Panic over, it’s time to get plodding

This week has seen me, as my legendary ultramarathon coach Rory Coleman says, in Pack and Panic mode.

What does that mean – and why? Well, as you read this, maybe with a hot cup of coffee having had a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed, spare a thought for me as I should be on day two of one of the toughest foot races in England known as The Spine Challenger.

The race starts in Edale in the heart of the

Peak District and follows the Pennine Way roughly due north.

The event is around 110 miles long. That means as soon as I start, the clock keeps ticking until I cross the finish line in the beautiful village of Hawes in, hopefully, less than 60 hours.

I am a bit of a plodder on events like this and finishing is in no way guaranteed as it’s likely to be icy, wet, windy and cold, my feet will be soaked the whole race and likely be macerated and blistered by the end, probably minus one or two toenails.

I will be effectively sleeping rough, maybe only with the shelter of a dry stone wall somewhere on the Pennines and probably at best a couple of hours a night if I am lucky.

I will tell you how I get on next week, but for this week that means I have been packing and re-packing my bag as I’ll have to carry everything – weighing approximately 8kg

– plus water.

I want it all to be as light as possible but there are minimum requirements in the rules of the race like spare clothes, emergency blanket, whistle and so on.

Everything is a compromise, as is where I pack it. Things I need quickly and regularly like food, water and, of course, the route map need to be close at hand. Equally, the emergency stuff should not be totally buried because if I need it I don’t want to have to rummage around in the bottom of my bag. It also needs to stay dry... another challenge.

So you see why Pack and Panic is such an apt expression as, even though I have done many races like this before, the constant fear of getting it wrong makes me stressed and has kept me awake at night all week worrying.

That said, hopefully that’ll mean that as you read this I will be plodding along nice and warm and dry, with a tummy full of food having got it right... or maybe not!