The Challenge...32 Marathons, 32 Counties, 32 Days
Gerry and Ken's Blog...

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Marathon 18 - Roscommon

It was an earlier start for us this morning as we had to travel about half an hour to the course. Before leaving the hotel though, Gerry and I take a call from the Newstalk Breakfast Show to give Ivan and Clare an update. The only problem though was that we had almost no reception on our mobiles where we were staying. I was thinking of walking around the hotel to pick up a signal but about 5 minutes before we were due to go on air the heavens opened and it started to lash so I phoned the station form the landline at reception. I hadn't seen Gerry all morning, and I couldn't get in touch with him, so I thought I'd have to do the interview on my own. When we went live Ivan said hello to both of us - I was just about to correct him when I heard Gerry's voice on the other line...Gerry told us that he was standing under a tree outside in the spills of rain as it was the only place he could pick up any signal on his phone - it took all my strength not to laugh when I looked out the window and saw the poor fella getting soaked!!

Our route for today was around the fantastic grounds of Lough Key Forest Park. Gerry and I both love running on woodland trails and they don't come much better than the trails around the lake and parkland here. Not only were we distracted by the superb scenery around the lake and the great company of fellow runners but on top of all that the route today was flat - a welcome sight for my legs!

We were delighted be joined by so many familiar faces from home: Bridgie, Breda, Michelle, Nuala, Wendy, Eimear, Martina, Liam, Mick and Enda - their support really gave us a boost! Special mention to Terry Greene who ran a full marathon with us today - her first one in fifteen years!

Huge thanks to two other great people; Louise Scullion, the manager of the Park and Finbarr Feeley who was up at 5am marking out the route for us. Not only that but he joined me for the last 13 miles - a great guy.

Gerry ran a 4:11 today - his fastest time to date. He puts this down to a combination of the terrain on the day and that he has been fortunate enough to remain injury free.

I ran a 4:44 today - 6 minutes faster than yesterday so heading in the right direction. Like Gerry I can finally feel that my legs are beginning to become accustomed to the daily task of running 26.2 miles. I still feel that my ankles could be stronger but compared to the last 10 days or so I'm feeling great. I have noticed that I'm beginning to run on my toes more, rather than my normal heel strike, but this is to take a bit of weight off my ankles.

We finished off the day with a dip in the lake to cool down followed by a great feast put together by our friend Andy Smith. All in all a good day!

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