41-50

Race 41 - 26.2 Miles 05:06:13

An very scenic race in the hills around Huddersfield. Two laps with a great 5K downhill finish at the end of each lap.

Had to reign myself in at the end of the first lap not to go bonkers and waste all my energy. Great to see my running mate Steve there too - he was onle a few minutes ahead at the end, but a long way in front in the 100 marathon challenge.

Race 42 - 26.2 Miles 05:33:23

Eee by gum ecky thump. Straight after the hills of Huddersfield to the mountains of Ilkley Moor. Another two lapper (seems to be a theme here) with a long uphill drag followed by a traipse up and across the moor then a long downhill to the finish..

It was a toughie, hence the slower time, but the scenery made up for it :-).

Race 43 - 26.2 Miles 04:20:58

This was a 4 out and back lap race along the Solar Cycle path in York. There were scale models of the planets of the solar system spread out along the route, with the sun, mercury, venus. earth and mars fairly close together, before bigger gaps to Saturn and Jupiter. We never made it all the way to Pluto before having to turn and head back to the finish for the end of each lap.

I had a bit of a speed up on the last lap, so was pleased to get under 5 hours after the last few hilly races, and even happier to get nearer to a sub 4:20.

Race 44 - 44.94 Miles 12:00:00

This was my 3rd time at the event, and I wanted to try and get 44 miles done for marathon #44. As always when I'm at this event the heavens opened just after midnight, so the last 2 or 3 laps were very muddy and soggy (it would be nice to do this event when it's lovely and dry and not a drop of mud around!).

I got the 14 laps done, which took me over the 44, and then knocked it on the head as I was a big soggy mess by that stage. Still had a few hours left, so I reckon I could get towards 55 - 60 miles on a nice day (night).

Race 45 - 26.2 Miles 04:55:00

Back near York again running for a multilap run around the Racecourse at Knaresmire. This is where Durk Turpin met his end, hence the name of the event. I wasn't 100% for this event so the last couple of laps were a real struggle, and had a week or so rest from running afterwards to recover in time for event 46.

Race 44 - 26.2 Miles 04:49:25

My 2nd time at Rutland Water, albeit nearly 9 years after the previous marathon there. This was a different route that involved a 5 mile out and back, and then through the start/finish area and another 8 mile out and back to make up the 26 miles.

Bumped into Alice, who was attempting to run a marathon in each of the English counties, Rutland being the smallest county. We have a great natter for about 20 miles which keeps your mind of the pain in the arms and legs.

Race 47 - 26.2 Miles 04:29:54

Muddy confusion at the start of this event. It was 5K laps around the lake, but nobody seemed to know where the start was. I ended up following a group of runners only to find out after 5 minutes they were all doing the half (which started at the far side of the lake) so had a mad run back to make the proper marathon start - just headed to where another group of runners were milling around.

It was quite muddy and half way through the heavens opened up. The Tiger hat fell off ito the mud a couple of times so I rested him for the last few laps. Also lost my mp3 player at the finish somehow. It's another marathon and another medal though, and we can't have all the races in glorious sunshine.

Race 48 - 26.2 Miles 04:59:36

Another Grim event. This time in Elsecar in lovely South Yorkshire. A 4 lap course, 5 miles out and back following the river, before passing through the start then around a lovely county park for a mile and a bit. I dropped a juggling ball after about 2 miles, which agonisingly rolled into the river then disappeared downstream. Luckily I had some spare bean bags so it wasn't too disastrous, and it gives me an excuse to buy some more balls.

Met Chris the Rhino and had a long chat whilst running along, to the bemusement of the some of the watching locals, but needed to blast off for the last couple of miles to sneak in under 5 hours.

Race 49 - 26.2 Miles 05:29:33

Another Grim event - this was a multilap event around Langsett reservoir in the Peak District, and my first race of 2020. It was raining at the start, which is never the start a runner wants, you don't mind getting soggy once you've started running, but don't like getting soaked before it's begun.

It was lovely scenery, hilly, but extremely muddy in places (see photo) so I was just glad to get around in a very leisurely 5 1/2 hours.

Race 50 - 27 Miles 04:27:53

Another visit to the water centre and running around and around. I was keen to get to #50 after missing 2 races at the end of the previous year, and it is fairly local and not too taxing (just mentally really).

Now I can start counting down to the big 100.