Probably writing this to a very limited audience ! i.e. 1 ( me) but guess it’s cathartic. (First and last long word used !) My last post on here was so long ago even I found it interesting (mildly) to read it to remember what I’d said ! It was January 2023, and in it I talked about running the London Marathon last year and the incredible experience it was and the reasons why I ran it. The last 8 months have flown by and have provided all kinds of experiences. As you know (well of course you know – it’s only me reading it !) So in January I said I’d try to run every month in official Runs/Races, and sometimes 2 or 3 times a month. My first one was 10 km at Tatton Park in very wet conditions. At the end as I was walking back to the car, very wet and looking similar to someone who had a shower but forgotten to take their clothes off !, 
I said to a lady also walking back;
“Why do we do this?”She replied, “Because it’s a bug !”, as she got into her car, with registration: RUN 1. She has a point !
The next 8 months saw me run as I had planned and up to date have completed 11 official runs. With Great North coming up in 2 weeks. Each run with their own story to tell.
For the two of you i.e. me and my friend on the Isle of Wight ! (family joke -” I only have one friend and he lives on the Isle of Wight ” !) who have read my previous blog , my bruised face and sore ribs was me falling over a very small stone on a training run !!! Is it old age, too tired, too many stones or just clumsiness I know which one I think ! 
This meant that I completed some of the runs with a very strange support around my ribs which gave me an inclining of what women used to go through with a girdle!
Running in London in February being cheered on by polar bears around Trafalgar Square; was a great experience. Running it with friends and family followed by a lovely lunch was a great ending to the run.
In Chester running past my house where I grew up and all my old haunts was something special;
Lea Valley running 13 times around a route where after 9 laps I lost count ! so I ran somewhere between 20 km and 24 km !Who knows ??? But great to finish the last lap with the ‘little man’!
Great encouragement from friends and family who were running Chorley 10Km;
Loved Manchester half marathon, amazing atmosphere, sharing jelly babies with other runners:- sounds a bit weird I know but it was offered so who was I to refuse and I managed to get under 2: 30 for the first time; so jelly babies hence forth to the fore.
Richmond and Rickling – was great running it with family and friends, again amazing support.
Abersoch where the winds and rains came and the last 1 km of the 21 km was on the beach! As we turned the bend to arrive on the beach, I turned to the guy who I was running alongside and we both said; ” ******* **** ” or was it “Oh dear” can’t quite remember,. Advice apparently was to run as close to the sea as possible where the hard sand was. However, along the beach were approximately 13 groynes (look it up !) which were highest by the sea and lowest on the soft sand. A challenge but can’t deny it was great experience.
And then a week ago ran the 
Lights at Blackpool –
probably shouldn’t have due to no runs for over a fortnight; a minor op involving 22 stitches and a chest cough that made it tough to breathe ! But couldnt say no could I – I mean it was in the plan !!! Medal haul was growing so was bought a medal hanger -to make the place look tidy!
Of course have to remember why Im doing all this ……
in memory of our amazing daughter – Laura
She really is with me on every run I do; her encouragement, her words, her presence. It may sound very weird but running just makes the memory of Laura even stronger.
“It’s ok to feel low, unsure or emotional. We are allowed to be vunerable as long as we don’t stay there and we keep pushing forward “
Laura Stephenson
So pushing forward is what I try to do
Just in case you’ve dropped off to sleep ( and who can blame you!) I’m raising funds for The Christie hospital leading up to the London Marathon 2024
The medal is part of the Christie Challenge, which is made up of 6 jigsaw pieces of a medal for 6 separate events I know that many many of you have given already, but sadly Cancer and especially Bowel Cancer is still very much with us and every penny counts to try and find treatments for it .
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mikebarnes4
Every penny counts.
This takes me to the Magic Piano ………….
Now at this point I may well lose my younger readers ! When Junior choice was on the radio on a Saturday, one of my favourite songs along with Puff the Magic Dragon ( but we wont go into that !) was Sparky’s Magic Piano ! See I told you I’d lose you – but bear with ……
Sparky was a young boy who had a magic piano that played itself and everyone thought that it was Sparky that was playing, and he became famous for playing the piano; However, when he got over confident and said he didn’t need the magic piano anymore then the piano refused to play for him !!! What’s this got to do with ‘the price of bread?” I hear you say. Well I think the more confident I got with running the more I thought I can do this easily. Move to now and I think my body has said ok go on then “Run without me helping”! Hence I now haven’t run for 2 or 3 weeks really ( except for Blackpool and a park run) and I now have to rest with a cough and stitches taken out yesterday but the medics said “No running/sweating for a few days.” At this point I could go off at a complete tangent but I wont ! Maybe I’m making a mountain out of a molehill but no running for a number of days is: to get down with the kids “Doing me head in!” Is my body like Sparky’s Magic Piano? Is this a simile or an analogy – I’ll have to ask a teacher !
I never heard the end of Sparky’s story but I’m hoping it turned out to be a positive one as I have the Great North Run in just 2 weeks time !!!!!
And as for the Mountain that episode I promise will be coming along very soon and a weekend that has left me with a memory of inspiration and an amazing group of people …………..
in what was probably one of the most exhilarating 5 hrs and 50 minutes of my life. The strangest feelings take over your legs; although they are tired and physically you are quite shattered, your legs just seem to want to keep running – slowly I must admit, but they just want to keep moving. There must actually be a ‘stopping distance’ for runners dependent upon the distance they have covered. You can’t just stop dead. But let’s not start at the finish, ‘cos that would be just too weird and a very short blog ! – lets go to the beginning.
that you can just stand back and admire. She has 3 totally awesome daughters who are totally growing up in her image. When the going gets tough, or I don’t want to run, or I want to walk, or I want to stop ; she is there saying “You can do this!” I run to celebrate your life and amazing courage.
) that my friend said,
They were four or five deep standing on the platform, all with their drop-off bag and most of them looking as nervous as I was. We packed onto the train. It was like rush hour on a bad day – but with one big difference – everyone was talking with each other, polite, and not worrying if you were standing on somebody’s foot. Crammed in, literally standing face to face, stories flowed about why we were all running, and it was sort of then that I realised why I was attempting to run 26.2 miles. I met some amazing people just within the 2 or 3 stops to Blackheath Common. Meeting people like Rachel – who gave a donation to my Justgiving page –
This time I just stood there and looked around; chatted with a group of first time runners. The sense of camaraderie was amazing. Again a donation appears on my Justgiving page from Gillian and Kath,
Who knew over three quarters of a million people would turn out to watch just me run !!!! but that is honestly what it feels like. And then of course you do have family and friends who also turn out to watch you – I do have to thank them all for their amazing support, generosity and just for being fantastic people who without them I definitely wouldn’t have been able to successfully complete the run. Their support was just amazing ! Even friends who you didn’t know were going to be there and suddenly you hear your name shouted and you look;
Back at the hotel i met my family, friends and fellow runners who had now become close friends; absolutely the icing on the cake.
