Marathon 24: The Long Way to Walton — Surrey

This week the challenge returned to the centre of the world: London.

For the Surrey leg, we swapped the north bank for the south and enjoyed a fantastic weekend catching up with old friends before setting off from Battersea Park on Sunday morning. A 9am start felt positively civilised by challenge standards, and we were joined by a brilliant running crew from the outset, including four university friends, some of Jonny's mates, and Rebecca, who'll be running with us later in the year for the Northumberland leg but came along to support while we were in town.

We started with a loop of Battersea Park, sharing the paths with countless others making the most of a Sunday morning. It was great to see so many people out being active, particularly the junior parkrunners. From there we headed west along the Thames, following a route from Battersea to Walton.

It was familiar territory for me. Having spent many years rowing on this stretch of river, the miles passed with plenty of reminiscing as we ticked off boat clubs and landmarks along the way. Apologies to anyone who had to endure stories from a retired rower for several hours.

The weather was an interesting one. It never felt especially hot, certainly not compared to Devon, but as the morning wore on it became clear that this was a sneaky sort of warm day. The close, humid conditions gradually turned the run into a more attritional affair.

Jonny was fantastic company throughout. After completing the epic Spine Race in January, he openly admitted that his motivation for marathon training hadn't exactly been at its peak. That made it all the more impressive when he casually produced a five-hour marathon. It says a lot about the character of the man. The work he and his family are doing to support baby loss research through The Ness Fund is equally impressive, and well worth hearing more about in this week's podcast.

The day was made even better by surprise company along the route. Polly from Tommy's joined us in Chiswick, and it was lovely to finally meet in person after months of calls & emails. We were also joined by Millie, who had discovered the challenge through Instagram and ran the final 16 miles with us. Despite downplaying her fitness beforehand, she was outstanding and brought a huge amount of positivity just when it was needed.

After Richmond, Jonny began battling some fairly persistent hamstring cramps, which slowed progress towards the finish. But we kept moving, walked when necessary, and got the job done together to the finish at The Swan.

Another county ticked off. The legs are feeling far better than they were after Leeds, which hopefully means we're heading in the right direction. Next up is Somerset on Sunday 14th June and the small matter of 1,400 metres of climbing in Cheddar Gorge.

That should be fun.