’t think that Andy had any idea of the reception that was planned  for him and as the finish got ever closer, the school supplied a procession of cadets from all 3 services and  pupils of all ages to line the last 200m of the route.  As he turned the corner and the finishing  gantry came in sight,  the Youth Pipe & Drum Band began to play and his heart must surely have been lifted by the sight and sound of the welcome that awaited him.

The Ops room at the Finish

His public await him . . . . .

As he crossed the line, a huge smile on his face, he perhaps reflected that this must rank as his most successful marathon of Challenge66 to date.

VIDEO TO FOLLOW

Tea and biscuits courtesy of the school and then pack up and on our way for the 135mile trip to Inverness.

What an absolutely fabulous drive - magnificent scenery and excellent A Roads - we arrived at Cameron Barracks and just for a change, I gave up my bed on the RV to Jim and bunked in with Andy in his room.

Take away pizzas for dinner ended a truly splendid day.

Marathon Day 56, Tuesday 10th May - Glasgow, Polok Country Park

Woke up with a dicky tummy - don't know what that's all about!!

Taxi booked for 6.45am and arrived at Barracks 7'ish as planned.  Battery flat on RV again but thanks to auxiliary start, we're soon on our way - presume things will get back to normal when we've done a few miles.

Ellie's not a brilliant passenger at the best but , stick her in this monster of a vehicle, in the front offside seat without a steering wheel in front of her and see how she twitches!!! lol.

Arrived safely at the Burrell Collection at the park and set up in main car park. Apart from the rain, everything was otherwise OK!

In the absence of any local dignitary, the Project Director requested that Mrs Birch be the official starter. Ellie seemed quite at home with her air horn and Andy and his co-runner were soon on their way.

Ellie & Andy sharing a joke!!

Off again!!

The weather alternated between, wet, very wet and dry - then suddenly the sun came out and everything looked much better.

Ellie accompanied Andy on 4 or 5 laps of the park no doubt using the opportunity to catch up on all of the gossip.

Andy did one of his sprint finishes today, catching us all by surprise with Nikki doing her best to single handedly manage the finishing tape!

Andy crosses the line in 7hrs 1min and another marathon is over

Then it was time for my lovely wife to return to her hotel in Glasgow whilst we completed our decamp and set sail for Stirling.  Roadworks, weather and traffic made it a journey to remember!

Navigated safely to Stirling Castle where the sun shone on us once again, whilst Andy, accompanied by Barry & Jim, went directly to the Army Recovery Capability Centre in Glasgow where Andy had agreed to speak to servicemen from the Army, Navy & Airforce. They arrived a little later in Stirling where an RV dinner was served!!

So another night in the RV for Barry & me whilst Andy, Jim & Nikki sampled the delights of Stirling Youth Hostel. Andy also suffered a 2 hour treatment from Sophie as well!

Marathon Day 55, Monday 9th May - NI, Londonderry

Up early to finish packing and get Benji ready for school then cases into car and off by 9.15am, en route to Glasgow via Wetherby to pick Nikki and her luggage up.  Arrived Glasgow about 4pm and after being dropped off by Nikki, another 30mins saw me eventually installed in my hotel - I lost it for a while (the hotel, that is)!!
Andy, in the meantime, had reported dreadful weather conditions in Londonderry - driving rain and extremely strong winds but he soldiered on as he does and finished in 7hrs 30mins before dashing  to Belfast to catch the 9.30pm flight to Glasgow.
My musings and Blogging were interrupted with the sudden  realisation that I had left Ellie's overnight case in the bedroom at home! Oh, God - I am dead!!!!!  I cannot describe just how I felt at that time - what could I (we) possibly do?
When asked about late night shopping facilities, the hotel receptionist told me that everything closed early on Monday night - Oh joy, it just got better!
She then advised me, however, that if we wished to go to one of the out of town shopping centres, we would find  a number of Major Fashion Retailers open until 10pm. So solution in hand - now, how should I break the news to Ellie?
Unfortunately, I didn't have long to wait 'cos Ellie arrived by taxi and I simply had to blurt it out! She immediately saw the funny side of it, however, and with the prospect of acquiring several new outfits, we  retained the services of her taxi for a trip to Braehead Shopping Centre.  Some 3 hours later and with a significantly lighter wallet, we arrived back at the hotel in time for a shower, rapid change of clothes and dinner (and a much needed drink!!).

The new outfit - well, one of them anyway!

Dinner was a delight and the company superb so replete and very tired but happy, we retired for the night.

Early start planned  in the morning to relocate the RV to Polock Country Park before the inevitable build up of  morning traffic.

Marathon Day 54, Sunday 8th May - Belfast

Todays Blog is really just for the record.

Look out Benji -someone's after your bacon sandwiches!!

A day spent packing and getting Ellie ready for her trip to Dublin and a few culinary duties for me in preparation for my return to Team66 in Glasgow tomorrow.

Ellie left for the airport mid morning and other than food shopping (plus DVD which turned out to be an absolute waste of money)  the day passed by in a blur - Benji spent the day with Solomon, his best friend and a little nod in the afternoon lost an hour or so for me!

Andy had a good run today, accompanied for half of it by Sophie.  Andy's finishing time was 6hrs 34mins.

Londonderry tomorrow and then back to bonny Scotland!!

Marathon Day 53, Saturday 7th May, 2011 - NI, Lisburn

Another beautiful day boding well for continuation of  the gardening chores - Oh, joy!!!

Breakfast with my lovely family then straight into the weeding  - and then just for a change decided to cut the front lawn with the small mower.  Oh bugger - the self propel drive isn't  working - wish people would tell you when things break so that you can get them repaired. Hey Ho - job done anyway.

Andy finished in 6hrs 48mins - a bit of a hilly run but he reports "no problems!"

An update on stats:

To date he has run 1,647 miles in a total time of 370 hours. That's an average pace of 13.5mins per mile, pretty well on target considering the injuries he's suffered!

Just 404 miles to go now and then it's all over - I wonder how he'll feel when he crosses the finishing line in York!

Sadly, a very dear old friend of ours, Grandad Charlie,  passed away on Friday and Ellie is going to the funeral which is in Dublin on Monday. So, there has been considerable rescheduling and juggling of plans which means that Ellie will be flying into Glasgow from Dublin on Monday afternoon instead of driving there with me from home.

Tomorrow night, Sunday I'll be at home with Benji and Ellie will be away! Don't like it - can't imagine how these 2 months have been for her!

So travel plans made, packing well in  progress  I prepared early dinner for Ellie and settled for a bit of facebooking / TV catch up.

Marathon Day 52, Friday 6th May - NI, Armagh

Up at the crack of dawn and re-visited laundry & ironing duties - good to have that out of the way.

Ellie on Radio Humberside this morning promoting Shivna Irish Dancers and know that she will try hard to persuade Lara King to  attend at York on 20th May - we'll just have to wait.

The garden and grounds at home are showing signs of neglect - there's only so much that can be done in the time available so Ellie and I, aided by our good friends Jeannie & Mel (Rosie & Jim) set to and attacked the weeds in the drive, the vegetable beds and started things off in the green house.  A very tiring day but very rewarding!!  Thank you so much to our good friends.

News from Andy in the morning was not good - severe back pain had kept him awake most of the night and he had an appointment  with a chiropractor at 9.45hrs - not good.
Sophie later reported that he was much better after the treatment, still sore but much relief from the pain.  This meant a delayed start, of course, but in any event Andy subsequently advised that he completed his run in 6hrs 38mins. Well Done Mate!

The day ended with the first BBQ of the year (for me), with chimniere lit, good friends, good food & not least of all, good wine! lol.

Somebody ate all the pudding! . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . and a very tired Benji ready for bed!

What a lovely day . . . . .

Marathon Day 51, Thursday 5th May - Newry NI

Sorting out day today and catch up on outstanding domestic matters and chores.

Firstly attend to punctured tyre on lawn mower and whilst out in the Yeti, I discovered the last piece of coffee cake in the tin -  I hadn't completely cleared out the vehicle when I arrived home late last night.  Well guess what - the tin was soon emptied - Yummy,  Breakfast done!

Onwards to EMC at Burstwick and Timer Display exchanged - that should please everyone!

Yeti now emptied and cleaned inside and out. It's very difficult to keep the Challenge vehicles clean while we're on the road  but the Yeti, at least for now, looks the part of a promotional vehicle!

The team laundry that I brought home with me is now done and is ALL hanging out to dry on the line - Sophie please note!! lol.

Other than that it is raining, I have heard nothing from Newry yet  but trust all is going well with Andy and the reduced Team66.  When you have been close to the action for most of the time, it's very difficult to be apart from it and "not knowing"!
I speak too soon -just got text from Sophie and apart from the wind and the rain, everything is going as expected, though security is apparently very strict.

Andy finished his marathon in 5hrs 52mins - a brilliant run!

Spoke briefly to him this evening and he sounds in good spirits - but then when did he ever sound any different!!!

Here's to a good day tomorrow, in Ireland at least - I have some gardening chores to attend to but maybe they'll be fun as well.

G'Nite!!

Oh - One more thing . . . .

Benji & Baxter - Inseparable!