Smiles...

Still smiling, though there's fourteen miles to go (taken just after the small video clip below). Over £800 so far on the JustGiving site!

Here we are, not quite yet halfway and still able to jog somewhat. It's not entirely obvious that this is a Great Big Hill that gently slopes up for four miles or so and rises about 350ft.


Of course, the field had thinned out a little at this point.

Finished!

Finished in less than six hours - 5:59:21; hurrah!

Ivan and I started right at the back along with many of the walkers, and it took us over eight minutes just to reach the start line where the timing chip was registered.

Unfortunately the chain vest seems to have interfered with the timing chip in my number (74), so there's no exact recording of my time. Fortunately Ivan was running right beside me for the duration so I can use his chip time - 5:59:21, on a clock time of 6:07:42.

Results here

Race day

...well, I say race - more of "can I get to the finish in six hours or less".

1 day to go

The best word for today is "trepidation".

JustGiving currently gives the total raised as £735, which is the silver lining on tomorrow's forecast of rain, more rain, followed by some heavy rain then just rain again.

Construction tools
I made the vest over seven or so months, starting with a lot of 2mm steel fencing wire. Coil it round an 8mm metal rod, cut into lots of rings, join rings together, close rings up.

Lots more on making mail can be found on the web, my original inspiration was a simple page here.

2 days to go

Vest all tidied up, sleeves trimmed and so forth. Final weight, 11.3 kg or 25 lb (and possibly an kilo or two if I finish a coif by Monday).

The mail tries to saw its way through my shoulders, so running needs some padding - two small sections from one end of an exercise mat. I've tried a selection of soft materials, and so far this is the best, though it makes the remaining exercise mat slightly less useful.

Something is niggling in my mind that I should be eating lots of pasta. Or maybe that's tomorrow.

It's a good day today, so picking up the race pack will be a great excuse for a gentle dander round Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon park in Belfast; recommended if you ever have the chance to pass by.

3 days to go (Fri)

I headed to the gym today for what will be the last serious strenuous activity before Monday. Also, I started (quite late) on some leather vambraces for my fore arms, just to see if it would look OK. There's no time for a long run with the vambraces so I'll have to hope they don't chafe.