What a difference a day makes
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain
(with thanks to Louise Cuming)
TWENTY four hours ago I did not think that I would be able to complete the Brathay 10 in 10. Today, Saturday, a beautiful Saturday in the glorious Lake District, I jettisoned a few of my demons. Two marathons down, eight to go.
Although I didn’t exactly run like a gazelle (more like an old elephant) I felt stronger today than I did 24 hours earlier. And the result was a time just a minute or so slower than the day before. I now feel I have it within my soul – my core – to carry on and complete the Brathay 10 in 10 – 52 miles down, just 210 to go!
The last twenty four hours have been amazing. After a three month impasse my mother phoned me to tell me I was mad to do such a challenge (I knew that already but thank you mother dear). She made my day by sponsoring me on justgiving.com/jeff-prestridge although there was no accompanying note of support.
I have also been amused and humbled by some of my running colleagues. Adrian Shandley, my room partner for the duration of the 10 in 10, is a leading financial adviser but amazingly he’s amazingly hugely entertaining.
Adrian (little cock to his friends) has a second career in the offing in the form of card tricks (he would give the late Tommy Cooper a run for his money) and he has taken to calling me Cuddles. It is also a fact that he has seen more of me than any other man on earth as a result of me swinging by his head in the middle of the night to go and read downstairs. His face (in his bunk) and my groin are on the same level. As he said to me this morning: ‘I thought it was a python slivering out of the room!’
Then there is Nick, a modest man of steel who thinks nothing of running up and down a few dozen Lakeland fells at a weekend. Like me, Nick is a grumpy sod who initially is a man of few words. But break through the protective skin and you find a man with a great wit and humility. And he is running 262 miles with a hole in his heart. He’s an understated legend.
Highlights of the day?
Smelling wild garlic from start to finish (I can’t cook anything without garlic).
Going 10 minutes with the legendary Jim Meta in the ice bath. He was wearing natty tartan pants today – so natty that some Brathay children went into simultaneous trauma when he went past them on his way to the ice bath. He’s a nutter, a fantastic human being who believes that life is for living.
Being given a red wine gum by Alyson Knowles at 23 miles and being told it was the closest thing she could find to champagne (Alyson thinks I am a champagne Charlie!)
And being revived by the wonderful BodyRehab team. They are miracle workers.
Thanks for all your support, good ladies and gentlemen. I want to do all I can to raise money for this super charity. If you feel in the mood, visit justgiving.com/jeff-prestridge.
And for further details on the wonderful Brathay, visit www.brathay.org.uk
Eh, what a difference a day makes!
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