Days until the Death Race: 5
Hours slept last night: 9

The (first) official gear list:
ID CARD (laminated with medical info and emergency contact info)
Life Jacket
Ax
Saw
Hand Shovel
10 Foot Section of 1/8 inch rope
Tuxedo
Hand snips
5 lbs of hay
1 lb of grass seed
Safety Goggles
Swimming Goggles
$5.00 in quarters
Water Filter

I took the liberty to add few items of my own:
– a banjo
– yoga mat
– rolling papers (for the hay – see above)
– Barbie head
– ball gag with collar

Today’s gear purchases:
– 2 1-L collapsible Platypus water bottles
– oral rehydration salts
– 2 Cliff bars (anything for the sake of variety – Cool Mint Chocolate and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, even though I know perfectly well that after 10 hours, all Cliff bars taste the same)
– plastic waterproof pill containers
– plastic waterproof emergency kit

I’ve also stolen my favorite racing Salomons back from their recent home – a store window display in Salomon Toronto store:

My FellCross was in great company:

Things I am not doing this week:

• renting a tuxedo
• buying new hiking shoes
• eating obscene amounts of pasta
• taking freezing cold showers to get used to the cold
• squeezing in a couple of last-minute 4-, 12-, and 24-hour training sessions before the event to make sure I’m ready
• paying much attention to what’s going on in the Death Race Facebook group

Things I am doing this week:

• sleeping lots
• drinking lots (to answer your question – yes, and yes)
• packing my gear
• think about and talk about things other than the Death Race
• doing lots of yoga

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to do one of the above.

Signing off,
Solo