The Final Countdown

Anyone planning walking up Ben Nevis next Saturday? Well, if you are can you let me know because I've got a couple of Mars Bars and perhaps a Bacon Double Cheeseburger that I'd like you to carry up there for me. Yes, a week tomorrow its Ben Nevis Race day.

Nearing the end - 2006

The training is now all but over and its now down to taking it easy and making the final preparations for race day. Its weird. I know I can can get up and down within a sensible time. I've just done it twice in the last couple of weeks. And I've done the race 8 times before over the last 21 years (7 of them in the last 9 years). But even so, pre race nerves can still get the better of me.

Even more weird is the fact that the the pressure is on and yet the only person I'll be racing against on Saturday is myself. I've not got any one else to beat, and the only time that matters is my time. But that's the Ben Race for you. Kind of gets under your skin.

Post race cramp - 2005

All I have to do is avoid all the lurgies floating round for another week. And to avoid doing stupid things like going over on an ankle. Speaking of which, I got in my last half Ben on Wednesday evening. Again the weather was miserable and the grassy bank (the short cut down from the Red Burn at half height) was as wet and slippy as it can be. My descent was very tentative; nothing stupid now. And then having made it safely to the bottom I went over on one ankle and then the other within 100m. Great!

So, the final countdown. One more week to go. Tune again next week to see how it all went.