And so it begins...

I've been put to shame. Danni has undertaken 4 challenges now to raise money for The Raising Hope Foundation and I've completed exactly 0. However, although I have no defence for my laziness so far, the events will be coming thick and fast herein with a couple lined up over the next 2 months and with the intent of doing 1 every month thereafter until Kili in October next year. Danni had the idea of undertaking 1 physical challenge per month a while back as a good way to accumulatively raise money for the charity and has put her running trainers on to back that up. Wanting to help in some minor way, I've now jumped on the bandwagon. You can see the challenges we've signed up for at the link I've pasted near the bottom. We have a few months still to fill so any challenge ideas are welcomed.

With Danni having led the way it's now my turn to step up to the plate. It felt like ages ago I signed up but my first event is finally here. Enter Hell Up North, one of the Hell Runner events which are seemingly designed for people who want to spend a couple of hours of their weekend in mud and water with a side dish of prolonged dull, aching pain. So I thought it'd be a good idea to put my name down. Still, it's for a top cause so my welfare comes a distant second. See what I've let myself in for below.

Despite the run only being under 2 weeks away I have decided that now is the time to start training, and it hurts. I did intend to start earlier but illness struck me down in my prime. Danni had said to me shortly before my penciled in training start date that in the 4 years we've been together she'd never seen me ill. Famous last words. 

I've probably made wiser decisions than going from lifting weights on the odd occasion to cardio training twice a day. While my body can now hack throwing pieces of metal around with little or no technique like a meathead, me and cardio don't get along all that well. Not only do I find it boring and repetitive, I'm just not very good at it. With a predominantly cardio based event each month for 12 months, I'm in for a treat. Still, the only way to get good at something is to practice and it's the only way I'm going to be in reasonable enough shape to complete the course in a half decent time. So I'll roll with it given I've only got to put up with it for 2 weeks until I can have a breather anyway. I should probably mention at this point that I'm extremely competitive.

My brief training thus far has essentially consisted of circuit training with weights before work in the morning (man it's hard to get up at 5:30 now it's a lot colder outside (I would say and wetter at this time of year but I live in Manchester so the difference between this and other times of year is marginal in that respect)) and running in the evenings, with the latter split between long distance and interval training. As I've only got 2 weeks to prepare I've basically just lifted the relevant workouts off the internet and gone straight to the business end, with most of them designed to be 10-12 week programmes. Hence the pain. 

That's enough about me and my training. A big hand must go to Danni for completing the events she has so far. Although I've popped along to a couple to provide some moral support (you can do it!), I can only imagine how tough it must've been to do the majority of challenges on her own. Before this week I could barely run a few miles on my lonesome without going insane with boredom, even with my tunes for company. Kudos where kudos is due.

It probably goes without saying that Danni is doing this event as well. We're also being joined by Danni's sister, Amy, and a friend of mine from uni, Tony, who's equally competitive. I feel a sprint finish coming on! At least Danni will have some company for this one.

Importantly, we're doing these challenges to raise money for a charity that is extremely close to Danni's heart and one which I am happy to do what I can for having seen the amazing work they do for the kids in Ghana when visiting in the summer of 2011 and been inspired myself by some of the things people have done to raise money for this deserving charity. A special mention here has to go to the Arctic to Africa cycle team. 

We would therefore both be extremely grateful for any donations that are made for this and future events, all of which go 100% to the charity. Donations can be made here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=danielleandsean&isTeam=true.

As the fundraising bar goes up so does our motivation!

Unless I get told by people never to blog again I'll be occasionally posting my/our event experiences on here as we work our way through them. Until then, thanks for reading and thanks in advance for those who kindly donate their hard earned pounds.

See you on the other side.

Sean Chaffe - blog imposter.