This was it. A grueling 26.2 mile marathon across the Himalayas.
There was no going back. Gorak Shepp was to be our start point. 5,200 meters above sea level, with oxygen levels at 50%.
Our climatisation trek had taken a lot out of us. As the miles slowly went by, we could tell that it certainly was not a race to be taken lightly.
The impact of altitude when you're actually there is very, very tough. Very difficult. Just getting out of bed, getting out of your sleeping bag and your tent, doing up your tent leaves you incredibly breathless.
It's quite disconcerting. One of the ways your body is adjusted is by taking, it's called periodic breathing and you actually stop breathing for 45 seconds to a minute and then take a big gasp of air.
It's definitely not like running a sort of road marathon. You've got obviously all the undulating terrain. You've got lots of loose rock and very dusty, dusty earth.
Going down will just be very steep and a bit hazardous, but when you're going up, of course, you're not only getting the effort of going uphill, but you're also going into less and less oxygen.
Thank you very, very much to all of you for all of your support. I could not have hoped for better. It's been a really, really epic adventure and rates a lot of money for both the Everest Fund and Women's Aid.
There's still some time to donate if you haven't already, but I hope to see all of you soon. I'm back now. Thank you very, very much.
