The sharp eyed among you will notice two things.  First, my trip starts tomorrow and so this cannot be a post about my trip.  Second, the city in the picture is not Hanoi.

You’re absolutely right.  That’s Manchester and yet this both is and isn’t a post about my trip.  Yesterday, I ran Manchester marathon.  That’s 26.2 miles around my home city.  In fact, it’s Greater Manchester marathon and mostly run around Stratford, Trafford, Altrincham, Timperley and Carrington.  But still…

It was my third marathon, and my eighth time at this distance (the other 5 as part of longer races, either doubles or just over the 26 miles) and I ran a good, consistent race entirely in line with my plan.  My teammate, Rebecca, is the hare to my tortoise and sped into a fabulous finish, and I was supported for a good few miles by my wonderful friend Andrea, who rode over from Sheffield on her bike to get some saddle miles in her legs, and rode alongside me to keep me moving.

 

Today, I’m not going to lie, my legs are a little sore (/shredded) and the idea of strapping on a backpack and travelling halfway round the world tomorrow morning seems like a crazy scheme!

But that’s what I’m going to do, all the same. So today is about keeping my legs moving, to  make sure they don’t seize up, and working my way through the thankfully small list of tasks I need to get finished.  Luckily, this mostly consists of charging essential devices (earphones, kindle, camera battery, battery pack) and testing myself up and down the stairs with the backpack.  If the worst comes to the worst, I’ll have to transfer to a suitcase and just take a day pack…. If only I knew where I’ve put the bigger suitcase!