2 weeks to go...

It's getting down to the wire, and I'm still running with some physical aches & pains, but mentally I'm thrilled to have found someone to crew for me - my new "personal coach" Diana Wightman. It's so great to embark on an adventure and have someone working with you who's just as excited & enthusiastic - if not more - than you are! Between us, we have a lot of stuff to carry across the ocean; the list seems to get longer each time we talk. We meet up at Berlin Tegel airport 12 short days from now, and drive to the start in Stralsund.

My enforced taper continues as I head to the start line. My necessarily conservative first couple of stages might work to my advantage later in the race as those who are better prepared do too much, too soon (at least that's my working hypothesis). Well, we'll see.

1 month to go...

(I nearly called this post "1 Month til D-day", but that's probably crass and so inappropriate for a Brit heading towards Germany?) What am I feeling right now? Nervous and excited. Nervous because I'm ill-prepared and low-grade, long-term injured. But excited because the adventure is within spitting distance! I'm looking forward to seeing my friends from Transe Gaule - Trond from Norway, Hiroko from Japan, J-B from France, and maybe more. I'm very excited too to gain a whole new perspective on Germany and the folks who live there. Til now, my experience has been confined almost exclusively to Bavaria (for skiing & motorcycling in the mountains & summer walks round the lakes) and Frankfurt (for business). Now I should get to enjoy a whole new dimension of sights, smells and sounds.
In the words of our hapless president, "Bring it on!".