Less than two weeks to go now. I was asked today by a colleague (Dean aka Achilles) “are you ready?” I think the answer is “Yes”, but the nature of the event and primarily its distance means that there is always that little element of doubt that nags away at the back of your mind. Expect the unexpected, I think that sums it up best.

Anyway, here is the plan. Friday morning we catch the tunnel and have a 463 mile drive to a place in Germany called Wolfsburg, where we’ve booked a Holiday Inn.

Saturday, we take the car to Berlin and register for the event and collect our race numbers. We also plan to watch Hertha Berlin FC play at the Olympic Stadium in a Bundesliga match (60,000 capacity!). Feet up in the afternoon at our Berlin Motel and plenty of pasta for tea, hopefully a good night’s sleep to follow.

Sunday is the big day. Did I mention last week that the showers at the finish are uni-sex?! When it is all done and gone to plan, we have a small drive back to Wolfsburg and a chance to re-fuel (who said “beer”?!!). 463 miles back the other way on Monday before we go to our celebration party in East Sussex where the beer will be waiting.

I should hit Everyone Active, Malvern Splash by lunchtime on Wednesday, so I can report back to you all and declare the winner of the charity sweepstake that we have here at the centre.

Weekly Tip from the Bottom (half) – guest columnist, Dean aka Achilles.

1 Sports massage. Now that Mark has reduced his training volume to allow his muscles to repair to their fullest extent, I’ve advised him to use that time to have a sports massage. “What will this do for me?” I hear you ask. Well, think of it as a very thorough and quite firm massage, typically for the legs with runners. This helps with lymphatic drainage and venous return (ie getting rid of waste products in the muscle and aiding normal blood flow), as well as returning his muscle length back to normal. As a result, I hope that Mark will no longer have those niggling little aches and pains that developed when his training volume was significantly higher.

Next week I’ll be back and sharing my last minute observations. Please visit www.indianoceanrace.com to view the official website of the world record attempt, to meet Guy and Andrew and to make a donation if you so choose.