You’d think preparing for a trip to the North Pole for what is likely to be a once in a life time experience would be exciting, full of anticipation, and lots of mental daydreaming of what the pole might be like. Not a bit of it. In a remarkably familiar pattern to our scientific pre-Saharan preparation, i am feeling stressed, rushed, exhausted and a million miles from any kind of physical or mental preparedness for the arctic. The toll of the last 3 months is catching up with me, i am continuously tired and low on energy, not to mention worried about the condition of my knee. Last minute stresses to ensure our website finally looks decent in the next two days, the charity is set up and finding a freezer to do some training in London have not helped. Still there’s $600 worth of new polar clothing lying in a pile of a corner of my room, and somewhere over the atlantic is a pair of the most ridiculous running shoes i have ever seen - more commonly known as snow shoes and to you and me a piece of metal, round, with a piece of plastic in the middle to put your shoe in. Right. So definitely time to start smiling, get excited, and start the dreaming!