For once, the gods of transport smiled kindly on me and I made an untroubled journey south yesterday - even half an hour early into Heathrow. That's not the sort of thing that happens every day.
After checking in at my hotel (which includes a very nice iMac in every room, upon which this missive is being typed) I headed straight off to the registration expo at the ExCel centre in the Docklands. Despite the fears of huge queues, I managed to get registered and have my number and timing chip in my hand within 5 minutes of walking through the door.
The rest of the exhibition is a kind of runner heaven, wandering a hall full of suppliers of every kind of clothing, footwear, nutritional aid, gadget and training methodology you can find. There appear, for example, to be about 3,487 different types of running sock available and more things made of clingy Lycra than is strictly decent. I managed to restrict myself to a t-shirt, a fleece, and a surprising quantity of Lucozade Sport. There's the obligatory pasta party too.
All the charities have stands there and I managed to get my vest swapped for a more realistic size (Large?, cheeky buggers) by the nice people at Marie Curie, who also let me know that they can courier us to the post-race reception by bicycle rickshaw if the aching limbs can't face it. Nice. There are also representatives from other races there to publicise their event, and I appear to have collected approximately 20 of them. I really should know better.
Having said that, the Marathon du Mans, running round the circuit of the great 24 hour sports car race, looks fun. As does the Marrakech Marathon. And the Tromso Polar Night Half Marathon (at night, good chance of seeing Aurora Borealis). And the Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes (Nice-Cannes). I have a horrible feeling I may be developing a bug - although if you ask me again in about 28 hours, the answer may be different.
Today shall be a day of (almost) rest. Didn't get quite the sleep I was looking for last night, but a gentle stroll around the shops is the order of the day. Plenty of water, plenty of carbs, use the walk to loosen off the legs that haven't run for over a week.
And, finally, I have been putting together an hour's music for tomorrow morning to help me chill and focus. All by The Music, who haven't featured as much as I expected in the videos on here, despite them writing some of the songs that connect most with me. Also, because there aren't many videos floating around out there. This is another of those home-made YouTube jobs, but this will be the last song I play before dumping the iPod in the kitbag and heading to the start.
More later...
