Tomorrow will mark two weeks to go.
Suddenly, I am very aware of all the last minute organisational things I have yet to do. And so – rather than actually organise those things – I thought I should write a bit of a blog post to explain where we are up to and what has been going on.
Yes. It is procrastination on another level. But it is productive procrastination – which makes it okay. I think.
The Dress Rehearsal.
A couple of weekends ago we did our first 30 mile trial run. For half of us, this would be the furthest we have ever run – and even though I have run 30 miles a few times – I was still a little bit nervous. 30 miles is never really easy and this would be the first real test of my training.
In an attempt to make it a little more like the real thing, we decided to camp out the night before. However, unlike the real thing, we had a fridge full of beers and we were camping in my back garden. Which, it has to be said, made the whole experience more enjoyable, but slightly less indicative of what is to come.
Still. Baby steps. We can’t become full blown adventurers over night.
The run itself was tough. We hadn’t prepared for the beautiful weather that somehow materialised. Whilst it was great, it also made the conditions pretty tough for running. We even forgot to take sun cream – which meant we absolutely had to stop and buy ice cream (and sun cream) around the half way point.
The day did go pretty well though and although we lost two members of the team later on in the run – we all ran over 20 miles with fully loaded packs and we avoided any injuries or sun stroke. Cadi and I managed to see in the 30 miles and actually finished on a slightly higher pace – marking the most easy 30 miles I’ve ever run and giving me a huge confidence boost in the training I’ve been doing. Remarkable, given that I wrote my own training programme based solely on what I thought might work well.
Anyway. As far as I was concerned, the run was a great success. And confirmation that I really am ready for this run. Below are some photos from the day.
The trip.
So. As I mentioned, as of tomorrow it is just two weeks til we set off for Iceland, and so you must be thinking that everything is wonderfully planned and ready to go.
Well. That’s not quite true. As far as the training, mental preparation and kit side of things go, I’d say we are pretty ready. I would go as far to say that I have confidence in all three of these aspects – and given that I am often very reluctance to place confidence in things, I’d say this was pretty promising.
Things we have yet to sort are getting to the start point and food drop offs. Both potentially pretty important things. But also solveable.
The food issue is only an issue in that if we can’t find a place to post food, we have to carry two weeks worth on our backs. Which is more of an inconvenience than a problem.
The food I will be taking is basically a plethora of dried, energy dense foods. I am self packaging a porridge/nut/seed/powdered milk super breakfast mix for each day, along with 100g of pre-mixed dehydrated food which I purchased in bulk from this website. And when I say, I purchased, I do actually mean my dad purchased, so thanks dad for sponsoring my crazy endeavours once again.
Together, these two meals will give me close to 1000 calories per day, which I hope to supplement with powdered drinks and (hopefully) some form of dried meat. It is not a lot – but it should be enough – and will add around 4kg to my pack. A number which I plan to keep as low as possible for obvious reasons!
And the other issue – the getting to the start point thing is also solvable. Hopefully. Probably. We are working on it and welcome to any ideas. But basically we hope to be able to find a lift that will get us pretty close to the start on the Friday night. There are no roads that reach the Easternmost point – but we should be able to get within a couple of hours hike from the start. And who doesn’t like a good warm up…?
Basically, there are a few bits to sort out. But, we will hopefully get there soon.
The team.
Unfortunately, in these last moments before the run, we have lost a team member. Charlotte will no longer be joining us on the trip – for many reasons, which I won’t go into here.
Sometimes, despite you doing everything right, there are reasons why you are not able to go on and do things. It is just not the right time to do so. Charlotte has trained incredibly hard, and has achieved things through doing this that many people will never achieve. I think she must be one of the only people to take up running in January and run 20 miles twice by May. We’re sad that she won’t be joining us, but we respect that she has made the best decision for her. As a team, we hope to see Charlotte keep up the running, and we know that other opportunities will arise for her as a result.
The fundraising.
Amazingly, a number of people have already donated to our Just Giving page – we have raised £310 which is just brilliant. Huge thanks to all those people who have donated.
Our aim is to raise £5000 for Acorns Children’s Hospice as this would make a huge difference to the work they do. I like to make light of the run, but 30 miles a day for over two weeks is going to be super tough. Seeing the donations come in will make it all worthwhile – so if you can spare a few quid – please do! You can donate by clicking the Acorns logo below. Thanks all!
