Travels with my teapot: The 'not-so calm' before the storm...

This past week has been rather varied for me.

Today, the nerves have well and truly hit me, and as much as I want to maintain some perspective, I have gone from feeling so sick I've needed to pull over in the car, to dancing round the kitchen dancing wildly to Earth Wind and Fire (note: the latter is not out-of-character behaviour for me, but it is presently a result of giddy nervousness as opposed to pure joy and/or intoxication).

September has crept up far too quickly for my liking, and I now find myself with just one full day remaining before I begin my merry jaunt around Shropshire on two feet.

I can scarcely believe it has been six months since I dreamt up this rather wonderful plan, and although half of me is wishing I just had one more week to prep, the other half knows full well that I would probably faff and not get one extra job done in that additional time.

Taking a moment...nothing like climbing a tottering wall of straw to rid yourself of nervous energy!

At best, I would currently describe myself as scatterbrained and jittery. I know I have jobs to get done, and kit to find, but I have become that person who cannot quite stick to task, starting a new task before finishing the current one.

The taper has gone surprisingly well, though I have felt a little like a caged animal at times. I got to stretch my legs a little on a short trip in France - the weather was sublime and I couldn't resist a couple of short runs in the mountains: my mum wanted to celebrate turning 50 this year by cycling up Alp d'Huez, so the family (minus Josh who was gigging) and friends joined her in this feat.

Beautiful Bourg D'Oisans

I was gutted to not be on two wheels, and spent alot of time there feeling inordinately jealous of everyone pedaling around and up mountains, but I still got my sporting fix by running up the mountain during mum's successful cycling attempt. It was great to spend time in a place where cyclists are so well respected on the roads - I will almost certainly be making a return trip on two wheels so I can enjoy a glorious free-wheel on some hair-raising hairpin bends.

Since I've been back, it has been all systems go with prep for next week - I've bought a ridiculous quantity of food, and I had my last sports massage from Stevan Martinez at Crossfit SY1: conversations about Robot Wars and ice cream could alas not quite distract me from the knuckles pummeling my calves and quads, but hey, it's worth it, my legs are in as decent shape as I could have hoped for.

So I'm pretty much there! The customary local news piece has appeared, and work on the documentary (yes, I know, this was a surprise to me when The Nomad Productions got in touch and genuinely wanted to make a mini film about the run - I'm already feeling a little bit giddy at the thought of being let loose with a gopro-esque camera for a week!) has begun.

I can also say that the t-shirts that the fantastic Sally Warner (Red Hair and Dangerous) has designed for the event have arrived!! A huge thank you to her efforts and patience for putting up with my vagueness when it comes to designs!