BAREFOOT BRITAIN_ Episode 21

Today is just turning out to be absolutely miserable. It's tipping it with rain. I've got 14 miles left to go. The roads have been quite busy. I've had, oh, just lots of cars and just not feeling it today. It was going to happen, wasn't it? I've had the most amazing last week and at some point it was going to get not so great again. Today is officially taking the miguel out of me. I came off the main road because I thought that's really busy and gritty and it's getting a bit rank, but I've come down this side road and it's flooded. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about that. I think I just need to walk through it and hope it's not too deep. I really don't like this because I can't see what's beneath my feet. All these flooded roads and holdups are not good because I've got a lot of girl guiding talks this week. I've not got a huge amount of leeway in trying to make sure I get enough sleep and actually leave on time to make the talk in the evening. If it gets really slow going like it is today and then I'm tumbling into it, giving a talk, not looking after myself, not looking after my feet, then falling into bed, getting out of bed the next day, running, girl guiding talk, and it just all gets a bit much. I really just need some easy days back so that I can keep on top of it. I definitely need to take it easy tomorrow because I am tired. I've looked at my throat in the mirror and I've got white spots on my throat which is what you get before tonsillitis. I've got a history of having tonsillitis so I'm hoping I haven't got tonsillitis, but I've definitely got a throat infection. I can't do anything about it. Just got a crack on. It's not happening. There's no way I should be going to run 20 odd miles when I've got white spots on my throat. Stupid idea, McNuff. Just as I suspected, I broke my body and I do have tonsillitis which is not great, but I've got a positive spin on it. I've had a couple of days rest. I managed to go and get myself seen by the doctor, confirmed it, gave me some antibiotics, which is not ideal to be on antibiotics when you're trying to do a run, but I've had a couple of days of them. I'm feeling so much better now so I can steadily ease myself back on the road and try and just promise to just look after myself better this week. I'm doing this to myself. This is all my choice. I have made this run happen. I have put all of these things in the diary. I have set the bar so high that I have to do so many talks and speak to so many people along the way and I question why I'm doing it. I could just take my foot off the pedal and just cruise and cancel things and have more time to myself, but this is only going to go on for another seven weeks. I've got seven weeks left of this adventure and then I'm never going to be here again and I just want to make the most of it. I want to absolutely smash it while I can, but I've got to find a line between smashing it and taking care of myself. Good morning. I'm going to get back out there today. I'm in Nottingham so I am going to be meeting up with a group of runners who've signed up to run with me, hopefully a fair few. I've still got a teeny little bit of tonsillitis. My throat's still a little bit swollen. I think getting back out there is definitely the right idea. I just need to look after myself. And the other thing I've decided is that the last few days have just not been very fun, just not fun, and I'm determined to just get back out there and just have some fun for goodness sake. I'm sick of listening to myself moaning about being ill and all the challenges and how hard it is and how tired I am. Pill of perspective, imaginary pill, and we're going to put things back in perspective. We are in Nottingham. I've got a fantastic group of runners with me today from I think a couple of different running clubs or are you all from the same running club? Different. Oh great. Oh my gosh. This is like West Side Story emerging. This is fantastic. Okay. I'm going to grab their names. So this is Nikki. Well, as the runs unfolded, she's just casually dropped in a few things she's done. What have you done Nikki? I ran 63 marathons in 63 days. And then you've dropped in as well that you've run around Ireland. So yes, that was last year. How many miles was that? 750 miles. Oh my gosh. In 32 days. I can feel that I'm still a little bit ill, but fantastic day. Just amazing. So good to have people with me. Completely plain sailing. The first 11 miles just whizzed by. And I met some fantastic people, really inspirational people like Nikki who was navigating. Gosh, she was a wonderful woman. And I've been given tonight, Niamh, who is the daughter of my host Justine, has given up her kiddie bedroom just so I can sleep in it. And she likes Marvel. So I think we're going to get along just fine.