Its the day before the race. My emotions are all over the shop again… yesterday I was top of the world and very confident…today a little pessimistic and unsure that I can pull this off. Small worries keep plaguing my mind. The niggling shin ache seems like an insurmountable hurdle and I keep wondering how its going to react to 42 km of hard core running. The fact that this is my first marathon is doing little to build my confidence… So the only left that I can do is rest and carbo-load to the max. Sean has given me about 15 of those disgusting sachets and an abundance of powedery energy drinks… foul stuff.

Well enough about marathon worries. Hereçs a quick update on the trip so far. We´re in a refugee camp called Smara - in South West Algeria close to the town of Tindouf. Its a fascinating place… barren, dusty and perfect for photos. Its also ridculously easy to get lost in the maze of tents and mud huts here. We´ve been spending our time chilling out, drinking tea (the arabic kind - an art form on which i can write a separate blog) and exploring the town with the village kids.

Our film crew arrived today… after a nightmare mission at customs and having had some of their camera´s confiscated at at Algiers. A separate story which Sean has elaborated on… another set back for the team but not the end of the world and our worries are no firmly all about tomorrow´s marathon. The town is abuzz with excitement though. Our afternoon warm up was awesome. We had a stretching and jogging session with the local Saharawi children training alongside and shouting Maratoni! Maratoni!. A few minutes ago we completed a pre-marathon dinner of pasta with all the runners and now its off to bed for the big day! Hard to believe that at this time tomorrow it will all be over…