Book a race! My coach Rory Coleman and I spoke last night on the phone, and the second part of my training plan for The Coastal Challenge Costa Rica (225km in 6 days this Feb) is starting to unfurl… He suggested the Druid Challenge by XNRG, from Tring to Swindon on the Ridgeway National Trail and I’ve just been on their website and the info is fantastic, I’m really excited and motivated now! I love all the looking at the route and marking up your map business, part of the excitement of the race!

In other plans, I just interviewed Ricky Lightfoot for his column in the next issue of Trail Running mag (on sale 6 Nov), he’s also a friend of mine (ever since we were plane buddies on the way back from the Otter Trail in South Africa and he saw me have a sneaky cry at a sad bit in Star Trek and sleep with my head back and mouth wide open!) so he’s hopefully going to help me out with another back to back 3-day session in Dec, starting with the 38 mile NAV4 Tour de Helvellyn Sat 20 Dec, straight after press day, why do I do this to myself? Joe Faulkner the organiser is also a good mate and it’s a brilliant route and excellently run event which I’ve done twice before so it’s easier to navigate now I know the route! I’ll give him a bell…

Can’t wait for my races now! Super motivated!