Location: Mwaza

Distance: 42km

Time: 4hrs 39, Pace: 6:38m/km

Altitude: 840m

Thought of the day:
I am so lucky to have such an amazing support network, I had messages of encouragement from 11 countries today!

What I learnt:
There are many different reasons for hitting a wall during a marathon, but there is only 1 way to get through it. That is to simply keep going.

Song of the day:
The grits- my life be like (oh ah)

Thankyou’s:
– everyone who sent messages of support today
– Ally for putting up with grumpy Dave
– God

Note:
I had a nice and early start today, I love running in the dark before the traffic gets up. Everything was going great even though it was a continuous uphill climb. At the half marathon mark I met Ally for some snacks and drinks and swapped my shoes. I was feeling ok but my knees were giving me a lot of pain. There was still cloud cover so I said to meet me at 30km and continued running. I believe it was somewhere around 26km when I met the great wall of china! I just saw a massive straight hill and did not feel like continuing, plus i had forgotten to take anything for pain this morning, but being in the middle of no where and the cloud cover gone I knew I had to push on. When I finally reached Ally I was completely over it and knew I still had 12km to go. Then I was read some words of encouragement from you guys and the grits song came on and I was good to go again. With a new lease on life I smashed the last 12km out in an hour and did my fastest time yet with the largest altitude gain. I am sorry for getting my fishing rod out today but I am so overwhelmed with all the kind words that I could run another 7! (slight hyperbole)
After I finished we found a quiet jungle town of Usangi and met a lovely women called Glory who invited us over for dinner. It was our first time in a local house with a home cooked meal. It was an amazing experience being away from a hostel and to witness true Tanzanian hospitality. Overall, this day was one to remember.

Quote:
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which they have overcome.
Booker T. Washington