My final weekend before heading off was spent worrying about my knee which buckled under me as I left work on Friday evening. The stabbing pain in the front and back of my knee left me panicking that I had done something serious. An emergency trip to my physio/sports massage people on Saturday allayed my fears but meant that there would be no final 10/15 mile run on Sunday. Instead it was a case of resting and hoping that I have the fitness from the last 8 months of training. To take my mind of it I sorted out all my kit in preparation for my flight out on Wednesday.
Now I know it looks a lot but I'll be wearing some of it and half of it will be going in my bag for the 50 mile mark where I can change and refuel. Some will also be going with my folks, sister, niece and nephew who are coming out to support me. Will be really nice to have them all out there at various checkpoints and mentally will give me little goals to aim for. Though I am not sure what Florence will make of Uncle Zandy dressed head to toe in lycra and talking even more gibberish than normal after 2 nights of no sleep!I think most runners find the tapering period the worst; as you wind down in preparation for the race you also feel like you should be doing more with the event getting so close. I know that I have kept asking myself whether I should be out doing another 20 miler but I have stuck to a few 10 mile runs and my British Military Fitness classes where I do a lot of core, strength and conditioning work. Part of me wishes I had another few months to prepare and another part of me wishes it had come 2 weeks ago! I think there is an element of excitement about the magnitude of the challenge ahead tinged with trepidation and a huge desire not to fail. It is great that I am going to be meeting up with fella runner Phil when I arrive and we hope to at least get through the first night together and hopefully we'll find a good pace to keep each other company most or all of the way round. It will be great to have a friendly face at the start as the adrenalin starts to pump through the body.
Anyway, I thought I would take this opportunity to thank a few people for their help and support over the last 8 months. Firstly, Carl who is my go to man on gear, there is nothing this guy cannot find out about gear and if I have a question about something you can guarantee within a few hours I will have any number of user reviews and comparisons with other products to help make my decision. The guy is a legend and also got me signed up and accompanied me on the 55k Pilgrim Challenge as soon as I got my place in UTMB confirmed to kick start my training.
Secondly, Frank (the Tank) and Steph, these two are amazing ultra-running, adventure racing, endurance nutcases of the highest order. If it's not on their combined list of achievements it is probably not worth doing! When I need event advice; what to pack, what to do in certain situations, how to plan the race these two will provide the answer. Steph has been a calming force when I have had minor panic attacks about such fascinating things as which painkillers to take and whether I should take Perpetuam and salt capsules and always comes up with great advice. Frank has sent me some awesome emails sharing his experiences of UTMB and answering all my last minute questions about strategy and equipment. I really appreciate having the support of these two experienced runners and will be trying to remember everything they have said when I am going through the lower moments of the race. I have the laminated maps Frank!!
I have to thank UK Gear, my sponsor, for supplying me with the fab PT1000 shoes, if they perform as well on UTMB as they did on the 100k Trailwalker then it will be another run with no blisters which I will be very happy with!
My sports massage therapist, Jen Walker at Pure Sports Medicine for keeping my tiresome calves as loose as possible and Matt at the Altitude Centre for getting me ready to deal with the lack of oxygen.
Also a big thank you to my family for giving up their bank holiday weekend to come out and stand around in the middle of the night and cheer me on, hopefully to the finish line! And to all my friends particularly all those I have met through RTP as they have been incredibly enthusiastic and supportive of me in this event.
I may try and update this from Chamonix, otherwise my next update will be after the event. Right now I'd buy 45hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds!
