there goes the fear

I've mentioned this before, but I'm a determined (stubborn) woman.

This evening I had my Typhoid and Hep A injections.

I am so glad that's over.

I'll be back with a proper update soon, but for now, I think me facing my fears means I deserve some sponsorship... Sponsor us here.

Thanks

x

the fear is here

It seems like only yesterday I wrote this post about my fear of needles and shared with you the many embarrassing tales of freak-outs and 'incidents' that litter my past. This morning the moment I have been avoiding for almost 8 months arrived and with a little bit of 'mothering' I finally stopped procrastinating and booked an appointment to have my 'urghs' (Hep A and Typhoid).

My appointment is next Wednesday evening, and there will be no getting out of it unless my boss tells me I can't leave the office early (please, please, please...). Unfortunately, my partner is more terrified of needles than me (hence referring to them as 'urghs'; you can't utter the word in her presence), and while she has very sweetly said she will drive me to my appointment (I wasn't even expecting that...), she can't come in with me to hold my hand. I am therefore hoping that Ms Motivator will be able to come with me, as we are due to go on to the travel clinic just afterwards to talk about altitude sickness and other such exciting things. And, well, last time I had an injection I had to be physically pushed into the room. Ahem.

We leave for Morocco a month tomorrow. Look to the countdown in the sidebar, it's a frighteningly low number. Training is going alright, on Saturday Jo and I covered about 15 miles and last night we did a tiny, tiny, less than 2 mile walk up a hill. Even if I only cover small distances, my aim is to keep doing exercise on consecutive days. As ever, life keeps getting in the way, but any training I do now is something, at least.

Fundraising is looking healthy. Current total as I type is £3620. Katie and I would really appreciate it if you would help get that figure to £4000.

While talking to some colleagues at lunch the other day, we had a genius fundraising idea. Sadly I don't think it's something we could organise in the few short weeks left until the trek, and I'm not sure even my 'charm' and sweet-talking skills could have made it happen. Basically, my plan was to get senior members of staff to agree to let people pay £1 to throw wet sponges at them. After all, who wouldn't want to throw a sponge at a director?

Unfortunately, the directors weren't too keen on my plan and I had firm 'no's' from the Chair, Deputy Clinical Chair, Governance Manager and Engagement bod. Personally, I think this is very short-sighted of them, as a sure way to win the respect of your team would be to join in the fun for a good cause. But oh well. I probably won't give up on the idea and will try to get something going for after the trek. Two people have said they will do it, but they aren't quite senior enough. I'm aiming high, I want a director!

A few days ago I told you I was feeling cautiously optimistic. Today I would describe as 'determined'. Once I set my mind to something, I do not fail. A couple of weeks ago, someone in a meeting described me (jokingly), as a Rottweiler. My aim for the next month is to keep that in my mind, remember that I never fail, and just keep swimming (or, uh, walking).

I'm going to keep on writing as regularly as possible for the next few weeks, giving you updates and keeping this trek in your mind, in the hope that it inspires you to put your hands in your pockets to donate.

The two blondes fundraising page can be found here. Spread the word!

this one's optimistic?

Apart from the odd couple of days of rain and misery, the weather has been absolutely beautiful since Jo and I got back from our holiday. For what feels like the first time in years, we've had a bit of a 'summer', so I have been making the most of the sunshine and getting a lot of walking done.

Even on days when exercise is the last thing I want to do, Jo and I will force ourselves to go on a walk. If possible, we will walk up a hill, but the walking is the bit that matters most, so even wandering around in Bristol last weekend was beneficial (Bristol, after all, is not exactly flat) and the walk up to my aunt's house where we were staying was painful but great for the training.

I haven't been to the gym much, because I have just felt the need to get out in the sunshine, but I'm trying to get into a routine of doing exercises before bed each evening, including sit-ups, squats etc. We'll see how that goes, but I'm sure with Jo nagging me I'll keep going. She is the one who keeps me going, she comes on walks with me all the time, she pushes me to work hard, she soothes my fears and panics. I don't know what I'd do without her. But don't tell her I said that, she'll get a big head.

With 35 days to go, I am flitting between nervousness, excitement, frustration and a hundred other feelings. I have had days when I've felt so overwhelmed I don't know what to do with myself. When I do have those moments, Katie or Jo will calm me down. I don't really know how Katie is feeling about everything at the moment, life has been so hectic for both of us I feel like we've been a little out of touch, even though we talk at work all the time. We are supposed to have lunch together next week, so I'm looking forward to that.

My weekend plans involve a big walk, and after work this evening we did a short 2.68 mile 'stroll'. I put in a call to my GP surgery, asking a nurse to call me to discuss what jabs I need. As yet, she hasn't called, so I need to be brave and chase that up next week. And I also made an appointment to talk about altitude sickness and other such things at the travel clinic.

I am starting to pull all the equipment together that I need.

Our current total stands at just under £3400.

Today is a day I feel cautiously optimistic.

the great escape

The countdown now reads 61 days to go. It feels like only a couple of weeks ago when Katie called me up and convinced me to do this trip, so my mind is a little blown by the fact that we have mere weeks left til D Day.

Just before I went away, I started to pull together all the stuff I needed from the kit list supplied. So far I have purchased my walking boots (bought in January and thoroughly worn in), my waterproof jacket and my main rucksack. As for the rest of the equipment I need, I'm planning to try to beg, steal or borrow as much as possible. I'd really appreciate it if you could take a look at the list here and let me know if there is anything you can help with.

I'm particularly keen to borrow the following: 

• walking poles 
• day rucksack 
• head torch 

Training is of course the main focus for both of us at the moment. I am trying my best to remain upbeat, but it isn't always easy and I have my moments of panic. I felt pretty bad going away for 10 days and not going to the gym or doing any proper training, but we walked pretty much everywhere so I still managed to put a lot of miles in. It was an absolutely beautiful holiday, I never wanted it to end. 

Hill walking in Munich: 

Last weekend I got back into proper training mode and went to Chepstow with my flatmate where we walked the Offa's Dyke trail. It was a pretty tough walk, with numerous steep inclines and even some boulders to negotiate. It was perfect for training really. 

boulders we climbed over...

Look at the view from the top! So worth it.

On Monday I checked in with Tom, the PT who has been helping me. We went through all the exercises, made a few adjustments and I went back on Thursday for another go. I'm feeling good for the most part, though I've had a couple of small, niggling injuries. I did another walk today (only 6 miles, but my God was it hot) and at one point I did have to stop walking completely because I felt a strain in my foot, but after a few minutes rest it eased up and I feel better now. I think perhaps I should have worn my walking boots rather than my converse, but it was so hot I couldn't face walking around in them all afternoon. I have however learned my lesson and will be more sensible next time.

Now is the time to step things up another gear and start to ensure I put in some form of exercise every day. There just seems to be so much happening that training takes a back seat and I can't keep allowing that to happen. From this point on, exercise has to take precedence over everything. I have a lot of weekend commitments coming up over the next couple of months, but this is key training time for me so I'm going to have to start saying no. I made my first big sacrifice last week when I made the decision that I will be skipping Brighton Pride this year. That sort of breaks my heart, but there is always next year and I can use that weekend for some vital training time.

Fundraising has taken a back seat over the last few weeks. Of course, with our minimum target met there is a certain amount of relief that we've made it. And I can't thank you all enough for the support in raising so much. But we really want to raise more, and you will notice in the sidebar that we've now raised our target to £4000. A lot of people have told me that they plan to sponsor us but just haven't got round to it yet. Please, please, please, take a couple of minutes to visit our fundraising page and donate a few pennies.

Both of us appreciate your support more than I can say. The going can get pretty tough at times, but we have so many people in our corner, supporting us, motivating us and giving us the push we need to keep on going.

On a brief side note, the wonderful families of the JHT kids have organised their annual Summer Fete which takes place at our premises, Kites Corner, next Sunday 21st July from 1-4pm. Please do come along if you can. Find out more here.

it's not over yet

I am about to go away for a couple of weeks on a much needed holiday, but I feel I should write a brief update before I go. After all, those with a keen eye (or who look at my facebook), will realise that we reached our target of £3100 last week. Of course we are not stopping now and have increased our target to £4000, but I do feel a sense of relief being able to go on holiday and not worry about the fundraising side of things.

We held a quiz at work last week and it seemed to go really well. I was stressed to hell and wouldn't have got through it without the aid of some of my colleagues who came to my rescue when I realised just how disorganised I was (I hadn't considered food until the day before), but much fun was had by all (mostly) and it was worth all the stress to get home and realise we were only £60 off our target. One of my favourite people then sponsored us £60 in order to take us to the magic £3100.

Fitness can now take complete priority, which I admit I'm worried about, especially as I'm about to go on holiday and therefore not go to the gym for 2 weeks. Having said that, I am clearly getting stronger because I carried heavy things on the weekend and was proud of myself for my 'butchness', and of course I will be carrying my rucksack around and walking lots while we're in Munich/Zagreb. I keep saying I will keep doing press ups and squats each day while I'm away, but I'm probably kidding myself there...

See you in a couple of weeks. Feel free to carry on sponsoring us while I'm away.

wish you were here

My week so far without Katie has been unrelenting. The next few days promise no let up whatsoever. 

Last Tuesday I met up again with Tom, the Personal Trainer, who gave me a programme to help build up my strength. From now on the plan is that I do circuits twice a week (currently involved press ups, pull ups, squats, the plank, step ups etc.) and if everything goes according to plan, a third visit would be spent doing cardio. Of course, on top of that I also have to keep walking up lots of hills and preparing as best I can for September.

All things considered, I think my first session went well. I woke the next morning to my entire body screaming out in pain, which I take as a good sign. They may be simple exercises, but they are exercises I've not really done before, so I was always going to suffer. Life got in the way for the rest of the week and I didn't have plans to return to the gym until the weekend. Sadly, the heavy rain meant I got no hill walking done, and a pulled muscle (crossing a road outside a pub on Saturday night) meant that my plan to go to the gym on Sunday morning had to be abandoned.

I went after work today and managed two circuits (minus the squats which were just hurting my leg too much), before I felt my leg really starting to pull when I began the third circuit with step-ups, so I decided to quit while I was ahead and call it a day. My plan is to take it easy tomorrow and try again on Wednesday. It's hard to find a balance between keeping up the momentum and not making things worse... that's something I have always struggled with.

The good thing is, a lot of the exercises don't require any equipment, so I can do some of them at home, even when I don't have time to go to the gym. It's handy that my flatmate is so short, because I can use the stool from the kitchen she needs to reach food in the cupboards to do step ups etc.

I've been spending a lot of time preparing for the quiz. It looks like we will have about 70 people there (if everyone who has said they are coming shows up), so it promises to be a good night. With a little help from my flatmate I have been writing the questions over the last few days. I've also procured a trophy, and a small prize for the best team name, so all I need now is a prize for the winners. And of course to buy some food for the evening. I am fairly stressed about it, but flatmate is keeping me as calm as possible. I will be glad to have Katie back on Thursday (D-Day), as she is far better at organising than me and I sort of need her to take over.

Once the quiz is done, my focus will switch to a little R&R, as I head off on a much needed fortnight's holiday. I imagine there will be plenty of walking done during that time (4 nights in Munich, 4 nights on Zagreb), and of course I can be good and keep up with the press ups etc (yeah, right).

88 days to go. On the weekend I started to give thought to equipment, and I invested in some of the more important items I will be needed - a waterproof coat and a rucksack. In the next couple of weeks I will share with you our kit-list, because as much as possible I would prefer to beg, steal, or borrow most of the other stuff we apparently need. If you have any of those items and wouldn't mind lending them to me (or Katie) for a while, then please do drop me a line. It would be hugely appreciated.

You know what else we appreciate? YOUR SPONSORSHIP. Go on, you know you want to...

www.bmycharity.com/twoblondesonemountain

wonderful, glorious

Less than 100 days to go until D-Day and things are hotting up. Since my last update, we've been incredibly busy with training and fundraising, and I am excited to announce that we have surpassed our first target (sort of). 

Katie and I are putting our own money in to cover the cost of expenses like flights and accommodation, so that every penny people donate to the trek goes directly to JHT. We've been doing this bit by bit over the last few months and we each have another £200 to put in next month. This means that while our running total currently stands at £2732, with our final payment included we actually have gone past £3100. I don't think either of us expected to have raised so much with 3 months still to go, but we don't intend to stop now. We want to raise as much as we can for the Trust, and with many people still promising to sponsor us closer to the time, hopefully we can keep the momentum going and raise a lot more.

Our next fundraising event is a quiz we are holding at work on the 20th June. Ms Motivator is off on her holidays this week however, so I shall be running the show on this one, which is rather terrifying seeing as I rely on Katie to be the organised, sensible one. But as soon as I'm done here my plan is to get the quiz written, and the week ahead will be spent chasing colleagues for confirmation about whether they are submitting their teams.

Mostly, however, my focus has now switched to the trek itself. Last weekend my flatmate got us lost on a walk and we ended up 'climbing' far more hills than we had intended. My legs got one hell of a workout, and while we only covered 13.4 miles in total, a lot of steep slopes were involved and my legs were aching for a couple of days. I also got rather sunburnt, and just generally felt quite sorry for myself all week. Then of course, there was the short amount of time when we were actually a little lost and found ourselves in a field littered with broken remains of clay pigeon shooting, clearly having blundered into some psycho farmers land. We were certain that if we were discovered he would have no qualms about shooting us (or setting dogs on us), so we retraced our steps sharpish and finally got back on the right track.

Despite all of this, it was an absolutely beautiful walk and I had such a good day, it was almost a shame when it ended (though not really because I thought I was going to die my legs were so tired). We even stopped off in Prestbury on the way home and had a carvery. What more could you ask for on a Sunday?

Last Tuesday I met with a Personal Trainer at my gym and we discussed what help I was looking for with my training. I'm meeting him again this Tuesday to get a programme, so I'm feeling good about that. Tom is lovely, by the way, and when he heard that I was doing this for charity he very sweetly gave me an amazing discount, which I have added to our fundraising total. I'll let you know how I get on with him this week, but first impressions tell me that Tom rules.

I was a little slack with training this week (it took a day or two to recover from last weekend's walk, then I had a busy week of 'things' to do), so I went for a walk on Friday after work, followed by another walk yesterday with flatmate and Katie. Katie and I have decided that we will try to train together more regularly, attempting to walk together at least every other weekend. Of course, this won't always be possible because she's on her hols this week, then I go away the week after, but one day we will actually manage to walk again.

Yesterday's walk was a little more eventful than the norm. We had an encounter with a pissed off landowner (flatmate has beautifully told him to 'go fuck himself', Katie and I awkwardly kept silent - I wish I could stand up for myself like Jo does), and we spent probably coming on for half an hour trying to rescue a poor sheep (Katie named him Gerald), who had got himself trapped in a fence. Of this, I have photos, here:

initially, we were all a little cautious 

but it wasn't long til we made friends

You will be pleased to know that while we didn't manage to free Gerry ourselves (despite a sterling effort by all involved), we then bravely (or not so bravely in the case of Jo and I who were nervous of dogs, Katie was the truest hero in this scenario) went up to a house to find out who the sheep belonged to so someone could go to the poor things rescue. After our encounter with the knob-head landowner, we walked back via the same path and were relieved to see that Gerry had been set free.

This morning I finished off the week with a visit to the gym. It was pretty uneventful, there were no psycho farmers or trapped sheep, so nothing to report really.

Another week is over, only 96 days until we leave. You know the score by now, if you haven't sponsored us yet, please do so by popping over to our fundraising page here.