Run Britain Days 72 and 73: The Cardigan coast

The 52 miles completed over two days in Cardiganshire were tiring, but not as tiring as navigating the Christmas to New Year logistics in very rural Wales.

This is potentially the most stressed I have been about my planning, but a mixture of significant time sunk into Booking.com and various Welsh tourist information sites, plus some very kind locals means I am now pretty much on track to make it around this part of the coast.

One of those kind locals is Paul, who arrived in Aberporth on day 72 with an ambitious target of joining for the whole of my 52km day.

When I hit half marathon distance, I told Paul that we had completed just over 13 miles and he said, “great, I don’t think I have ever run a half marathon before.”

That worried me a bit. Running a full marathon is not the same as just running two halves back to back. Of course it is in terms of distance, but in terms of mindset, it is significantly harder.

Paul clearly has the mindset though. Because not only did he complete the 52km on day 72, he also came out again for the whole of day 73. And then day 75 as well. At the time of writing, he’s run more of Run Britain than anyone else - a staggering 105km in three chunks over four days!