With a cooler forecast (‘sunshine and showers’) we slept-in until 6am, loaded up the car, had a cup of tea and headed off for the run. It turned out to be a blue-sky day with 30 degree temperatures but happily we had completed the run by 12.30… We are now in the ‘North Italian Plain’ and today we followed an arrow-straight Roman road through a busy industrial landscape. I’m grateful for the flat terrain right now though, despite some pretty serious aches and pains in my legs I feel as though I am perhaps beginning to find my stride again. 4 and a-half-hours after starting today, we had completed the 26.2 miles. Traversing the centre of Parma after 21 miles I began to feel groggy (probably due to my glycogen levels depleting) and I struggled to work out the road signs through the one-way systems and the chaos of mopeds and lorries. Just then, Hannah came zooming past in the Ka shouting, ‘The Sat Nav says go left here’ and waving a delicious croissant out of the window! Talk about perfect timing! I hungrily ate the croissant and Hannah guided us expertly to the finish. What would I do without her?! The campsite in our guide book appears to no longer exist so we have sought out a budget hotel. After a kip we hope to see some of the sights in food-lovers-paradise Parma.
I added a short radio interview from BBC Radio Sussex about the 'run home from Rome' challenge. Please click on the 'Press' above tab to listen to it and hear how I fared in the radio quiz (woefully!)...
Bonjourno! Hannah here. Whilst John is having a well earned siesta, I thought I would write today’s blog. The alarm, once again, disturbed my beauty sleep at 5am! We packed the car, again (!), and left Bologne heading towards the start point for marathon 12. Whilst John prepared himself for today’s marathon, I performed my normal routine of checking the map and setting the SatNav. John set off, blisters not too bad, leg not brilliant, but was able to stride out the start of today’s 26.2 miles reasonably comfortably. I set off along the road, and compared to all of the journeys so far, this one was remarkably boring, particularly after roaring and gliding down the Apennines only a day or so before. Okay, so maybe the Ka doesn’t roar or glide, but it has served us well so far (once the brake pads were fixed!). We approached Modena, and trusting the SatNav, I navigated John through the town . I soon realised the SatNav was taking us around the town on a duel carriageway – however it was leafy and not busy, so I carried on not worrying John with the details of the error... This duel carriageway, rather annoyingly, turned into a motorway! Not a problem for me in the trusty Ka, however, it posed a little problem for John. Stubborn as he is though, he carried on and ran the 1.2 miles next to fast-moving traffic ignoring the horn-blowing outrage from the drivers on the motorway! He safely left the motorway and found me, back on a sensible (yet boring!) road again. Quick pit stop, and I learn John isn’t feeling too great. Leg is sore and causing him not only physical, but also psychological grief... Yesterday’s rest hadn’t performed its miracle recovery as ordered. He carried on, determined to not let it get the better of him, however this doesn’t make the running enjoyable! We left Modena and the motorway behind us and headed for the city of Reggio Emilia, the end point for today. Approaching a junction just outside the town, I pulled over to check the map. SatNav says turn right, map says motorway to right. I decided not to trust the SatNav this time after the earlier error! I ignored its instructions and carried on straight as the map suggested. Can you guess!? Yes, another motorway! John, with his painful left quads, and now his right deteriorating also, did not need another motorway to battle with! He ran on and I drove a mile or so, and left at the next possible junction, re-checking the map and SatNav. I managed to redirect us onto a sensible road, and get us back on track, however this did mean we had slight detour and meant today’s finish was not quite as far a long the road as we initially planned. With the finish near, I parked the car and waved John in as he completed his 12th Marathon! Well done John! He is not, however, quite as elated as one might assume. With his injuries persisting, and the left quad now also damaged the completion of the challenge still remains uncertain. We are now resting up in a fabulous hostel in Reggio Emilia, one like you have never seen before. A converted convent, with its towering ceilings, magnificent décor, and utterly beautiful grounds. Stunning. Ciao for now. H We have embedded a few short YouTube video clips into the blog. If you would like to see the videos all together on YouTube, please click the YouTube logo below:
After much deliberation, we decided to rest up today and give my muscles and blisters time to heal a little. Plan ‘A’ was to run a marathon every day from Rome to London and I have been persisting pretty stubbornly to achieve this since leaving Rome, despite running 5-and-a-half marathons through an injury. Looking more closely at the route ahead (through Italy, Switzerland and France) it is clear though that we can still make it to London in the 50 days we have (before term starts again in September!) with a few rest days when needed. My quadriceps muscle is okay at the start of each marathon but it is showing varying degrees of damage by the end – a rest day will hopefully give it time to repair more fully. I also have an ever- growing blister caused by walking (or limping!) and, having cut away some of the blistered skin, I’m l hopeful that this will begin to ease with a rest day. I have asked Hannah so, so much to get up at the crack of dawn each day (so I can avoid running in the searing afternoon heat!) and support me whilst out on the road. Hannah does this without complaint and with such amazing dedication and compassion, she is amazing! Although we have more friends and family joining us in Switzerland and France, it seems unfair to ask Hannah to do this every day of her holiday and she absolutely deserves some rest and recovery time of her own! So, it’s a sleep-in, a leisurely afternoon and perhaps a nice meal in Italy’s culinary capital Bologne later this evening. We will get back in the swing tomorrow and we’ll see how beneficial a day of rest proves to be.
We ventured into Bologne last night and (daftly) got a little carried away putting our videos on YouTube (we'll add them here later!). As a result I didn't quite get as much sleep or take on as many calories as I might have and I consequently feared the worse for today's marathon. We ran north into Bologne, used the Sat Nav to navigate the 'busses only' challenge for a time and then turned north-west (towards Milan!) and followed a straight, flat road to the outskirts of Modena. The road was not as scenic as the mountainous regions we have passed through; in fact it was mostly factories, a high-speed train line and the odd field of maize! I ran all 26.2 miles today which was a great relief. I was expecting the sore leg to play up after 10 or 15 miles again which leaves me grinding out the remainder of the marathon with gritted teeth in the heat of the day. Today, however, the flat relief was most welcome and we completed the distance, with refuelling and loo-stops in 5 hours. With 2 miles to go and with every mile feeling like it was taking an eternity, the heavens opened and a cooling thunder storm ensued! This somehow got my adrenaline pumping and I was at the finish line, soaked through but smiling, in no time. Hannah, who has been just the most amazing support through all this, was sheltering from the downpour with a change of clothes in hand for me. I really cannot begin to thank her enough! We managed to add a short YouTube video clip from the Coliseum in the blog 'Journey to Rome' posted on 14th July. We have more little clips and will add them her when internet access and energy permit... Some of the city sights and scenery have been amazing!
I had high hopes that the leg would be a little better today after managing to run 95 percent of yesterday’s marathon (the uphill parts!). I felt good until the 15 mile mark with cool mountain air and great views. Then the dreaded shooting pain in the quadriceps began in earnest again, reducing me to a hobble. It seems that the downhill sections are the problem for the injury and we came from a mountain pass at 968 meters today to the city of Bologna which is a little above sea-level. I felt better in the flat sections but these were few and far between today – most of the route was winding downhill quite steeply. On a positive note, we have completed 10 days and 262 miles since we set out from Rome. The terrain ahead appears on the map to be flatter and we will see how things go now the Apennines are behind us. Thanks for all the messages and sponsorship donations, they really are keeping us going! A preliminary glance at our map was enough to see that today’s 26.2 miles was going to be a challenge for the route took us into the heart of the Apennine mountains… Climbing steadily from 6.30 am we left the foothills north of Florence and it’s impressive ‘Duomo’ (Dome!) behind us and headed north towards Bologne (‘Bologna’). The serious climbing began within an hour after crossing the impressive ‘Lago di Bilancino’ and although my strained quadriceps muscle is still too sore to run downhill, it seemed to cope well enough with the uphills. There was certainly plenty of climbing today! We climbed the ‘Passo de Futa’, reaching the 903 meter summit after 2 and a half hours of lung-busting running and endless hair-pin bends. A brisk breeze and plenty of cloud cover kept me cool and Hannah made sure I drank 6 litres of water during the morning. My troublesome leg did not take well to the steep, 30-minute downhill at the end of the day’s marathon and I had very little left to give when we finished. I will continue the ice and ibuprofen routine and hope that the injury continues to make progress. We are treating ourselves to a night in farmstead accommodation and a meal out this evening. We plan to sleep-in (until 6 am!) tomorrow as despite occasional siestas the 5 am alarm call is tough (or ‘deathly’ according to Hannah!!). Today the marathon once again came with trials and tribulations. After a night of thunder, lightening and rain in Florence, we set off from our campsite keen to test out the quadriceps muscle. If it felt stronger after all the rest, ice and ibuprofen, I could run steadily from 6.30 am and complete the run by lunchtime when the temperatures climb into the 90s. If it felt like it was tearing and becoming more damaged I would have to hobble and limp along long into the afternoon heat or concede defeat and stop the challenge today. Initial signs were promising, I applied some heat rub and walked the first mile. Walking all steep downhill sections on the road into Florence (Firenze), I managed to gingerly run 16 miles. Once in the city itself, however, I felt I was doing more harm than good to my injury and reluctantly began to walk. Only 10 miles to go! We became snarled up in the late-morning city traffic and using the temperamental Sat Nav to guide us, struggled to get out of the city centre. Following Hannah in the car I ran (okay, hobbled) 3 laps of the city’s inner ring road (a blend of 4-lane congested underpasses and rather nice statues and fountains!). Eventually (!) we left the swerving busses and mad scooters of the city and ascended to the village of Montersoli which had lovely views back over the city. This evening if my blisters permit (I picked up my third one today on the inside of my heel, possibly caused by all this walking business and very painful!) we hope to have dinner in Florence. |