T - 13

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Less than two weeks to go. Sore knees again but not unusually so.

This is supposed to be a weekend off / social. Despite that, I managed a few miles in the open air today but progress was rather slow. The week's endeavours are humble though:

• Monday night - football - good game, good goal, good win, bad right ankle made a wee bit worse than it was on return from Glasgwm
  
• Tuesday was a slave to exhaustion and hoping to allow ankle to recover a bit
  
• Wednesday out running again and a thousand steps on return - ankle just about ok
  
• Thursday rest - ankle crunchy
  
• Friday - a welcome social escape to some kind of reality in the Cotswolds
  

And so it's Saturday. Somehow, I need to work even harder on fitness between now and my return to the familiar launching pad of Heathrow. One more weekend opportunity to find any semblance of altitude.

Altitude. I look forward to it as much as I fear its onslaught. Having seen my doc, I am now armed with Diamox which I hope will save my little expedition should my lungs decide that breathing above 10,000 feet is too much hard work. Having already had a Typhoid jab booster, the last medical check before the trip is a visit to the sinister practitioners of dentistry.

The weather is getting both warmer and calmer here. The weather at base camp is still ferociously cold. When the sun next rises over the frozen roof of the planet in a few hours, the temperature will be around -60C. By the afternoon, -27C. The fluctuations are increasing so maybe that means the days will continue to warm up. Maybe.

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