So, I spoke to a friend last week and she said; “Are you still doing the Kili thing? It seemed like a few months ago you were going great guns, and since then it seems to have fizzled out a bit.”

Which is completely true.

After the 3 Yorkshire Peaks in October, the next ‘big thing’ in my calendar was a 10k run on the 5^th of November, which I couldn’t manage… due to the shoulder injury.

In fact, the injury (and the subsequent collateral damage to my morale) has kept me out of anything serious since then, with the exception of 3 or 4 light gym session, and the odd day spent walking and sight-seeing.

Those who follow my Blog know that I’ve tried; resting, stretching, physio, acupuncture and a steroid injection… with very slow progress being made.

For a while over Christmas I wasn’t sure… I had some doubts whether, maybe, this wasn’t the right time for me. Certainly my plan to be the fittest I’d been in recent history was blown, and Christmas excess was making my fitness levels significantly worse. And seemingly out of nowhere, the recovery process took a knock, and there was a big set-back leaving me struggling to sleep through the night.

But… I was hopeful… And in my mind I never thought that I wouldn’t be there with my team mates, on the mountain in February.

January was a busy month with Sales training sessions in Cologne and London in quick succession, then followed soon after by a trip to Scotland.

I had the steroid injection on the day I returned from Cologne (via Frankfurt due to airport staff industrial action) which was Jan 10^th.

I did feel considerably better the following morning, but the potentially psychosomatic improvements only lasted a few days. And whilst there was a definite improvement since Christmas, recovery continued to be ‘painfully’ slow.

At this time I came to terms with a few things…

My previous thinking process had been ‘sort the shoulder out first – and then worry about everything else’.

But now I realise that won’t be the case – and that carrying the shoulder will be part of my Kili experience, and I’m ok with that. Some pain and discomfort was already quite high on the list of expected journey trials.

One thing that has helped me considerably is that I have done a couple of dry runs recently.

In particular on the 2^nd weekend of January there was a cold snap in the UK, temperatures of around freezing coincided nicely with the arrival of some new kit such as my Kili-ready sleeping bag and my heavy duty down jacket.

So obviously the sensible thing to do was to spend the night in the garden in a tent…

It was cold… and uncomfortable and the shoulder was awkward… But, I survived and I had some visitors in the morning who also enjoyed the experience… And it was a fun… childish, playful, mini-adventure.

The next day when walking through Leeds city centre though, I saw a number of tents similar to mine, but which had been set up underneath the railway arches – these ones didn’t look fun at all. So I decided to donate my sleeping bag on my return, in the hope that it will keep someone else warm too.

The shoulder… well it seemed a bit stiffer, but not significantly worse after that night.

After that Rachel Procter and I agreed that we would like to get one last practise walk under our utility-belts before we flew out to Tanzania. So we decided to revisit the Yorkshire Dales, and once again cross walking poles with one of our former nemeses.

I really wanted to check how the shoulder would react to a 3-4 hour proper walk, and seeing if I could carry a light day bag, whilst managing with the poles…

So on the weekend of the 26^th we headed back to Whernside… On the up-hills I could really tell that I’d been out of action for nigh on 13 weeks. I was sucking and blowing like ‘The Little Engine’ and giving it the “I think I can, I think I can” treatment as I dragged myself up those inclines.

It was a tough day, there was lots of bitter, gale force wind near the top and some treacherous ice patches to contend with too. But, we started to re-locate our stride and a change began to occur and it began to be more of a case of: “I know I can, I know I can.”

Some 8 hours after that walk I’m glad to report no adverse reactions from the shoulder, which has actually felt the best today that it has in weeks. *shrugs*

So… I’ve checked 1, can I sleep outdoors, and I can.

And I’ve checked 2, can I walk and carry a pack, and I can.

“I know I can, I know I can… choo, choo… All aboard… Next stop, South Africa…”