Totally surreal morning. A mere10 days since we were all sat soaking up the sun on Llanddwyn Beach and it is now snowing!! But to the point of the post...
All preparations are now complete. Kit has been rechecked and packed, bought Pepperamis this morning to complete the food rations for the week and bags are now sat in the front room waiting for 06:45 tomorrow morning when Steph picks me up and we get to Bangor to catch the 07:22 to Euston and then on to Gatwick for the flight to Ouarzazate and the start of the reason for 3 years of preparation and training.
Reflecting on those three years as I have done a few times, it occurred to me yesterday that when we first entered the event, we were still over a week away from discovering that Emma was pregnant with Maisie. She is now a chatty (bossy!) 2 and half and Myles has also been part of the family for the last 14 months.
There have been a few ups and downs on the journey but all have been good learning experiences and I don't believe there are any stones left to turn over, although I still don't know what a scorpion bite feels like. I know my strategies for running pace at different times of the day and on different surfaces. I know how much water I should be taking on board and I know what to eat and when. The weather is not yet forecast over 30 for Ouarzazate although it will likely be a few degrees warmer in the desert. I am hoping that it will go over 30 as the field will be a bit less level and will give me more of an opportunity to gain an advantage on my fellow competitors. I know in my heart that top 50 is now unlikely but that won't stop me trying to achieve it! But, as I said in a previous post, as long as I pick up my medal after day 7, I will consider the effort to be a success.
I can't shoot off without a few words of thanks. First of all to Emma who has been supportive throughout even to the point of having to suffer a nice warm duvet all alone at 04:30 when I've been out on the road. Big thanks to Adrian and Andy who helped me with the heat chamber sessions and to Jonathan who arranged for Steph and I to use the facilities at Bangor Uni in the first place. Thanks to all those who have pledged monies thus far and those who are still to pledge. Some donations have been exceedingly generous. And finally thanks for all the words of support and encouragement that we've received right from the off in 2009!
I won't have the opportunity to update the blog in the desert as our internet usage is restricted to one email to one person per day. I'm not sure what time limit they put on the typing of said email but if it's not too restrictive I'll type out a few words and ask my lovely wife to cut and paste them into a post. If that doesn't work then a full report with glorious colour pics will follow when I get home.
Ma'a salaama.
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