Miss Scotland glows. The sort of glow that is truly infectious. It is coming up to the first anniversary of her involvement with Wobbly and in that time her enthusiasm, personality and love of life have been an asset to the team and to me especially.
Except during that long trudge up the last night of Kilimanjaro. Continue reading
Boy, is my office a midden or what? Suitcase after suitcase has been carted home from the 8th floor of the Aurora building to the back room at Roman Drive as ten years of memories goes home. The first suitcase full was an anticlimax as I only managed to get the three pairs of running shoes that had accumulated in the office over recent months. Continue reading
Back Running Again. How good do those words sound? I have a plan, a goal to achieve – The Copenhagen Marathon, Sunday 20 May, sixteen weeks time. The perfect timeframe in which to train for a marathon. Continue reading A longer (10 minute) version of the Kilimanjaro film.
Sleeping has never been a bedfellow of mine. As a child I used to envy my sister Christine who could sleep through the morning. Sometimes into the afternoon. ”The early bird catches the worm” or “the best part of the day” are in those categories of phrases that have been dreamt up to make people who are thoroughly pissed off about a situation somehow feel better. The “best part of the day” is late evening at a friend’s house when the banter is flowing, not six o’clock the following morning, sitting in the lounge in a tiger suit with only a guinea pig for company. Continue reading
When Karen and I are in the build up to a marathon, everything involves a countdown. Months, weeks, days. When we are running it is miles to go, bends to run etc. Kilimanjaro is less than a week away. This time next week we will be waking up in the shadow of the mountain for a day of exploring and relaxing. The briefing starts at 4pm. The climb starts a week tomorrow.
How will it feel? Daunting? For certain. Exciting? Undoubtedly. Incredible that it is happening at all? Definitely. I have been reviewing all my blogs over the last few months and recalling the days when I was looking into the future and seeing nothing. Just emptiness. With hindsight it was a blank page waiting for me to write a story or paint a picture. Imagine the hope it would have given me to see a picture of Kilimanjaro. Little me with backpack, kilt and spare kitchen sink. Marvellous. I would have crapped myself.
Hope is a glorious thing. Second only to humour and well ahead of Parkinson’s.
So the training is done. Over Christmas and New Year the final two hills in my preparations for Kilimanjaro were completed. First was Slieve Donard on Boxing day, the second was Tinto Hill on 2nd January. Both were wild. The thing I learned when training for marathons is the training runs were not just about getting miles into your legs, they were also about learning. Learning what it is like to run in rain. Learning how to carry water. Learning how to talk about nothing for hours on end. Learning, learning, learning.
These final two hill climbs were no different. Donard taught me I can cope in winds gusting in excess of seventy miles an hour and Tinto taught me my gear can cope in sub-zero windy conditions. I also learned on Tinto that my footing isn’t great on icy paths (don’t believe the line “There won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time” from the BandAid single of Christmas 1984. There bloody will and most of it will be on top of Kilimanjaro!) This is a worry and in a nutshell highlights my concerns about Kilimanjaro. I haven’t prepared well enough. I haven’t been up enough hills, I haven’t tested my kit fully, I am not even sure I have broken my boots in properly. And I am about to walk up the largest free standing mountain in the world.
There is so much conflicting information about what to expect. So much new information everyday. For example yesterday someone mentioned to Karen that our torches should give out red rather than white light to avoid attracting mosquitos!!! Pardon? Is this true? Why has no mentioned it before? Do we not leave mossies behind fairly early on?
Seven days time we fly out. Seven days later we will summit. Then I will know if I am prepared.
