Namibian Viking

I am doubting myself… and it doesn’t feel good… Normally ahead of a race I am filled with anticipation, race nerves and want to get going, but this time is different. My second race in my 5 event race series, a half-Ironman Triathlon starts on Sunday at 7am or so… 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and then a 21km run; and looking at my weeks leading up to the race I haven’t been able to put myself in the position I want to be.

First it was the IT-band that after Namibia kept me off the road and off the bike, and now the last 5 days I have had a deep cough and chest infection. Fortunately on the mend, so should be ok for Sunday, but still.

Benjamin Franklin said “when in doubt, don’t”, but what did he actually mean? Did he mean that one should not do it? or that one should not doubt?

Having considered this in my bike ride home tonight I think I know what to think. I know for sure that I dont want to follow up the race in Namibia with another (do I dare to write the three letters?) DNF…

I set myself a difficult task this year. It has proven that this year I have had more injuries and more illnesses then ever. Is this related. Well I will try to go out with a positive mental attitude on Sunday. We are at a beautiful venue, last year I loved the race, anticipation will fill the air and it will be a very very special feeling to walk down towards the lake again on Sunday morning… I can feel it now, race nerves start to come back! Bring on Sunday!!

I got some new health and fitness advice the other day, and I thought I should share them with you! Enjoy!!

Q:  Doctor, I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A:  Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it…don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually.  Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q:  Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A:  You must grasp logistical efficiencies.  What does a cow eat?  Hay and corn. And what are these?  Vegetables.  So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system.  Need grain?  Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q:  Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A:   No, not at all.  Wine is made from fruit.  Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way.  Beer is also made out of grain.  Bottoms up!

Q:  How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A:  Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q:  What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A:  Can’t think of a single one, sorry.  My philosophy is:  No Pain…Good!

Q:  Aren’t fried foods bad for you?
A:  YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!!!…..Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they’re permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q:  Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A:  Definitely not!  When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q:  Is chocolate bad for me?
A:  Are you crazy?  HELLO!  Cocoa beans!  Another vegetable!!! It’s the best feel-good food around!

Q:  Is swimming good for your figure?
A:  If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q:  Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A:  Hey!  ‘Round’ is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember:
‘Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways – Chardonnay in one hand – chocolate in the other – body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ‘WOO HOO, What a Ride’

AND…..

For those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final word on nutrition and health.
It’s a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION
Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Iguess I’m just lucky enough to tala svenska y hablar Espanol!

I left CP1 feeling strong. I had stayed there for 30- 40 minutes or so, and as I left I knew that I was entering the Messum riverbed and some of the hottest part of the race laid immediately ahead of me. I soon realised how far it was to the actual start of the riverbed and also how bad following the dirt track was: 1) because the cars ensured the sand was broken up so you kept walking in deep energy-sapping sand, 2) because the road meanders like a river so you end up walking a less then ideal line from point A to B.

I am speed walking at this point and I am feeling good. I pass two participants, I feel really sorry for Richard who already had twisted an ankle (ironically whilst turning his head to the side to speak to the race medic and say that everything was ok, and then missed the hole in the ground). Richard was limping and I could see the agony he was in. I left Richard to continue my race. I am a firm believer that unless you are moving in exactly the same speed, it is less then optimal to go together on a race like this. Richard then went on to go to within 5km from the finish line where he collapsed some 25 hours after starting the race. Knowing that people him is down in Afghanistan working for a better world makes me feel proud to even live in the UK! In my mind he is one of true heroes if this year’s race.

I pass the Blue Peter crew when they are filming us and as always they are a happy break in the monotone environment. I was passed a number of times by the race medics and it always pulled me up and gave me energy. However at some point during this leg of the race I realise how different this race is from last. I remember how CP2 is going to appear from around the corner and although I seem to think that it is around every corner I keep being disappointed. I still feel strong, but I feel that the ability to move forward in speed is not there today.

Eventually I get into CP2 and it is around 5pm… I have covered little more then a marathon, but it has taken me 8 hours! As I sit down I feel strong. I feel that I am doing well and people around me say I look better then many participants coming into the checkpoint. I had decided I would have a hot meal already at this stage in the race, I felt that last years strategy to only eat once at the 60km CP3 was not ideal.

However it is here that my race changes character. From having felt strong and capable, all my energy saps out of my body and I find myself nodding off in the chair. Many more of my fellow participants come into the checkpoint, most looking ok, but some of them are struggling, such as Alex. He is the nicest of persons, and such an athlete; but today is not his day. In the end he drops out of the race with serious kidney implications. Alex will, like me, be back next year. For me a draw is not good enough, and for Alex he wants to show that he can master the distance.

It takes all my power to get up from my chair (and a fair bit of ass-kicking from others) and I start my walk to CP3. I almost immediately have to put on my head torch. I cannot believe that I am 30min away from CP2 and at the same time last year I was having a meal at CP3. This thought stays with me and I worried that I will not make the race cut off time. I have another 80km to go, and less then 4 hours to do each leg, I will have to speed up. Eventually I get into a faster rhythm and I keep this for 2 hours or so, even passing some of the other participants. The glow sticks on the back of other participants jump up and down and play tricks with my eyes. Mark (the founder of Across the Divide, who runs the event) is putting out new glow sticks on the route. The pace of this years race is so significantly different then last years that the supply of glow sticks was planned to be used on later stages in the race. Meanwhile reports of more people dropping out comes in and I feel so sorry for the ones that are not able to complete the event.

Some 3 hours into this leg of the race something goes wrong. I stop noticing the surroundings, up until now I had kept count on the number of scorpions I had seen on the road in the shine from my head torch, but now it is all a blur. I start to feel weak, negative thoughts are entering my brain and the pain is stronger then at any time during the race. The pain doesn’t bother me so much, it is more my inability to walk straight line that worries me. I am struggling to lift my feet off the ground, let alone walk. Nick is passing me and he is running again! I am so impressed but I cannot even begin to try to summon the strength to keep up with him.

My condition is getting worse and I have such an urge to just lie down. I know how dangerous that is (not so much for snakes and scorpions, but more for the risk of hypothermia), but still my body tells me to lie down. I am feeling very nauseous and I struggle to comprehend how I should get to CP3, even though I know it is only 5-6km ahead. I don’t know how much time pass, but it feels as if my body is a pressure cooker and I am getting near boiling point.

What happens now is difficult to describe, both because I cannot really remember everything, but maybe more due to the fact that it is more of an outer body experience. On one had I am in pain and only want to lie down and on the other hand I am almost watching myself is this state. I can almost assess my own situation and the conclusion I draw is not good. Would this be the end of my race? But this is just the start of my series of race challenges, how could it be I struggle so much.

My negative thoughts are interrupted by the head lights of a car coming towards me in the distance. I remember feeling scared and lonely and wanting them to be with me. At night in the desert lights travel far and it is seems to take forever before the car reaches me. It is Amy, the head race medic who also was here last year, and Kobus, my Namibian friend and race guide. Immediately they see that I am in a bad state. Amy asks me to sit in the car, she helps me to take off my race pack and she prompts me to eat something and give me a dried fruit stick. At the first bit I projectile vomit. At the third vomit Kobus disappears and it is not until the next day that I get to know he also threw up, when I ask him why he simply says “that is what friends are for”! I think this is my first ever recorded sympathy vomit.

At the point where Amy and Kobus finds me, my body checks out. I am no longer responsible for staying alive. I can hardly sit up and I am falling asleep with Amy supporting me so I don’t fall out of the vehicle. When she says that “Joakim, I will have to pull you from the race” I cannot really comprehend; but at the same time I understand that it is over. At that moment in time I do not care, I just want to  to sleep.

I have a vague memory of the Blue Peter film crew turning up and interviewing me, but I have no idea if what I said made any sense or what they asked me. I don’t think it was any solutions to world famine or similar, since the clip was not in the final show. This is pretty much the last thing I remember from that evening. I have been told that I looked like a ghost when I was carried into the tent and when my body started to cramp and shake Amy put me on IV drip. People who manned CP3 said it resembled a war zone, as if in an episode of M.A.S.H.! People passing out, people staggered into camp on feet that cannot be described in words, snakes crawling through camp and even under some of mattresses the participants sat on!

At some point during the night I was moved to the finish line of the race. I remember waking up for a brief moment in Faan’s old army truck, just at the point when the IV drip was ripped out of my hand! We were lying on boxes mattresses and assorted bits of kit. Eventually I woke up at around 7am at the finish line, hearing the voices of Darren (winner by less then one minute!) and Tom. I went out and helped them to applaud all the participants who slowly but surely made it into camp.

What a race, the Namibian Ultra Marathon in 2009. Out of 23 participants only 12 made it to the finish line. All in all – A hell of a race.

So what did I learn, well that will be the focus of my next blog post. However did it deter me from future races? No way… Will it stop me from coming back to the Namibian Ultra Marathon? Hell no, less then a week after I came back to UK I signed up for next year’s race! Namibia, I’ll be back!

What is it to be successful in an ultra marathon event? To win, to make it to the finish line, or maybe just to give it everything you have got? When I was lying in the tent at CP3, 12h after the start of the race, IV in my hand and cramps moving through my body waking me up from a semi-conscious sleep I can say that at that point I didn’t possess even the slightest strength to do anything but fall back into sleep.

Later I was told that I was being transported the 60km to the finish line in an old army truck, IV still in my vein, the bag of fluid hanging from the ceiling of the truck, my head resting on a plastic box and we were all thrown around like the balls in the Euro-lottery draw, and I was still asleep. Also at that point, I guess I can conclude that I didn’t have more to give.

Still after all this, already the morning after the race, when I saw some of my fellow participants hobbling over the finish line I was asking myself: “Could I have done more, did I pull out to early”? Was there something that I could have done at the point when I was taken off the race by the medic that would have allowed and enabled me to finish the race?

Well I guess I will never know to 100%. I have my own conclusion and later in this race report I will come back to this . But before I start talking about my conclusions and what I have taken away from this event, let me tell you about the event itself.

There were many things I took with me to Namibia that made me feel that I was full of confidence. I had trained another year, I had the experience of last year’s event and except for the last two weeks training had gone well. I had logged less miles on my feet, but on the other hand I had been swimming and cycling too, so all in all, I had done my training.

Back in Namibia
To add to the preparation I had booked a week in Namibia ahead of the race to acclimatise better. I had two days in the desert mountains in Naukluft National Park, hiking 10-12 hours per day. This had the additional benefit that I got my back used to a heavy pack (camera equipment). Even if this was just hiking, I still got to feel the Namibian sun and the heat that I was going to have to deal with in the race.

I also took two rest days in Sossusvlei, some of the most picture perfect place I have ever been too. I had a great time and managed to get some good shots and also to see some of the wildlife.

I had a good session stalking an Oryx and to get a shot with the photogenic animal with the backdrop of the red sand dunes of Sossusvlei is a real treat. The Oryx is an amazing animal and they can go in the desert for more then 3 months without water. Later I would learn that I would struggle to go 30min without water!

Back in the Namib desert

And so I was back in the desert. This time the camp was further away from Brandberg. The camp was on a little plot in the middle of the Namib desert, about 80km as the crow flies from the sea. We settled in with little pain and woke up to a beautiful sunrise the morning before the race. I was reminded by the real dangers of this race when I saw movement 2 metres ahead of me. A horned adder, the closest I had ever been to a wild potentially lethal venomous snake. With a stick I managed to move it into the sun and got some good photos of it. However the thought of running through knee-high grass suddenly seemed less appealing. During the race I didn’t see any snakes but several participants saw or heard them hissing at them running past! At checkpoint 3 snakes had to be removed from the area on more then one occasion. The desert is truly wild. To add to this we found a scorpion on the race morning, something that I had not previously encountered in Namibia. During the evening I saw about 10 different scorpions passing just before my feet as I walked through the Messum crater, so sure enough, the Namib desert is wild.

Day before the race
The feeling was different this year. I knew what was ahead of us, and I shared my thoughts with Andy, who also was here last year. I think we both confided in eachother feeling that we were “in the know” whilst the others where blissfully unaware what was waiting for them.

I did a short interview with Helen from Blue Peter who was out here doing the race. This would mean a TV crew would follow her around and we would even have an helicopter coming in for the start of the event! I felt confident that I was properly prepared. I even had my racepack packed and ready the night before. A mile away from last years morning scramble trying to fit everything I needed in the pack! I was convinced that I was going to complete the race, as long as I wouldn’t have a major injury.

Race morning
I woke up and felt relaxed. Most of my things were packed up already, so I went up and head an extra breakfast (noodles for maximum carbohydrates). Even though I had packed the day before there were of course many many things to take care of prior to the race. Nerves starts to set in. This year we weighed in before the race and with my shoes and clothes I was 83kg, which seems about right. I felt strong and I was ready to start the race. The helicopter that was going to film the start arrived and it all started a bit of frantic last minute thoughts and preparations. People gathered at the start line (well, the imaginary start line). Fran gave us some last minute comments and counted down from 10.

Race start
Last year I had made a point to take the lead the first 50 metres of the race, and counting down on the start line I felt an urge to do the same. I think I actually made a false start! Maybe the first false start ever recorded in a 24h Ultra Marathon? We were away and I was leading the field. The helicopter is going sideways in front of me, and I have to hold my hat to make sure it stays on my head!

It seems like a slow pace, but no one is overtaking me and I keep looking back. It feels a bit ridiculous that I am leading the group now, but soon enough Tom, Jerry and Tom overtakes me and put the world back in order again!

I run in my own pace and slowly but surely participant by participant come up and pass me, and it doesn’t bother me. I know what there is ahead and am in no hurry. It is 9am and it is already hot. There is something in the air that makes it incredibly hard to run and soon enough people start to speed-walk. I try to keep jogging, even though the pace is not much faster then the people speed walking. I come up to the improvised checkpoint 0.5. This was setup since the organisers had added 6km to this years race and they were all added on the first leg, so they had broken it up with a station at 10km or so. I refilled water and then was off again, not stopping more then 2 minutes or so. I was back on the long road and I knew that it was going to be a long way away before I would break into the dried-up riverbed. I see Emma coming up to me and she is looking a bit in distress, it turns out that she wasn’t certain on the route and at exactly the same spot where Tom overshot the course by 5km she was about to do the same thing. I show her the way and she goes ahead with her light small steps. Once in the riverbed I go for an “as-the-crow-flies” route, rather then following in the meandering road, mainly because the road is a dirt track with a foot of loose sand and it is too punishing on my legs. By this time I am walking and am in no position to run.

After what feels like an eternity I can see the tent and the Blue Peter film crew is there filming me as I approach the the first check point, Checkpoint 1 (CP1). 10 people or so are trying to share the shaded space and I sit down on a chair and relax, refill water and try to eat. I try to empty my shoes of these sharp grass seeds that keep coming into my shoes. They are a real pain and rub, itch and the discomfort is very real. Emma had taped elastic bandage around her shoes to keep the seeds out, and it is a trick I will remember to next year. Generally I would say gaiters are not needed for the Namibian Ultra, however they would have been nice for this first leg.

All in all I was feeling strong though. I knew what was left to do and I felt I had it in my body to meet the challenge head first. I was going to be proven wrong on the next leg of the race, but sitting at CP1 gathering strength, I found myself feeling confident. After about 30-40 minutes I left and there was no way I was going to run now. Speed walk was the only way in the heat.

The trouble had started, and in the next part of the race report, you will get to know why Amy, the race medic, pulled me off the race after 61km.

Late at night, day before yesterday, I was found on the road by the race medic at 61km into the race. At that point I was not able to walk in a straight line and was fighting the urge to lie down, I knew this would be a very dangerous thing to do. Amy, our race doctor and saviour of many people during the race, asked me to sit in the car with her for a while. I had a single bite of a energy bar to re-gain energy, but I immediatly threw up. My state quickly got worse and when I was put in a rest tent cramps and shivers started, a sign of very serious exhaustion and the body shutting down.

After a night on IV-fluid I was yesterday morning waking up feeling very empty. I cannot tell you much about the night, because my memories are very much blurred from the point of meeting Amy.

Two days afterwards I have mixed feelings. On one hand I am happy I was found in time for Amy to take care of me early enough in my state to be able to get me back to normal in just a day or two (another guy in the race unfortunately collapsed and was on IV and slept for 24h after the race!). On the other hand I feel very empty and filled with questions about why I didn’t manage to complete this year’s race.

In total 9 out of 23 runners pulled out, or was pulled out of the race, in comparison to last year when 1 out of 9 pulled out. The winner of last year’s, Tom, came third this year, on a time which was close to 4 hours later then what he did last year. All in all the majority of the people were 5 – 6 hours behind the general pace of last years race. The heat and a very hot wind, which was not there last year, took it’s toll on all of us.

I have still a day and a bit left in Namibia to gather my thoughts and I will write a more conclusive race report once back in the UK. At the moment I have a strange feeling of being extremely lucky to be as OK as I am now, and at the same time feeling empty for not having completed the race.

Thank you all for sending supporting messages (for those of you who have texted me, my phone has died, so sorry for not getting back to you).

/Joakim

I knew something was wrong. My guide, Andrey, and his wife should only have been some 15min behind me. It had now been 30min since I last saw them and we said we would meet at the waterhole. My heart started to race, what should I do, I dont have a map of the route we should take and how should I get out of here?

I was in Naukluft National Park in Namibia and we had been hiking for the whole day. It was now less then 2h left to sunset and I had just lost my guide. I put some stones down on the ground saying “Andrey, wait here” and walked back 20min to see if I could meet him. But no sign of him.

What do I do? At least I have water and fire steel (Thank you Bear Grylls!). I started to descend quickly, at the water hole I changed the stones to say “Joakim has gone down”, should Andrey be further back, but somehow I knew this was not the case. He should have been here by now. I came to a big waterfall and started to climb down. 5m down and I felt that I was rushing into things, climbing a 20m waterfall with no ropes might not be the best idea. Am I acting rationally?  The questions kept rushing through my mind. I climbed up and got my backpack off my back. I looked through what I got: All kinds of camera equipment (great for being able to document, but not great for survival), fire steel, knife, some dried sausages, fruit, energy powder, sun screen etc. I guess the only thing I was lacking was warm clothing and a back pack. The desert gets cold at night, about 5 degrees or so but worst case I would just start a fire. Thank god for my two weeks last August with Kobus when I lit the fire every evening with only the fire steel and dried grass, and thank god for all the hours I have watched Bear Grylls!

I put my backpack back on and I found the right route to descend the waterfall and did so, after about 2hours on my own I hear a faint whistle, it has got to be Andrey and I shouted back. I found him!

Well, what could have been an even greater adventure of having to sleep rough in the national park was to an end. Together we did the last 45 min hike back to camp and I got a warm meal.

I still slept rough though. Africa’s stars, the sounds at night and the feeling that if a jackal, snake or scorpion wanted to, they could come and join my sleeping bag is just a too good opportunity to say no to. Having said that, 5 nights into my holiday and so far the only thing that has joined me were some ants (mental note to one self – always check if there is an ant trail before you put your sleeping bag down!).

Over and out form Namibia, next time you hear form me will be after the race.

Four days of grueling sun has prepared me for the heat of the mid-day during the Namibian Ultra Marathon. I have been in Namibia since Saturday and have had 2 days hiking in the mountains and 2 days in an absolutely magical place called Soussusvlei, an area with red sand dunes and the most amazing scenary.

Tomorrow I join the rest of the group and I hope that these four days have prepared me well for the challange to come.

When I have been out here my memories from last year’s race have come back. The heat of the day, the feeling that your heart is going to jump out of your chest and the inability of pushing your body like you normally can is something that will be there on Saturday. Hopefully I can control it better and my body can be slightly adjusted to the heat.

In three days I will know.

Tomorrow I go out in the desert.

Excitment and feeling scared.

Everything is packed. I have looked through my nutrition plan and counted my calories… 4,000 kcal should be enough. Mostly from energy drinks, some energy gels, and 3 self-heating meal packs (spicy ravioli mmm).  Packing makes me positively nervous. I feel the race is coming on.

To combat the race nerves a nice bottle (well not a whole, but still) of Rioja always helps!

Many of your have sent me small thoughts and I will print them tomorrow to bring to Namibia and read during the race. If I should grade them all I would give 10 out of 10 to Paul Goodey, Martin Murbeck and Elena Talegon. Elena for saying “you are crazy, I can tell that you are from Bilbao!’” (my Bilbo friends will be happy to hear that!) and also for promising to put up a statue of me in her garden if I complete the race. I will hold you to that Elena!

Paul on the other hand spent most of the morning finding quotes for me, went to the extent of quoting half a movie, only to then say “if you are still reading this, start running and eat the path ahead of you!” Very true, I will read that and laugh many a times!

Last amongst the top three is Martin’s electro chicken from youTube, it is a must to watch

Thank you everyone for all your comments, they will make me stronger and I will promise that bar a serious injury I WILL complete the race.

Keep the comments coming, I am printing it at 13.00 English time, so still time for you to give me some last words of advice, jokes or comments for my trip!

Until soon…

/The Namibian Viking

I have packed my bags, prepared my race food, packed my race backpack and charged my camera batteries.

I have a peace in my body tonight that I have not had for the past ten days or so. I have past the point of no return. I stand in front of my challenge, and (knowing that some of you, Martin in particular, will now roll your eyes) I feel such presence. Maybe it is because I have been to the event before, I know what it is going to take away from me. But I also feel prepared, and I feel strong.

I made a quick balance sheet with comparison from last year:

+ I know what is waiting for me

- I know what is waiting for me and how hard it is

+ I have trained more and harder this year

- I have run less miles (but also been swimming and cycling)

+ I have done a series of tough races, more so then last year

- I just had a stomach bug, and I have some tendence problems

I think, all in all, that I stand better prepared then last year. I know how much in my head the race will be and a strong race head will see me through the race. Any weakness needs to be filtered out, because for sure, but body will look for the option to stop, many times, over and over again.

Now there is only one way to go, forwards, and until the end. I spoke with Ben today and said that I would give an arm and a leg to know that I would 100% be able to make the race. But I feel different now. The packing process has been a kind of a meditative process where I now feel at ease and I am even looking forward to the race! Sounds crazy, but it is the truth, now I cannot wait, bring the race on and take me to that start line. I know that I will make it and I will be there on the finnish line.

One day left for you to give me comments. Last year’s comments truly lifted me up at dark times, so please, keep your comments coming through, especially with small race thoughts, they will be helping me this year too!

I cannot believe my unfortune… I have been flat out in bed during the weekend. A tummy bug has put a dent in my preparations!

I guess I should be careful what I wish for, a couple of weeks ago I told some friends it would be good if I could loose a couple of kg before the race, so that I could race lighter. Well mission accomplished, but not really the way I planned it.

I am now less then two weeks away from the race and I can not eat much, and definitely not run. Well from here on it can only gets better I think… Trying to stay positive at the moment is not the easiest. I have trained harder then last year, and I am in better shape, but something like this I had not planned for. I usually feel strong and able and today when I got the tube into work I felt that even that was a struggle!

Watch this space, the race is getting close, and I am leaving on Friday!

Any tips, help or thoughts along the way are much appreciated.