One week to go

"Why is the sky so low daddy?"

A question allegedly asked by Billy Connolly's children on visiting Scotland from the US!

Holyrood Park was nice and quiet today with the weather driving away all but the most intrepid which included me, a few hardy groups of foreign tourists and the cycle couriers taking part in the European Cycle Messenger Championships. So alot of the time, all I could hear was my own footsteps and breath, the rain, the birds and a couple of hundred tough, gnarly cyclists egging each other up Queen's Drive. Even the usual crowds of motorists who drive up to Dunsapie in order to sit inside their cars reading the newspaper stayed away.

In a weeks time I will be running from Carlisle to Gateshead with a stopoff at a campsite on the way. The hard work is done now so all that remains is to check out the route (looks like all of the climbing is on the first half of the first day - perhaps they really do mean it when they say the second day is easier?) and lay out all my stuff to make sure I have everything I need and everything I want to eat along the way. I am particularly pleased with my new waterproof troosers which are unbelievably tiny. My old ones take up half my bag, these fold up to the size of my clenched fist. I haven't been sad enough to blip them yet but I may still do this week sometime.

The one thing I am not prepared for is if the weather is nice. You are advised to train in the conditions you will be running in but I have done precisely one run in beating sunshine. It might be a problem. But probably not.