After many days of flat running through Belgium, Holland and Germany I am back on those beloved hills of mine, we crossed the German border into the Czech Republic yesterday and instantly the terrain changed and I felt right at home in amongst the mountains. I was in the Czech Republic 10 years ago for my first ever World Mountain Running Championships, up until then I knew the pain associated with track, cross country and Road running but this Mountain Race in the hills of a town called Upice, a 2hours from Prague was a humbling experience for me. Never had my body and mind hurt so much and from that day on I made a commitment to learn and understand this event and to see how far I could go with it. So the Czech Republic holds a special place in my heart.

We arrived in Prague at 1pm after finishing our 3am-9am shift and then having to drive 3 hours to our hotel. Because I had been up all night running I had to go straight to bed; I desperately wanted to see Prague as I remember it being one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to. It is like walking into a fairytale, so I set my alarm to get myself up after a 2 hour sleep, unfortunately this did not eventuate and about 8 hours later at 9pm I was finally able to get both feet out of bed. This gave me 3 hours before we were due to leave again to start our shift and gave me enough time to go to the local Tescos supermarket and stock up on some health food as my diet through Germany was appalling. It consisted of chips, lollipops, hot chocolates and coffee from all the 24 hour petrol stations over Germany. In fact instead of losing weight on this Blue Planet Run adventure I feel I have put on weight! So its back to some healthy eating which in turn will help with my energy levels and running.

It was our last 3am -9am shift and it was a treat to be able to go to the major exchange point in Venceslaow Square to watch David whose home city is Prague run into this spectacular square lit up at night and it was even more amazing than when I remembered it 10 years ago. David powered up the hill with his proud father following on a bike and handed me the baton at 4.30am, I then ran along the undulating Czech road as the sun was coming up.

We now have a 3 hour drive to Austria where we will begin our day shift tomorrow at 9am - back to normality for a few days and to have some sunlight on our bodies will be great.