:: March 29th 2003 :: March 28th 2003 :: March 27th 2003 :: March 26th 2003 :: March 25th 2003 :: March 24th 2003 :: Grandstand interview :: Go to Week One :: Go to Week Two :: Go to Week Three :: Go to Week Four :: Go to Week Five :: Go to Week Six

Sharon sent her first 100 numbers to Saltburn Primary School. The class made Sharon a Good Luck card

Up until this week Sharon has walked all of the miles, but with the challenge is nearly coming to an end in two weeks time and all competitors will have to run the London Marathon.
Sharon has started to build up a routine of running 6 miles a day averaging 8 minute per mile, she's also been doing a lot more stretches now that she is running and is quite surprised at how flexible she still is. Running the miles is quite hard as the traffic is very busy and the drivers do not give way to pedestrians.

The weather has been over cast today but still dry and Sharon has been able to run in her shorts. Watch out for Sharon on this Sundays Grandstand at 4.35pm.

March 28th - 12.30pm approx Mile 620
Sharon sounds upbeat as she send her report from the middle of a busy dual carriageway! The bus is parked on the traffic island between the two lanes and so Sharon is having to use her face mask while she sits outside with her feet in her footspa.

It has been a busy morning as the BBC's Grandstand team having been filming and interviewing all the competitors. This is due to be screened either on this Saturday or Sunday.

Sharon is really feeling the benefit of the anti-pollution face mask, similar to those worn by some of the capital's cyclists, and plans on running 5 of the miles a day for the next few days. For the first time she has been able to run without being bothered by a cough, and her night-time cough is also disappearing.

All the competitors have to complete a pyschological questionnaire every 8 hours - at 10am, 6pm and 2am. This consists of 20 questions and multiple choice answers. The questions include - do you feel tired? sleepy? angry? energetic? alert? etc and the results have been correlated against the mile split times. Sharon has been told she is very consistant with her results and all the results have shown a clear effect the tireness is having on the time taken to complete the miles.

After losing a little weight recently Sharon today had a mega-breakfast of a bowl of Sugar Puffs, 2 slices of toast, an egg and bacon sandwich and a Creme Egg !!

More cards have arrived from well-wishers and Sharon's bunk is now overflowing with them - a real source of encouragement night and day!

March 27th 2003 - 7.30pm Mile 603
Sharon is just sitting with a cuppa before heading out for miles 604 and 605. It is already cold in London tonight and Sharon is wearing 4 layers - the bus is very cold as there is very litte heating and the doors are often open too.

Sharon has run 5 of the miles today and worn shorts and a t-shirt for the first time too.
The anti-pollution face mask is really helping her asthma calm down, but the extra medication has still not been approved and Sharon thinks it may not arrive in time.

She is continuing to receive encouraging good luck cards and is very grateful for everyones support.

10.30pm approx Mile 572

I am planning ahead for the weekend when we lose the hour at the start of British Summer Time. I hope to sleep an extra session during the morning when I would usually be up and about so that I still get six hours. At present I still have absolutely no problems with tiredness at all having got 5 or 6 hours every night.

I ran 3 miles yesterday but ended up with a few coughing fits - I took the mask off to run but will try running with mask on today, I have been told it will just get a bit damp inside. The coughing was definately a lot better last night, with no bad coughing fits, just the odd cough here and
there. I am also hoping the rain forecast for Friday will bring the pollutions levels down.

We have been hearing news of another celebrity that may visit us - Jeremy Beadle, but are not sure when though.

The event organiser, Dave Bedford, visited us today and I have finally managed to get some running shorts thanks to him. Now I am just short of some t-shirts and vests to cope with the warm weather we have been having.

Now that Sharon has a face mask to combat the traffic fumes she is finding that her persistent cough is calming down. She hopes her asthma will allow her to start running more of the miles, and she plans to build up to about 10 miles running a day to prepare for the marathon itself, tapering down in the final week to a rest day on the Saturday. Shona has been putting in some fast sub-6 minute miles and Paul too has been doing some running.

Sharon knows that she has lost fitness having walked most of the miles, but doesn't think it will take long to recover after the Challenge is finished. She even expects it to be easy to get back into a normal sleeping pattern after 6 weeks of broken sleep!

Some of the other competitors have been working their way up the shoe sizes with bigger trainers being delivered to help with swollen feet and blisters. There have also been a few close shaves with the timing of the miles with one of the other athletes last night coming within 10 seconds of not completing a mile within the hour. Sharon has been trying to maintain a 4 to 5 minute safety margin at the end of the hour to avoid the possibility of disqualification and to allow her time for a short rest.

"All is well down here, still no problems - I just need the asthma to settle down and will start running next week. I am awaiting stronger medication at moment and will be getting face mask to help combat the pollution issue.

"I am finding more time to rest during day and am doing more reading now which is very relaxing. Pleased to be over the 500 mile hurdle, it was a very busy day and I am pleased to get back into relaxed routine.

"The event does feel like its been going on for a long time, and although I enjoy the days the nights now have become a bit of a chore knowing I will be woken up so much. I am still sleeping well and am not tired at all during the day. I have lost about 2kg in weight now, partly due to not having time for proper evening meal after drugs test/medicals which took up
two rest periods in the evening and coughing has not helped."

It's the start of a new week and Sharon get's a new helper on the night shift. Nannette Cross is replacing Mike Harper from the New Marske Harriers (Sharon's running club). (Sharon's husband Bill is also helping her for the full 6 weeks on the day shift). Sharon say's she had a bit of a scare during the week and she nearly had to call in one of her reserves as Nannette had come down with a cold on Wednesday. Nannette had passed the cold on to her partner Dave who is one of the official referees in the challenge.

He has consequently gone on the sick for his shifts and a replacement found. There are only three referees for the whole event on a rota basis - Brian Webber (who is also project manager), Hugh Jone and Dave Walsh. One of the timekeepers Ian Champion has stepped into Dave's shoes while he is recovering.

Having a cold on this event is a major issue as the doctors are scared that there would be an epidemic as we are all living in close quarters. No one is allowed on the bus with a cold and even if one of the competitors comes down with a cold they will be removed from the event to prevent it spreading.

Last night was the mildest night so far and today was another glorious sunny day, still
experiencing no problems at all and enjoying the event.

Press coverage:
Sharon was in the Daily Mail today and the Evening Standard which is a local paper for London and she will be in the Daily Telegraph tomorrow. Plus her local newspaper the Evening Gazette are printing updated through out the challenge.