No turning back

It's nearly time to head off on the long journey to Morocco - it starts tomorrow lunchtime with a drive to my folks' place in Kent for an overnight stop and then on to Gatwick on Thursday morning for a mid-day flight to Ouazarzate in southern Morocco. I have had a frantic few days getting ready to go, and with most of my jobs done, I'm about as ready as I can be.

The heat training started in earnest over the weekend, and we're coming to the end of our 5 sessions in heat of up to and over 45 degrees C.

That's quite warm!

The sessions aren't that exciting really, just an hour or so of alternating walking/running on the treadmill and pedalling on the static bike trainer. But they do seem to be having the desired effect, and have enabled us to tweak our kit a little as it and we respond to the heat.

That's quite cool!

I managed to get out into the hills over the weekend too to really test the leg recovery with a "fast" 10 miler (fast as in about 2 hours!) with some fast marching and slow jogging. The walking was fine, but the jogging was nerve racking - my calf felt tight and I kept thinking it was about to tear again so I didn't push it, and it all survived without any further inflammation or pain. So, after more physio visits I've been given the all clear for the race, although I'll still be taking the first day or two ultra conservatively just in case. It's still got 5 days to recover further before I go so it should be fine by the time the race starts.

The other aspect of preparation that's pre-occupied me has been kit - lots of it, lots of debate over how much of stuff to take, what food, how many calories etc etc. All things I thought I had covered but still needed to be finalised. I've now confirmed my pack with a weight of slightly over 10kg before I add the 1.5kg of water I'll be carrying as well. That's slightly heavier than I had hoped, but less than I thought it would be after all the last minute faffing. There's certainly a lot of stuff in it.

Most of it weighs nothing, which is good because the rest weighs over 10kg

And finally, we've been pushing hard on the publicity angle. On top of the newspaper articles that will be published whilst we're away, today saw Rich and I doing a live slot on the Toby Foster Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Sheffield. If you're reading this within 7 days of it being posted you can hear the clip on the BBC iPlayer at 1 hour 36 minutes into the programme via the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00q7hwt. I'm hoping we've delivered on our promises to our sponsors at Otto's and The Mediterranean in Sheffield.

Rich and Toby Foster live on air - rock & roll!

So, the preparation is complete, or as complete as it's able to get, and there's not much more to do now, than get there and enjoy the experience. Oh, and run 150 miles of course. Wish me good luck and I'll be back after the race with a full run down of the race from my perspective and my thoughts on my performance.