Selfish sod

Preparation, planning and training have completely taken over this week to the point where my wonderful wife and kids have been very much neglected. I am acutely aware of lucky I am to have a family who are willing to support me with this Munro adventure and to be fair I have always been able to pursue my running and cycling as long as the family get plenty back from me when I'm at home. Unfortunately on top of nearly 13 hours training I have had so much else to sort out including copying maps, scores of emails, sorting and ordering kit and meeting up with people to borrow equipment and chat about my plans. Even when I have been home, I've had my head buried in maps or a laptop; certainly there in body but not in mind. It has felt like a full time job at times, and the clock has been ticking as I know that with my return to work tomorrow, it will be non-stop until we depart in April. So yes, it doesn't feel good, but this week I have been a bit of a selfish sod! Even typing this my 6 year old is snuggled up asking me to play with her and I've had the odd "Daddy, why do you always go out running?" and "Why do you never play with us?" Heartbreaking really.

Helen and the girls, neglected of late

The upside of all the hard work is that I am many steps closer to being ready to go than I was at the start of the week. Wheelbase have sorted my mountain bike out and that's running as sweet as a nut again. I've borrowed lots of kit that I can't afford to buy, had yet more offers of help from people and have copied pretty much all the maps I need for what I reckon is a journey of around 1500 miles. We have also bought a motorhome at no small cost! A great source of information (and maps) has been Joe Mann, a 20 year old Ambleside student who did all the Munros from the back of a van with his friend Pete in the Summer of 2012. I met him for the first time this week and have been really inspired by what he told me about his trip. They cooked all their own food on a camping stove, played rock, paper scissors to decide who was hitching back for the bike and had just 3 showers in 60 days!! Makes my plans look luxurious by comparison. Hopefully Joe and Pete might be able to join me for some of my trip. The blog of their trip is here.

My steel framed Kona Explosif stripped down ready for a rebuild

GEEK ALERT! Munro data dashboard

Great Rigg on Friday

As intended, and in some horrendous weather, I have managed a decent week of running and biking:

M: 50 mins Scars
T: 1 hour 15 mins Loughrigg
W: 1 hour 45 mins Red Screes with Jane
T: Rest
F: 3 hours 20 mins Fairfield - Glenridding - Kirkstone
S: 3 hours road bike with Aled
S: 2 hours 20 mins Loughrigg - Lingmor - Loughrigg with Stu

Totals:     Run: 9 hours 30 mins               Bike: 3 hours

7 weeks to go