It’s a mild Wednesday night on the underground platform of Heathrow Terminal 5 and in a few days, I will be getting up at 5am to run from London to Brighton.

To say that I’m underprepared would be to basically copy and paste (CTRL+C and CTRL+V) nearly every preview blog introduction on this site.

But this time I have a valid excuse for some, if not all of my lack of fitness in the final weeks of what should’ve been a 24 week training block.

You see, just before Christmas 2021, just as I thought I had emerged unscathed through The Great Pandemic, I was cruelly struck down with the wretched covid-19 and had to spend a couple of weeks doing nothing.

Now some might say that this isn’t necessarily a good reason for having done nothing in the preceding two years or the subsequent five months. And they would be right.

But last month I got it AGAIN.

So perhaps someone upstairs (in departures I’m guessing) just doesn’t want me to do it?

Too late now though and for the second time in seven years I will be heading to Old Deer Park in Richmond for the Ultra Challenges London2Brighton 100k run.

This time though, I’ve brought reinforcements. My littlest bro Toby is stepping up (albeit as badly prepped as me) from the Jersey/Guernsey Round Island double. One of my longest friends (physically and chronologically) Ian, and Del.

In fact, this whole thing is Del’s fault. Somewhere between dinner and the cake at Toby’s wedding, he suggested he was after a challenge to test himself. Having never done anything longer than a half marathon, 62 miles from London to Brighton seemed like the next sensible step…

And so here we are. And he’s the only one that’s actually put in some training. Those with ultra experience have fallen into the trap of relying on mental fortitude and very occasional long runs to get us through.

The other thing that will get us through is the cause.

I’m not usually one to raise money through sponsorship. When you run as much as I do…did, sponsoring me to run is like sponsoring me to eat. Which is also part of the current problem.

But this time, I’m proud to be running for Breast Cancer Now.

Jackie, Ian’s mum, and my lovely former neighbour, sadly died from breast cancer in 2014 so it’s a cause literally close to my heart.

You can help support an amazing cause here: LINK

You can also track our probably very slow progress here LINK by searching for athlete 1116 from 0730 on Saturday.

If nothing else I have the fuel in the tank, I just haven’t really tried out the engine and the tyres are a little worse for wear. And the paint is fading. And the radio is stuck on a 90s rock channel. And the exhaust sometimes reacts badly when started in the morning.

This is going to be fun.

Oh I do like to be beside the seasiiiiiiide.