A long overdue update (and an apology to Ash!)

Firstly, we need to say a huge "sorry" to our friend Ash who has recently pointed out that we haven't blogged for a long, long time!! Sorry Ash, we will try much, much harder to keep these posts up to date from now on!

Since the last time we blogged, I have completed a half marathon in Birmingham and we have both completed HellRunner: Hell up North and Brutal 10 at Longmoor.

I think the last time I blogged, I was training for the half marathon and moaning about the epic cold I had. Needless to say the half marathon was a massive challenge. In the week leading up to the run my cold moved onto my chest and by race day I sounded like a 70 year old smoker. 13.1 miles is the furthest I had run and running it alone was not easy but the atmosphere was brilliant. I had tactfully worn my Raising Hope Foundation T-Shirt which has my name on the back so I got lots of people shouting encouragement to me personally which was much needed at certain points.

At around 4 miles, the course sort of looped round so as I was running between miles 4 and 5 I could see people on the other side of the road heading in the opposite direction running between miles 8 and 9. I'm not going to lie, this was very demoralising however, I felt hugely proud of myself when I was eventually running back down the other side of the road heading for mile marker 9 (at which point I was running along side a man in just a pair of shorts - no T-Shirt, no shoes and no socks!!!!)

With the chest infection and cough, I did have to walk at a few points throughout the course but I was determined not to stop completely at any point. Despite this, I managed to find some energy to "sprint" over the finish line and completed the run in 2 hours 29 minutes. The feeling of crossing the line was amazing but the next few days were quite painful.

(Unfortunately, my usual photographer was on strike on the day of the race so the only photo I have is from the official website and very unflattering even for an action shot!)

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.

What a Difference a Day Makes

It's a saying everyone has heard but it's entirely true - so much can change in one day.

At the start of this week I felt pretty down - I've been ill for almost two weeks now which has meant no training and with the half marathon only one week away I felt very worried about how things were looking.

Today was a turning point as a quick email around the office meant that my sponsorship to date has almost doubled in one afternoon. Usually, it's not all about money but this has reminded me why I am doing these challenges and renewed my enthusiasm. Whilst I'm still wheezing and sniffling just typing this, I'm no longer worried about the impending weekend - as long as I cross the line at the 13.1 mile mark I will know I've done all I can for a great cause!

A massive thank you to everyone who has supported me so far, your words of encouragement as well as the sponsorship mean the world to me and the children.

Challenge Three - X-Runner Wild Thing

The confirmation email for this event stated that it was a 5km course with 32 obstacles - runners had a choice of whether to do one or two laps of the course on the day. This being my first ever obstacle course, I was both excited and nervous. I had trained in a fairly generic manner, building on my basic stamina and running outdoors.

About a week before the event I had a very exciting shopping trip on my lunch break and got myself some Trail Shoes after being convinced by the guy in the shop that pink and expensive were the two main features I needed in the shoes!

Race day came round pretty quickly and feeling quite under prepared, Sean and I drove to the event. I was in the first wave, starting at 9am. We were given a warm up and told that there were actually at total of 68 obstacles on the 10km course!

The run itself was great fun - at first I thought I might struggle as I was one of the very few people who wasn't running in  a team but as soon as the race started everyone was very supportive towards each other and very chatty whether they were part of a team or not.

There were various small(ish) obstacles at the start, mainly consisting of walls made from hay bales, commando crawls under netting and tyres. These were following by running through a small stream, a fire jump and the monkey bars.....then came the really fun obstacles.....lots and lots and lots and lots of mud! Although the mud was tough, it was actually quite a nice break from running. 

The course then moved on to the water obstacles - a swim in icy cold water followed by a water slide/short swim then another water slide a little further on. Getting into the cold water was the hardest part of the course, especially the second time around when I knew just how cold it was. 

Next along the course was some muddy climbing, a very uneven run through the woods which included my least favourite obstacle, the cargo nets (for some reason, I freaked out at the top of the net every time!) and a rope climb up a very steep hill.

The final stretch of the course was fairly dry and consisted of lots of small obstacles very close together - more tyres, commando crawls, balance beams and jacob's ladders. 

Just as I was about the reach the finish line, I took a left turn and ran the whole thing all over again! As I was in the first wave, the second and third waves were on their first lap of the course as I ran the 5km again which meant that the obstacles were busier and there was more standing round/waiting. Despite this, I managed to complete the 10km and 68 obstacles in 1 hour 44 minutes which was a great time for me! 

The sense of achievement in crossing the finish line was amazing and I'm very much looking forward to my next event already. 

Photos by Sean Carl Chaffe 

Challenge One - Three Peaks

This weekend has been amazing! I've met some inspirational people and loved every minute of the Three Peaks Challenge.....even those when I was crying!

This being my first challenge, I was slightly nervous but when I got picked up outside my Mum's house by Kinza driving the minibus and I met the rest of the team the excitement started.

The journey up to Scotland was pretty uneventful and I spent the time catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones. Kinza's dad, Simon, had very generously offered to drive for us for the whole challenge and I cannot thank him for not only driving but also for being so supportive and encouraging to us all.

Ben Nevis was our first mountain - when we set out, the sky was slightly cloudy but the weather was generally ok. We started off at a really good, strong pace and I massively surprised myself at being able to keep up. Clearly the training has paid off which was a huge confidence boost.

About halfway up Ben Nevis the cloud closed in and we could barely see what was ahead of us. Then the rain started. The wind and rain were icy which was very unpleasant but it eventually it got to a point where we all agreed that we couldn't actually get any colder or wetter and suddenly it didn't seem so
bad.

Snow on Ben Nevis

We reached the summit of Ben Nevis in good time (having had to walk through snow...in July!!!). Despite being very wet and freezing cold, I was so proud of us all for having reached the first peak. There was a quick group photo (taken by a group of boys who were also doing Three Peaks, who also make a guest appearance later in this blog) and we headed back down.

Ben Nevis Summit

The snow was not as easy to tackle going down and someone may, or may not, have fallen flat on their bum in the snow. I had hoped that the lower we got, the warmer and dryer it would get. No such luck. And, to add insult to injury (injury being the key word here), I managed to hurt both knees on the descent. I'm not sure whether I twisted them or just landed awkwardly but I was in agony. This is where Zoe stepped in - she was absolutely amazing. She was so inspirational and supportive - I don't think I would have made it down Ben Nevis without her.

We all made it back down to the minibus just as it went dark and did a quick change into some warm dry clothes which was heavenly. Then we set off for Scafell Pike, but not before a strange man with a blinding head torch tried to get into the minibus with us thinking it was his!

The team on Scafell

I managed to get a little bit of sleep before we arrived at Scafell Pike in the early hours of the morning. The weather was good - clear and dry but not too hot as it was early. The views were spectacular which made a huge difference to our morale after having such poor weather on Ben Nevis.

View over the lake from Scafell

The climb up Scafell was tough but again, I was surprised with how well I coped. The guys were amazing the whole way up (and back down) and it really did show just how much of an impact being with the right people can make. The support and encouragement amongst our team was fantastic. The support and encouragement from complete strangers on Scafell was unbelievable too and after a short while, we all found ourselves telling complete strangers how well they were doing and how they weren't far from the top/far from the bottom (whichever they needed to hear).

Unfortunately when we reached the summit it was cloudy and we couldn't see much but again, the sense of pride, not just of myself, but of the whole team, was overwhelming. We took a quick photo and headed back down again.

Scafell Pike Summit

My knees were sore from the outset and only got worse coming down but the sense of achievement after reaching the top of Scafell Pike more than made up for the pain. We managed to complete Scafell in a really good time which meant that we had a small amount of time to do some stretching and to soak our feet in the icy cold fresh water flowing down the mountain.

Before long we were on the road again heading for Snowdon. It was difficult to sleep on this leg of the journey as it was day time and absolutely boiling. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic for a bit which was annoying but we were kept entertained by listening to the Wimbledon commentary on the radio. I say we, as if (a) I was actually listening, and (b) I knew what was going on!

When we reached Snowdon there was glorious sunshine and the team were in high spirits after finding out that Murray had won! The heat made the miners track up Snowdon very challenging but the knowledge that this was our last mountain gave us all renewed energy. For me, Snowdon was the most mentally challenging climb, not only because I was exhausted at this stage, but also because you can see the summit the whole time and it never seems to get any closer until the last 45 minutes of the climb.

Reaching the top, as a team, was a brilliant feeling and not something that will be forgotten in a long, long time. The views were stunning - despite it being a very clear day, an absolutely stunning layer of cloud had formed just below the peak and it felt as though we were walking on the clouds.

The clouds surrounding Snowdon

We spent some time at the top of Snowdon reflecting on our achievement and taking photos. We even got our friends from the Ben Nevis summit to take a group picture for us again.

Snowdon Summit

The descent was slow and long but, as we reached the car park, we were greeted by a gorgeous sunset which just gave us that final boost of hope and energy to complete the challenge.

Sunset at the foot of Snowdon

Completing the Three Peaks has been a huge achievement for me and I could not have done it without the fantastic group of people I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with - they helped make a challenging, painful 24 hours into a thoroughly enjoyable experience and not something that will be easily forgotten. They have also given me inspiration for my future challenges. Thanks guys!

"Acting naturally" on Snowdon

Considering an alternative career as a model for outdoor clothing

Cooling our sore feet at the bottom of Scafell Pike

Stunning view at the top of Snowdon

Feeling motivated at the foot of Snowdon, enjoying the heat

The photo that sums up our achievement - well done team! 

Two Weeks To Go - The Countdown Begins

Am I nervous? Yes. Am I excited? Yes. I've been planning this Kilimanjaro/one challenge every month in my head for a while now and it's taken me months and months to commit to it. Once I signed up for the Three Peaks Challenge I decided that that would be my starting point. Now it's only two weeks until that first challenge and I'm starting to feel the pressure.

Although I know I am fitter than when I first started out because I can run for longer, lift heavier weights and walk up the stairs without getting out of breath (well some of them anyway!), in all honesty I don't feel as prepared as I would like to be. But then again, will I ever be? Who knows!

So in two weeks' time I will be setting out on the Three Peaks Challenge, climbing the highest mountains in the UK in 24 hours and I'm getting nervous. I'm not nervous that I won't be able to do it as I know that the team spirit and the thought of the children in Ghana will keep me going, I'm nervous that I'm going to find it really really tough and that that feeling will knock my confidence in being able to do the other challenges. I'm not the kind of person to give up but those that know me, know that I'm my own biggest critic and if I struggle with the first challenge I will seriously doubt my ability to complete the others.

What this means is that or the next two weeks I am going to be really focused on my training and put 110% into my physical training and also try and get the diet as strict as possible, at least until Three Peaks is over. Whilst I know that this first challenge is never going to be easy, I'm going to do all I can to train for it.

The scariest part of all of this is that once the first challenge is over, I know I will only have a few weeks to train for the next one and after the second, I'll have a few weeks to train for the third and before I know it I'll be half way up Kili!!

Training - Part One

From Monday through to Wednesday this week walking was proving very difficult. Standing up from a sitting position was agony all week (which was interesting as I have been working at a client's office for most of this week! Great impression Danielle)

The reason behind the pain? I've drawn up an excellent new workout routine.....and by excellent I clearly mean stupid! Plus, rather than easing myself into the new routine, I've gone all out exercise obsessed freak.

This all started last Saturday when, feeling slightly fed up at home (Sean was at work) I decided I would pass some time at the gym. A 5km cycle, 10km run and 2.5km row later I decided I could, and would, step up my workout routine every day.

Sunday was stair training. For those of you who know Manchester, you will know that the city centre is flat. For those of you know the Three Peaks Challenge (and those of you don't as it's all in the title), you will know that hill training is required. Clearly the challenge and my location aren't compatible tin terms of the training required so I had to think outside of the box. Luckily I live on the 16th floor of a 23 floor building so there's plenty of stairs to tackle. With the help of Sean, who stood on our floor shouting at me (and, when I got tired, chased me) I managed to run up and down 6 flights of stairs 8 times in 20 minutes. Although tiring, the stairs were fine.......until Monday morning when it felt as though someone had removed about 2 inches of muscle from my calves and sewn them back together again.

Insanely tight calf muscles aside, I decided to push through and continue on my new routine for the rest of the week. Each day of the week consists of two gym sessions - a weights session before work and a CV session after work. This was working out well until Saturday when I decided I would try the 5km cycle, 10km run and 2.5km row again. Needless to say after a week of double gym sessions and long hours at work I didn't have the energy to complete everything.

So, after a very successful week of training, the weekend failure has left me feeling slightly deflated. On the plus side, I'm another half a stone lighter! With the Three Peaks Challenge only 3 weeks away, I'm hoping to follow the new routine until at least then before I give up completely and create a new routine but I'll let you know how it goes.


P.S. Don't forget to sponsor me on my Charitygiving site and give me some more motivation to run up those stairs

Payday

Yesterday was payday. That meant three things: 1. Drinks after work, 2. Sponsoring the amazing guys on their Arctic2Africa trip and 3. Signing up for some events over the next 15 months.

Feeling slightly worse for wear, I've spent this morning trawling the internet looking for inspiration. I've started off by picking a few running events as this is what I'm most comfortable with.

A good friend who I met in Ghana, Cat, had mentioned signing up to the Hadleigh Castle 10k run and what better way to start off my 15 months of challenges than with a friend! So that's July (Three Peaks Challenge), August (Hadleigh Castle 10k) and October (Great Birmingham Run) sorted.

Thinking ahead to January next year and the inevitable lack of money, I've decided to detox as one of the challenges I am setting myself. For the whole of January I will be giving up alcohol and caffeine - so while not as physical as the other challenges, still not an easy task as I'm sure most of you will agree.

I'm still looking for more challenges so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. For now, I guess I'd better get back into the gym and cut down on the food and drink!

Please don't forget that all of this work is to raise money for The Raising Hope Foundation and you can sponsor me at any point between now and next October when we climb Kilimanjaro by using this link.

The Challenges - A little help please guys

The end goal of all of this is to climb Kilimanjaro next year. Me and Sean will be booking our places on the trip at the end of this month but we're looking at going in October 2014. I realise that I have a lot of training and hard work to do between now and then and thought what better way to keep myself motivated than to have lots of smaller goals along the way. For some crazy reason I then decided that I should have one little goal each month until then. 

The Raising Hope Foundation have arranged the Three Peaks Challenge to take place on the 6th/7th July so I have picked this as my starting point. In 24 hours we aim to conquer the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales. We will set off in a minibus on the morning of the saturday, arriving in Ben Nevis in good time to begin walking at 5pm. We then drive through the night to Scafell Pike, arriving at 5am. From there we drive to Snowdon, aiming to reach Snowdon by 2pm - Done. Easy. 

Unfortunately, that's as far as my plans have got. I have to find 14 more challenges to take part in - one for each month between July this year and September next year. I'm looking at signing up for a few runs such as the Great South Run, the Manchester 10k but I'm also looking for something a bit different so if anyone has any ideas let me know. Also, if anyone feels inspired to join me on any event, please feel free!

Training - The Beginning

So I've been "training" for about 4 weeks now. I say "training" as what I really mean is familiarising myself with the gym, getting used to early mornings and trying to cut down on the sugar/alcohol/parma ham/cheese intake! May has been a tough month to try and cut down on these things what with all the bank holidays and the glorious summer weather we've been having!

My routine so far has consisted of jogging to the gym, working out and jogging home again by 7am. My gym workouts are alternated between weights and CV (primarily interval training). I didn't think I'd made much improvement until last weekend when me and the boy went for an evening jog in the rain - it was mainly uphill and a bit of a struggle but nothing too traumatic. When we got home my Nike+ fitness told us that we'd run 8.2km - not a bad effort.

Although my running in the gym has improved quite a lot over the last few weeks, I'm still finding it difficult to run outside - kind of a big issue considering all of my events will be outside and Kilimanjaro isn't going to be fitting with a giant treadmill up one side of it any time soon - so I think the next stage is to incorporate some outdoor training. I'm praying that the weather picks up soon because jogging to a warm gym 10 minutes down the road at 5.45am is one thing, running 5k in a blizzard at that time is something very different.

It hasn't been easy but 4 weeks later and I'm a stone lighter and very much looking forward to the first challenge.

P.s. If you're inspired to sponsor me, please visit http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/danielleandsean 

The Raising Hope Foundation - The reason behind the challenge

In 2007 I travelled to Ghana in West Africa on my own. I had a one month long teaching placement in a school on the outskirts of the capital city, Accra. I returned to England four months later. I fell in love with the country, the people, the music, the way of life - with everything that Ghana is.

I started University in October 2007 and met some amazing people who had just set up a charity working with orphaned and needy children in Ghana. I am proud to say that I was part of the Raising Hope Foundation's first official charity trip to Ghana in 2009 and I've been part of it ever since.

The Raising Hope Foundation team have become my family and the work we do is a huge part of my life - I wouldn't change that for anything.

Every year we go to Ghana to work with the children of Santrokofi and Sogakope and we are currently working on a orphanage in Santrokfi. Whilst at home in the UK we focus on fundraising and raising awareness of the charity, whilst in Ghana we run a summer school for the local children and spend time really getting to know the local people.

As a charity we have organised and taken part in a number of different fundraising activities from skydiving to sponsored runs/triathlons and quiz nights to cycling across Europe.

Following a very inspirational speech from the guys who cycled from London to Istanbul last year I promised myself that I would work towards something bigger than a 10k run - let's just say I got sidetracked! At the last annual dinner the same brilliant guys announced that this year they would be setting off on a new adventure - Arctic to Africa. It does what it says on the tin really! That was the point that I realised I really needed to stop procrastinating and do something.

So, one Saturday afternoon, after spending hours on the internet, I made my mind up - I want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Obviously I can't just pack my bag and go now (those of you who know me will know that I am not that fit at all!) so I've made this an 18 month (ish) challenge.

Over the next 18 months I will be taking part in various short/middle distance runs - starting in July when I will be taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge with the other Raising Hope guys, following that I will be aiming to do one sponsored run every month until October next year (exact date to be confirmed) when I will be tackling Mount Kilimanjaro.

So, if you want to track my progress, raise awareness for the charity, sponsor me or just watch a slightly chubby girl in her mid-twenties try to get fit, please stay tuned!