Am I Mad?

What am I doing?!! What, on earth, am I doing?!!

The race organisers have released the race distances and stage details.  This is the post from the Beast of Ballyhoura Facebook page for 2 July 2014:

Start Short Foot Orienteering 1km

Section 1.1 Kayak 20km
Section 1.2 Swim 600m
Section 1.3 Foot Orienteering 11km
Section 1.4 Kayak 13km

TA1 Kit/Bike Boxes...

Section 2.1 Mountain Bike 50km
Section 2.2 Water Based Task 3.5km
Section 2.3 Mountain Bike 38km
Section 2.4 Foot Based Task 1km-5km
Section 2.5 Mountain Bike 28km

TA2 Kit Boxes

Section 3.1 Kayak 20km
Section 3.2 Foot Orienteering 25km

TA3 Kit Boxes

Section 4.1 Mountain Bike 27km
Section 4.2 Foot Orienteering 5km
Section 4.3 Mountain Bike 20km

Finish

That is 267km in 40hours.

EEEK! I really mean it.  EEEEK! 

When I shared this list on my Facebook page some of my friends commented "mad" and "my jaw dropped".  They think their jaw dropped.  You should see mine, my mouth is like a cavern as I indulge in some silent screaming. 

I mustn't panic, I mustn't panic....No, sorry, maybe it is time to PANIC!

My body hasn't caught up with my imagination. I can imagine myself crossing the finish line but look how wrecked I was after that 12 hour overnighter.  What am I going to like after 40 hours?  And yet, I really want to achieve this.  I want to cross that line...

'Til now it has all been theoretical.  But it is starting to become a reality and I feel nowhere near ready.  Look at me, I still have a muffin top... and a little roll of fat over my knees... shouldn't I be all hard muscle by now?  And that's another thing, why is there the little roll over the right knee bigger that the one on the left?   Besides which, with all this hard work,  why do I still have fat knees?

My training hasn't exactly been the smooth, serene curve of progress it should have been either.  There was the crash and there have been injuries and indignities along the way that have interrupted my training programme. What on earth am I doing?  I guess I will only be able to answer that at the end.  I am determined to get to the end, even if it means giving in and letting Ross attach me to the dog lead (I mean tow rope) so he can pull me across the line.

That does it, I had better get on with the training then and see if I can hone myself into an efficient machine in the next three weeks. No,  I am not mad,  I am.... optimistic.