Only one more sleep to go now before we fly to Auckland for one of the highlights of an already fantastic trip. Tomorrow is the start of our New Zealand running tour which takes us from Auckland and tours down the North island - finishing in Wellington on the 11^th January.

Although the tour was designed primarily to fit in the with US collegiate season we decided to take the plunge and fork out for the trip seeing as how we were already on the same continent. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and something we are very unlikely to do again, so I'm really looking forward to making the most of it.

The tour is organised by Steve Willis (Nick Willis' brother) and we will get to run in some amazing places and National Parks, often linking up with other local runners. There should be quite a large group of runners and in between training there will also be plenty of opportunities to see the area and do some activities (I definitely did not tick the skydiving option on the application form though...)

Aswell as being able to train in some amazing places, there are also a couple of racing opportunities on my favourite surface....you guessed it - track! However, I am still looking forward to getting the racing shoes back on after a two month sabbatical from competition. There will be minimal pressure on me (only that which I am bound to put on myself) and the intention is to just see how I get on without doing any specific workouts for them or tapering down significantly (if at all). People may think it is strange, not tapering for my first races in a while (and my last races for at least another month), but my priority is the early US track season and not these races. I don't want to interrupt the training too much and stray from the bigger plan. Besides, tapering can be overrated!!!