Only 3 weeks to go now and the time for training is almost over. I did back-to-back runs over the weekend, of 25k on Saturday morning and 35k on Sunday morning, with my full backpack target weight of 9kg, plus 1.5kg of water. Everything went well and no blisters to report. I steered clear of some of the steeper rocky/muddy areas that I usually run on, as an ankle injury now would really spoil things.

My 60k this weekend pushed my total training distance over the last 4 months past 1,000km. It’s surprising how the distance adds up over the weeks and months and although very different to the 1,000km I will be attempting in the 4 desert races, it’s still a big confidence boost.

Math was definitely not my strongest subject at school and 1,000km is definitely not equal to 26 marathons. It’s still a long way, but actually equal to approximately 23 and a half marathons. The email flyer that we prepared contained my bad math calculation of 26 marathons. My apologies for this and before anyone asks, the answer is 'no!', I’m not planning to continue on for another 2 and a half marathons after the race ends in Antarctica later this year.

A big thank you to everyone who has donated so far and thank you also for all the kind messages of encouragement that you have posted to me. It makes a huge difference when you are out there running on your own to think of that kind of support.

Allen

11th April 2016