Hi people - 30/07/01

Bob Hayward & Nick Baldock have now run 8 consecutive marathons out of the 34 it will take to get to John O'Groats.  This is all in aid of Podge the 13 year old boy who was so badly burnt in an attack last May.

28.9 miles! the longest we've run since we've started and this is day 8!  The run before breakfast from Highbridge to Sidcot was agony for Bob with the achilles nagging away like a Les Dawson mother in law. Yet after fluffy scrambled eggs, prepared by new driver Ian Collins, and some ibuprofen he was like a man possessed.

The Mendips rose in front us today offering some contenders for the biggest hill of the road so far, the chatch phrase AAH! came back to haunt us (Always Another Hill) sometimes today it was converted into AARH! (Always Another R%ddy Hill) and even AARGFH (Always Another R%ddy Godforsaken F&%$£&!$% Hill)

As we rose to the challenge of the Mendips the commuters built the traffic up to a crescendo, we wondered if the A38 was going to be noisier than the A30 itself...What did come back to mind was Bob's Uncle George who differentiated between the "clean dirt of the country and the dirty dirt of the Cities."  As we journeyed towards the bustling centre of Bristol the air quality dropped dramatically as dust and grit rose in the wake of the heavy volume of traffic.  Thanks to a brief encounter with Justin (a solicitor - jogging during his lunch break) we found our way through the main centre and back out on the A38 towards Filton.

An emergency visit from Julie Nichols (Natural Therapy in Swindon) our aching limbs are feeling almost as good as new - (I would say as good as Ian's, our new driver but he only runs 800 metres if severely pushed by marauding aliens)