30 hours

With less than thirty hours to go until the race starts in the eastern outskirts of London, I have spent the day going through the mandatory kit list and making sure I have everything I need. Because I decided not to check a bag this time, I am limited in how much liquid I can bring with me. This means that I still need to pick up some more Maurten gels tomorrow in London but, otherwise, I should be good to go.

Trying to calm my race nerves, I stopped by Nordic Wellness for some upper-body strength training in the morning, being careful to avoid any core exercises so as not to repeat the same mistake I made leading up to Kyrkmilen in 2021.

Sofi, who will be my support crew, has now joined me, and we are back by the big windows in the Landvetter lounge as we wait for our 737-8AS to arrive from Gdańsk and carry us across the North Sea, hopefully undeterred by the circling thunderstorms. Before the race starts at 9 p.m., we plan to swing by Tate Modern, which is currently showing both Frida Kahlo and Tracey Emin.