Sorry for the delay in updating the site after the run.
Despite my total lack of fitness and a worrying final run on the tuesday before where I scarcely had the energy to complete 4 miles, Hugh arrived at 5am on the thursday morning and we arrived in portsmouth, having stopped for a few coffees on the way, at about 8am. I was glad to get out of the car as Hugh steadily and unashamedly polluted it for 3 hours blaming it on Pud's lasagne.
Once in Portsmouth we were ferried down to Tarrant Rushton by coach which took about 2 hours. The coach was not a particularly jolly place, in part due to the nerves of the runners and also the fact they had been hydrating furiously and hadn't anticipated the coach driver wouldn;t stop until arriving at the airfield. The brass band playing with all pomp and merriment on our arrival was somewhat startled to see the whole coach sprint into a nearby copse, this was definitely the fastest i moved over the whole run.
Tarrant Rushton airfield was lovely with a number of villagers who remembered the airfield in its heyday coming down to see the runners off. After a flypast from two spitfires and a dakota the run started with a 3 mile loop round the airfield before the long trip to southampton.
The run (well mostly walk) went pretty well for me, I was startled to be the last runner for the first four hours and doggedly followed by a tempting minibus, as the evening progressed i started jogging (sporadically) and moved slowly up the field. It took my 19 hours to reach portsmouth which included lots of highs and lows, such as blisters, bacon baps, getting lost, mcdonalds, sprinting the finish, forgetting my sunglasses, bed on the ferry, heckled by clubbing students, seeing hugh have a kebab in southampton, discovering portsmouth council had tidied up the signs.
The ferry crossing was very smooth and having booked a cabin Hugh and I slept most of the way and gorged ourselves on the massive picnic that ma and Bill had brought down to Portsmouth. It was lovely to see them.
The final 3 miles to Pegasus Bridge became a long walk with most of the runners suffering with very sore and blistered feet. We were greeted by a huge crowd and the army chief of staff on the bridge. The following day we met veterans of the campaign at the opening of the memorial and generally had a great time on our "mini" break in France.
Thank you to everyone for the sponsorship the final total is someway over £2,000 which is double my target and extremely humbling. Many of the runners were current and ex servicemen and it was very moving to spend time with such modest professionals who work so hard in the various terrifying conflcts around the world. They fully deserve our respect and care.
only 24 hours to go, so I am now planning on giving updates via my mobiile using twitter, so if you want to follow my slow and painfull progress the updates should appear here
Had a very giood day today with some very generous donations which meant i hit my £1,000 target, and also a sneaky donation for the last 5 miles only - which should keep me focussed.
So 2 days to go.....
I have tried to do a bit of research on WO Berry and find out where he went after Project 65 and did he survive the war.
It's not been that easy but this is what know, his initials were A.K. Berry and he was part of the Halifax 298 squadron, after releasing the gliders the rest of their mission that night was to bomb a cement factory near Caen.
I can find nothing further about him during the war, however, in 1947, 298 squadron was disbanded and sent overseas to Risalpur take part in Operation Tiger Force in India. The RAF sent a lot of Tempests planes out as part of Tiger Force, there is a photo of Flt Lt Arthur Berry in Risalpur instructing the IAF in the use of Tempests. I am assuming this is the same man. There are references to Arthur Berry on the web in relation to tempests in india with increasing rank up to Wing Commander throughout the 50's. I have been able to trace him no further than that.
As far as my training goes, I have my final run with Ledbury Running club tonight (tues) and then I am all done. I had a brilliant run on the white horse hill at uffington on Satiurday so am feeling pretty chipper. Just some last minute items to get now: vaseline, blister patches, zinc oxide tape, pedicure ( so indulgent) and passport.
 No 10 Squadron poses with the Jamsahib of Nawanagar at Jamnagar. Standing L-R are U/K EO, Flg Offrs Nirmal Singh, CR Bose, MM Singh, SK Mitra, IS Loughran, Umed Singh, BN Mishra, BS Sikand and Flt Lt Nair EO. Seated L-R Flt Lt DG Michael, MM Basu (Doc), Sqn Ldr J Bouche' CI, ATW, Miss Naushad (18 yrs) daughter of the Jamsahib, Sqn Ldr Pundalik B Pawar, CO, Mrs Jamsahib, Flt Lt Dilbagh Singh, Flt Lt Arthur Berry, Fg Offr MS Grewal. Pic courtesy: Vayu and Wg Cdr (Retd) IS Loughran.
I have been a little quiet on the blog front over the last week as I had been struggling with my training and didn't really know what to say. Anyhows, I seem to have got through that and am feeling in pretty good shape for next week, if not i shall get by on the usual truckload of painkillers.
We have received most of the details of the run and Project 65 have done an unbelievable job in organising this race, the logistics of an ultra-marathon in two countries must be staggering. They have sent through details of the serviceman I am representing which is WO Berry. From what I can gather Berry was the bomber "tug" pilot that towed glider number one into position over the channel before continuing on with a bomber mission over europe. I have been unable to find any records after that but feel very privileged to represent him, although unlike him i won't be at the front i will definitely be at the back - pushing not towing.
I spoke to Hugh Peachey last night who has been busy with the Hay festival and is raring to go. He is planning on running as much as he can so I suspect i won't see him until we get to portsmouth. I have had my instructions from my running coach (sounds posher than it is, all my training plans are produced on a weekly basis by a chap called Mike Shreiber, who bullies me by email, I have never met him as he lives in america, it is a little odd but it works for me) and I will be trying to run on a 9:1 run:walk pattern, plus walking all the hills. I'll give it my best shot.
Ma is organising for Bill to come down to portsmouth to see my arrive at the ferry which should give me plenty of incentive to arrive on time.
A map of the route has been produced in a powerpoint file, it also includes the timings which will be stretching to say the least. You can download the file below or alternatively watch it as a flickr slideshow.
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Luckily at the end of the Project 65 run we get to take a ferry to France, I won't have this luxury on the 18th of July when I take part in a swim from Southsea to the Isle of Wight in support of Champion Behaviours. So in addition to my training for the 65 mile run I have begun to increase my swimming in preparation for the 4 mile paddle across the solent.
Saturday morning saw me arrive at a lake just outside worcester resplendent in my new wetsuit. All in all it was a revolting and deeply unpleasant experience. Openwater swimmers must be seriously troubled to choose to do this on a regular basis. I moaned and limped my way through 2 miserable miles before getting out (well crawling out) and shivering wildly for 2 hours.
Aside from that I had some good runs and my hamstring is nearly better, I ran the course for a new race organised in Putley by the Big Apple which was beautiful taking me down some lanes I hadn't run through before and down one arcade of apples which was so heavy with blossom and scent it was overpowering. On sunday Merlin and I ran another favourite route in the blackcurrant fields where I took a photo of a relic of an Innocent ad campaign from a couple of years ago, so far the conditions have been so lovely it looks like it will be a bumper year for fruit (of course given the english weather there is lots of time for this to change).
My overall mileage on my runs is someway behind where I would like to be with only 4 weeks to go so I suspect it will be a long 20hours to get to france, but nobody said it would be easy.
My mum contacted me to let me know that one of the local cluster of churches (Stedham) has a memorial to the glider troops in it. I am hoping to get down and have a look before the event. I have pasted in below the article she has placed in their parish magazine.
"The Glider Pilot Squadron, its link to Stedham and Project 65.
On the 6th June 1944 at 0016hrs three gliders came down, silently, in Normandy to take what is now called Pegasus Bridge and start D Day and the beginning of the freeing of Europe. Hanging on the wall of Stedham Church is the standard of the Glider Pilot Squadron, laid up there because Brigadier George Chatterton of Stedham Hall commanded the squadron. Project 65 is both a celebration of that wonderful feat and an effort to raise funds for service charities.
June 4th 2009 sees 200 runners starting from Tarrant Rushton in Dorset, whence the gliders were towed, to Pegasus Bridge ( 65 miles). The runners’ route will take them via Lymington, Southampton, Fareham and Portsmouth to the ferry-midday 5th.June. On the other side each will don a T shirt with the name of one of those men who were there 65 years ago, be put into three groups to match the three gliders and run to Pegasus bridge to arrive at 0016 on June 6th the exact time of the gliders’ arrival. Each runner has been challenged to find £1000 in sponsorship which will go to the Army Benevolent Fund, BLESMA, Royal British Legion, St Dunstans and Help for Heroes. A small amount will be used to put up a permanent memorial at Pegasus Bridge to those who braved the German defenses in the dark to start D Day. My son, Kester Wilkinson and his friend Hugh Peachey, are two of the runners. If anyone felt that they could support this cause it can be done via either his website/blog- (with all the gory details of his attempt to get fit enough!) at http://thestrawhouse.weebly.com/project-65.html or me, Katharine Minchin, Kelross, Lutener Road, Easebourne, Midhurst GU29 9AT. 01730 813586. Thank You."
 No training at all last week as it was all a bit hectic at work. It did however give me a chance to recover from my hamstring tear a little more. I am feeling a bit pressured as Hugh keeps ringing up to say how well he is doing and how much he is loving the training. About a month to go so I best sort this out.
On the positive side the bluebells are out in the woods at work and look amazing.
I had an email from a friend of my mum's which I have pasted in below as I thought it was an interesting coincedence.
"Just as a matter of interest there was an extract from the armistice poem on the write up. We lived in the Old Vicarage at Burton in Lonsdale for 12 years which was the house in which Lawrence Binyon, the author was born.
Best Wishes
John"
 After a brutal session on my hamstring from Mark on saturday I was supposed to take it easy over the weekend but as ever ignored all reasonable advice and kept on running.
Ran with Merln on Sunday night along the top of the Malverns. The sun was just going down and there were balloons about in the severn valley below, pretty special.
At the end of the run I added an extra loop running around ragged stone hill looking for the white leaved oak i suspect I was on the wrong side of the hill - oh well next time maybe,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzLcMzwmVW0
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