Bermuda - The Results Are In...

Right... the day broke down as follows:

2:00 am - Laying awake wondering 'Can I do this?' Worrying about my knee, about the fact that I haven't been able to train properly for the last 8 weeks, worried about the forecasted 29 degree heat and the weight of my pack.

4:12 am - Woke up to a rather large cockroach running across my chest. Managed to trap him in my armpit. Not sure if I or the cockroach got the worse part of the deal.

5:37 - Up and covering myself in sunblock from head to toe

6:00 - Final gear check, wolfed down some food. Bandaged up certain 'critical areas' and filled my socks with a dusting of corn starch.

6:30 - Took the dog for a walk as the sun was coming up.

7:00 - Out on the road. Knee is feeling ok. Backpack is heavy but is sitting well.

Ran through Hamilton Parish. Feeling good in the 24 degree morning sun. Very pretty trail. Carried on through the flats, stopped in to get some extra water. So far so good...

Approaching the city of Hamilton (which is not in Hamilton Parish, go figure...) and have to deviate from the trail running South through traffic. Thank goodness it's Sunday and there are fewer cars on the road! Rock walls on either side with no sidewalk or shoulder to run on. Cars wizzing by a foot from my face. I try to stay focused on other things and not think about what a bug must feel like when it hits a wind screen.

10:00 - I'm down on the South road now and back on the trail. It's beautiful. Hanging flowers and vines everywhere. Cutting through old railway tunnels. The occassional glimpse of the water. Speaking of which I'm feeling great at this point but it's been almost 3 hours and despite drinking a surprising amount of fluids I haven't had to pee. When I finally manage to find a moment's privacy what little I am able to produce looks more like windshield wiper fluid than anything that a healthy body should be producing. For those of you who run you know that this is not good. I focus on taking in even more water.

If there is one thing that Bermuda is, it's GREEN. Brilliant shades of green, a riotous sea of green, green foliage of all different sizes shapes and patterns.

I can now see the dockyards off in the distance. They are located on the NorthWest tip of the island and are where I will be catching my ferry to get to the final leg of my journey. Unfortunately, as Bermuda is shaped like a fish hook with the dockyards beign the tip, as you round the bottom of the island the dockyards never seem to get any closer despite mile after mile of effort.

11:00 - The Sun is now out in force and the heat is starting to take it's toll. I'm having to slow down with a lot more walking breaks interspersed with my running.

12:00 - Still seemingly no closer to the dockyards hovering out there across the water. I crossed through Somerset a while back, very pretty villiage but man o man I'm feeling tired.

12:30- Right about this time I hit the wall. I'm feeling so dead that I lie down and have a break... in a cemetary. The irony escapes me until a good hour later into the day.

1:30 - Despite a feeble attempt to keep running I've been walking for the last bit with a few pathetic attempts at shuffling my feet thrown in for good measure. But the good news is that I'm at the Dockyards in 15 minutes. The bad news is that I find a vending machine that has ice cold coca cola - why is this bad? I'm so enthralled with the feeling of this cold can on my skin that I think I made a few people sitting near me feel a tad uncomfortable. Is it possible to be pornographic with an ice cold can of soda? Apparently it is...

2:00 - My ferry to Saint George Parish never materializes. There is a 2:30 ferry back to Hamilton so I check my map and see that my final destination is equidistant between Hamilton and Saint George. I put on my 5th application of sunscreen and get some much needed rest until we get into Hamilton.

2:30 - I'm off and running (yes, running) and in great spirits. Just 9km to go. Right? Unfortunately I get 2 sets of directions that are very very wrong, and the two maps that I brought with me both have conflicting information on them. For not the first time already today I wind up taking a scenic detour - this one just happens to be a few miles longer than the other ones. Ugh...

3:00 - I figure out where I am and manage to adjust my route. Things aren't looking so bad. I've got about 7kms to go and I'm in a great mood as Advils number 5 and 6 have started to kick in. I'm feeling so good that I almost get creamed by a bus speeding around a blind corner. With the typical rock walls on both sides of the road and no shoulder, the bus misses my head with less than 3 inches to spare. I swear the bus drivers in Bermuda must be exempt from any type of vehicular related manslaughter charges...

3:50 - I'm back in the flats, doing my walk/ run with a lot more walking and a lot less running. but I'm only a few miles away from completing my journey! With this in mind I start running again.

5:15 - Home. Covered in sweat and a thick patina of sunblock ( I lost count after application #6).

Not the fastest run that I've ever done but definately the farthest, and the hottest, and with a pretty good sized pack. Although I'm going to need to keep improving my conditioning over the next 6 months, today tells me that I'm definately on the right track and that with proper preparation I should be able to make a respectable showing for myself in the 2009 Marathon Des Sables. When I get home next week I'll be sure to load up the photos from my run (and I'll tell you about the hitck hiker that I almost picked up...). but for now I'm off to the tub to soak off all the layers of salt and sunblock and then I think I'll sleep for the next 12 hours or so.

All the best...

Ian

'Whether you think you can or you can't, you are probably right.'

Henry Ford