That was the state of play for Wanaka charity runner Mal Law (54) when he reached the summit of Breast Hill, near Lake Hawea, yesterday as part of his High Five-O Challenge to run 50 off-road marathons on 50 peaks in 50 days.
While enjoying being back on home turf for a while, Mr Law had fought some ''major battles'' during the first part of his journey, his media liaison Vera Alves said.
A chest infection made the uphills particularly difficult on days five and six, but a script for antibiotics faxed through to Nelson from his Wanaka GP and running mate Andrew McLeod had fixed that particular problem.
Before that, a near search and rescue call-out on Mt Holdsworth in the Tararuas - when the track proved longer and more technical than expected - delivered some testing times for Mr Law and his support crew.
But, by far the toughest day yet was Mr Law's assault on Croesus Knob on the West Coast on Sunday, when he forgot his poles and agonising knee pain nearly got the better of him.
A support runner had to run back down to base to collect the poles and some Panadol and bring them back up to Mr Law.
A blog summarising the day says at one point Mr Law threw the retrieved poles down and started shouting about how he had just wasted two years of his life preparing for the challenge.
''I was in a very bad place. I seriously didn't think I'd be able to come down on my own, it was so excruciatingly painful,'' he said.
The pain has since eased thanks to plenty of icing, elevation and physio attention, and by the end of the following day, Mr Law was feeling ''tired but not desperate'' and ''pretty happy with how it's going overall''.
Meanwhile, a rare newborn kiwi chick now bears Mr Law's nickname ''Chief Nutter'', thanks to challenge supporter and Franz Josef Department of Conservation worker Kat Henderson.
The High Five-O challenge is in support of the Mental Health Foundation and has already raised more than $325,000.
Mr Law plans to run up Knuckle Peak, near Wanaka, today and is expected to finish his challenged on March 28, with the dual marathon on Motutapu and Rangitoto islands, Auckland.
