Thursday 31st March : #26

Really enjoyed Half number 26. 

Weather was perfect, blue sky, sunshine, and quiet cool at 9am

Started at Meole Brace Retail Park car park and ran without a planned route, ended up in Sutton farm, Abbey Forgate, Coleham, Ditherington and turned back.

No toots to mention, but on Km 11 Sean went past me on his bike on Telford Way and waved, then on Km 14 an old man also on his bike caught up with me and commented about my challenge having read the back of my shirt, he said I was doing an “Eddie Izzard”, I replied “No, Eddie is crazy and I’m only half-crazy!” 😀

My finishing time was just over 1:41′ , I kept it steady, even stopped for a few seconds to take photos and at no point I felt tired and it went really quick 🙂

I managed to squeeze 9 runs in March, and just checked my Strava stats and my mileage in last three months was 432 miles !!!

Next one should be on Sunday, maybe Monday.
  
Sunday 3rd April: #27

This morning I completed Half Marathon #27,

956 miles to go! 

Set off at 10.30 and was still grey and cool, got sunny and warm midway through my run.

I picked a 5k loop and ran it four times plus a little more.

Started at home and ran from Hubert way up Ellesmere Rd (tough climb) right onto Mount Pleasant Rd (easy downhill) right onto Ditherington past The Flaxmill (technically the first skyscraper ever built) and right into Greenfields and past home again.

On Km 1 I saw Pete Tudor running downhill on Ellesmere Rd with daughter Beth on her bike (or was it other way round?) 😀

Then on Km 2 Simon Romei , Chester and Joanna Clarke also on their bikes.

On Km 8 got a toot from a silver car on Mount Pleasant but didn’t see who it was, and the same later on another silver car tooted on Ellesmere Rd.

On Km 12 Silvia Birchall tooted and saw her again with Lucas and Finley on Km 21 as was about to finish my run.

Enjoyed my run today and finished at a decent time of 1:36′ considering I ran up Ellesmere Rd four times!!

Next one is on Thursday with Nick Pollock , will start in the Quarry at 10.30am and Nick will pick the route, will be nice not to worry about it and to have company.
  

Thursday 7th April: #28

28th done and surprisingly finished dryer than when I started!!

Timing was perfect, within minutes of starting the rain stopped and sun came out 🙂

Met Nick Pollock in the Quarry by the kids play area. Waited a few minutes in case anyone else turned up and we set off towards the monument, crossed Greyfriars Bridge and up Coleham and into Kingsland and along the river towards the Boathouse and crossed Welsh Bridge, Smithfield Rd, a little detour in Coton Hill and back into Ellesmere Rd, Harlescott Ln, into muddy Battlefield, Tesco, Featherbed Ln and a more muddy paths in Sundorne, came out in Castlefields along river and past the Weir, up towards the Dana and back into town into Smithfield Rd, where we caught up and ran the last km with Nick’s wife Hazel Pollock pushing James in the buggy and Isaac who kindly gave me a Rice Crispy cake that he made himself and was very yummy 🙂

Really enjoyed the company today, thank you Nick, good circular route measured to perfection 🙂

Today I also discovered that I can run half marathon in a decent time and chat to someone all the way from start to finish 🙂

72 runs and 943 miles to go, next one will be on sunday.
If you have a few pennies to spare please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Rik-RoadRunner and donate to Cancer Research Uk 
You can also see my journey in pictures on Instagram: @RikRoadRunner
  

Time to say my thankyous : 

1. to all who encourage me and wish me good luck, like and share my social media posts

2. to all who sponsored me so far , almost £500 to date.

3. to Gareth from Purity Lifestyle Studio in Wellington for free massage on my calves

4. Joe Williams from UKRunChat for free entry at Shrewsbury Half Marathon 

5. Up& Running shop in Shrewsbury for big discount on new Running Shoes

6. Susan Bowes for selling her extra M.Drayton 10k entry and donating the money to Cancer Research uk

7. My Family for patience and support and for listening all day to my numbers and stats

8. My brother Alfredo at La Lanterna restaurant for putting a poster up to raise a bit more 
RRR (beep beep)

Website: http://www.rikfitness.co.uk
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Twitter: @rikfitness @RikRoadRunner

Email: riccardo@rikfitness.co.uk