Tick tock

Tick tock.  42 days to go and there is nothing I can do to slow it down.  Time waits for no ultra runner as the saying goes...I think?
It hasn't helped that I came down with a chest infection which meant no running all week and just one light weighs session.  I've been coughing my guts up and was off work on Monday & Tuesday which is unheard off.  I should have taken Wednesday off but we're too busy.  By Saturday I had to do something so Stu and I headed to the Devil's Staircase to do an out and back to Kinlochleven.  We left at 5.30am as the weather forecast was good and we knew the mountain would be very busy and parking is limited.  We weren't wrong!
The Devil's Staircase sounds worse than it is under normal conditions.  It rises out of Glencoe and after 25 mins we were at the summit.  It's not too steep and you have a long undulating run before the big descent to Kinlochleven.  After 1hr 20 mins we were in Kinlochleven getting ready to head back and it is a tiring, steep climb out until you reach the pump station.  On the way up we met a lovely girl from Belgium and gave her some tips on the best way to climb Ben Nevis which she was going to do the following day.  We shared stories and she told us how lucky she'd been with the weather and how she loved Scotland.
Then we bumped into Becky who was walking from John o'Groats to Lands End - WOW!  That puts my 96 miles into context.  As I've said before, it's the people that make running so interesting, especially in the mountains.
But I'm all too aware that what seemed easy in a 21 km trail run, will be different when I'm 80 miles in.
My chest was ok and my knee held up.  The sun shone, the company was good and to top it all off we met Michael Martin who was running/climbing the Buchaille Etive Mor - some serious climbing and not for the faint hearted, like me!
I spent a lot of the night coughing so elected for an easy day today.  Started with yoga then time in the gym hammering my legs followed by a 6km run.  My heart rate was elevated and I coughed throughout the run so tomorrow is definitely a rest day.
I've said before my goal is to get to the start line uninjured and a fit as I can be.  I can't catch up on the missed training and if I take on too much, I'll end up injured so it is what it is.
What I will be spending more time on is the logistics as it would be heart breaking to fail due to poor logistics.  During the week I will be running consistently and at the weekend I'll be keeping up the consistent running, with longer runs on the race route at the weekends.  Tick tock!