Whenever I've run in the past I've never had to make too many decisions, maybe decide which top to wear based on the temperature and a bit of a thought about what pace I'm going to go for. However for the MdS there are a whole range of decisions to be made, all of which could have a significant impact on my finishing position and more importantly how much I enjoy the race.
As I mentioned in a previous post I think I've decided my target finishing position and therefore I have a fair idea of the pace I'll be aiming for. However that's only the start....
What to wear? Actually I'm fairly comfortable with that - I think. Loose top, compression shorts, road trainers, trail socks and Raidlight gaiters are the current thinking. However pants are still a bit TBD and I'm not sure whether to wear calf guards - the plus side is I'll need less suntan lotion so I'll probably take them, I can always bin them if I change my mind.
Apparently Colin Chapman's philosophy for creating fast cars was 'simplify then add lightness'. I intend to follow this philosophy with the contents of my all-important MdS backpack. On the one hand its got to contain everything I'm going to eat, sleep on or change into for a week and on the other hand it needs to be as light as possible as I've got to carry it 150ish miles. This leads to all sorts of decisions, food being a main one. I'll probably do a separate post on food at some point but for now the decisions are 'how much?' and 'to cook or not to cook?'. So far the answers are '2000 calories/day', the minimum allowed for the MdS and 'no'.
Sleeping decisions, a sleeping bag is mandatory and actually doesn't present too many questions - or so I think at the moment. The trickier decision is to take a sleeping mat or not, does the comfort justify the weight? At the moment the back pad of my backpack is a thin sleeping mat so I'm mostly dodging that question for now - depends if I think I can find a patch of nice soft stones to lie in I suppose.
Clothes to change into are another difficult area - it would be nice to take off my sweaty, salt encrusted running clothes at the end of the day but a change of clothes is more weight. So far I've allowed for a long sleeve top in my weight calculations but I'm not sure whether to ditch that or add some leggings or something.
On top of this there are 'luxury' items to consider, a camera, an MP3 player, GPS - all need batteries, all add weight.....
My first round of 'decisions' has left me with 7.8kg on my back according to my spreadsheet - I think I'm going to need a few spreadsheets for the MdS. Watch this space to see how this evolves and whether it gets nearer to the magical 6.5kg minimum or whether a love of comfort prevails....
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