Day 142 - Marathon 47, Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 ——- Nick Hewer! Aka Nick from The Apprentice, thank you for your kind chat. — After dragging my tired and dehydrated body out of my mosquito net covered bed at 04:00am this morning I made my way to the local football stadium in the dark. It was spitting with rain and overcast. I was hoping it would stay overcast and coolish all day. As we all gathered for the official #StreetChild Sierra Leone Marathon I met a couple of guys. They happened to also be called Nick. Great guys and people I hope to keep in touch with. They mentioned that ‘Nick from the apprentice was here’ ??? What??? Later we found out he was a life long patron of this cause and was here supporting the marathon. I am personally a big fan so we went for a ‘4 Nick Photo’. I explain why I was here and he was delighted to help. He posted a tweet to his followers about me, @ProstateCancerUk, and @StreetChild right there and then. What a legend. Even nicer than on tele. I know he’s just a person but he’s so bloody lovely. — The marathon was over in 5 hours. The sun didn’t break through the clouds and it was a cool 29 degrees. Perfect. My plan as always is to plod gently, take some photos, chat to locals and enjoy every mile. I did exactly that. A new friend Jenni fell over at mile 2 so we decided to get her grazed knees and hands patched up, and then ran the rest of the way together. We finished hand in hand after collecting another 4 people on route. Andi, a super friendly girl from the US was struggling in her first ever marathon so we all ran as a pack. Once again new friends and proof that running is not an individual sport. Since I’ve been in Sierra Leone I have met people from the UK, US, Germany, Guinea, Brazil, etc — The world is small and so wonderfully beautiful. And yet suffering is all around us while we moan about not having a big enough TV, or the latest designer clothes. I’m becoming more and more aware of how material I have been, and how I’d like to change that. — After the race we popped for some food, bought a lovely wooden wall mount souvenir and then drove to a place called #BurehBeach. This is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen (at Northern Province, Sierra Leone)