A great big shopping centre in Ballymena, hey!!

No, not that one, the other one.

Welcome back.  This is a genuine expression made on two fronts, firstly it's great to be in a position to update those who have supported my challenge to date.  Secondly it's great to welcome back my running mojo which had taken a bit of a backseat recently due to the dreaded lurgy.

Run number 4 was a strange affair indeed.  Ballymena Runners (my home club) were supporting the Belfast Marathon/NI Hospice 'Runathon'.  This event involves touring shopping malls, promoting the marathon and also raising money for the Belfast Marathon chosen charity - The NI Hospice.  Another early start was the order of the day and it involved helping the marathon team set up displays and the treadmill.  Yes, a treadmill was placed in the Tower Centre.  From 9am to 5pm different runners were invited to assist in completing as many kilometres as possible.  My intention was to hop on for a gentle trot.  In the end I ran 1 kilometre in under 4 minutes.  In defence against those who feel this run is a bit of a 'cop out' it must be noted that it was done in a busy Ballymena shopping centre on a Saturday, whilst wearing normal clothes including jeans.  The 'gravy' was running everywhere and many a shopper stopped to look at this frightening sight.  Thankfully, they also donated whilst marvelling on this unsightly spectacle.  The effort was for a cause very similar to that which I am supporting in my FortyAtForty challenge.  A significant amount was raised (no jokes about Ballymena generosity please).  It was great to meet one of the Belfast Marathon organisers Stephen Pearson and the race ambassadors, in particular, Damian McGreevy.  Damian completed the race in 2011 after gruelling chemotherapy sessions and is a great testament to the power of the human spirit.  He is looking to smash his personal best this year on May Day.  Visits to the runathon also came from my lovely wife, my sister and two of my nieces.  None could be persuaded to step onto the treadmill.  I'm still working on that one.

The rest of the day involved taking the boys to the Rugby Schools Cup quarter final at Ballymena Academy on the Galgorm Road.

Unfortunately the result went Campbell College's way, although the visiting teams chant of "You all live in caravans, we all live in mansions" made me laugh.  A wily Ballymena man suggested we should have chanted back something about "negative equity".  I'm not sure what you can get that to rhyme with (all suggestions welcome).

That whole day I was worried that the treadmill run was perhaps not the most challenging race to date, did it actually count etc etc.  You can only imagine my delight to discover that at the very time I was on the treadmill, I received a single online donation of £100 out of the blue from another 'old' face.  This was another great 'snapshot' of the generosity I've been witnessing from everyone on this journey.  Mysterious ways and all that! 

As it turns out, if this was to be my easiest run out of the forty, boy was I in for a shock at the next one - The Grizzly!!!