Been quite busy sorting out my kit, and apart from one or two small bits I'm there, well, I'm there apart from the food Here's me about to go for a run with the new raidlight olmo 20 (thanks to one of my kind sponsors), I look positively angelic don't I ? Its a better weight than the Waa bag I was given, around 1kg lighter ( yes I'm starting to obsess about kit weight, I knew it would happen !). Anyhow, with all my kit in the bag, it weighs in at just under 4kg, without the food of course. So I reckon, it'll be in the region of 7.5kg at the start line ( this is including two full water bottles as well), happy days with that, I did start to accept 10kg as a reality but this is such good news.
Another bit of kit that arrived recently were the running shoes. I had to have Velcro sewn onto these to enable the gaiters to be fitted when running through the sand .... they've done a decent job too ....
I've also got round to getting the venom pump and other mandatory equipment, like compass, whistle, signalling mirror and ... my bed, see that rolled up bit of foam underneath my bag up above ? That'll be my bed for a week ... in order to save some weight, it was cut down so it's only long enough to support from my shoulders down to my backside ( I did say I was starting to obsess about kit weight didn't I ?).
On the training front, its just been a case of ticking over since the 100+ mile plus week I did in January, needed time for my legs to recover properly. That's not to say I haven't been running, I've done quite a few shorter runs ( under 8 miles ) and a few speed sessions at my running club. In addition, a good 16 miler early one Saturday morning with a few runners I've met recently. Then one of my club mates ( you know who you are), joined me in a bit of off-piste running through the water and mud of Penllergaer forest, fantastic fun ... yes, I'm 47 and yes I need to grow up, but this was great fun and will be doing more of this. This morning did around 9.5 miles with 4.5kg on my back ... felt ok but not great, however, tomorrow, the plan is to run from Penllergaer to Swansea Bay Parkrun, run the parkrun, and then run home, estimate around 22 miles - lets see how that goes, I certainly wont be setting any PB's that's for sure. I met up with another MdS entrant recently, Chris Rees from Port Talbot, lovely guy and we had a great chat, exchanging our take on what kit to take, food etc.
Another part of my training involved going to watch "Prescilla, Queen of the Desert" in Cardiff, whilst it was very good, there wasn't anywhere near enough desert scenes and there wasn't anything I could really take away and apply in the Sahara. I did spot a certain ex-rugby playing legend there, can you tell who it is ?
Fundraising is starting to pick up again, a number of my collection tins have returned full ( thanks to all who have put their loose change in the tins.) Also, my raffle in the café in North Dock pulled in over £100 so thanks to my neighbour for running that for me, and for continuing the fundraising up until race day, much appreciated.
I've been given 4 tickets for the Opsreys V Ulster game, premier club, I believe, from the ever supportive Aspire2Be .. these will be getting raffled soon along with some other items left over from my fundraising night in November.
One huge huge thanks to friends of mine from Manchester, who are getting married in March. Instead of asking for presents, they have asked all the guests to donate money to my fundraising efforts, I was speechless when they first mentioned this and even more so when I read the wedding invite with details of my race on there ! Many thanks Amanda & Chris.
One final bit of news was that I've got the go ahead to hold a bucket collection at the Ospreys V Ulster game, so be ware, there'll be many of us there looking to grab our loose change ( that is not a euphemism by the way ).
As normal, any potential business sponsors out there ? I'd love to hear from you, in return I can offer company names / logos on items of my kit. Also, if you can see your way to sponsoring my efforts, I'd be ever so grateful ... just click me
I've finally managed to shift some more weight as well, which is great news, ( have I mentioned obsessing about weight ?) ... under 13 stone for the first time since Joe Dolce's "shut uppa ya face", kept Ultravoxs' "Vienna", off the number one spot .. yep, its been a long time !
Many thanks to Gary for unearthing and sharing the Roald Dahl quote, we should be enthusiasts at life shouldn't we .. remember, lukewarm is no good.
Til next time enthusiasts !
Fatboy
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