A New Year with less alcohol, less caffeine and less toenails

With January being a month where no-one has any money, Sean and I decided that rather than doing a physical challenge, we would both give up alcohol and caffeine.

It's been a long, long month but with only 5 hours left of January it looks like we're going to complete the challenge! It really hasn't been easy. Work has been extra busy, we've both stepped up the training in preparation for the marathon and caffeine has been greatly missed.

Before Christmas I'd definitely become quite dependant on coffee. With dark mornings, early starts and dark evenings finding the motivation to work out, do a long day in the office and then work out again was difficult and only possible with lots of coffee. I had been drinking about 5-6 cups of coffee each day. The first few days were difficult and i had a constant headache but after that, things became much easier and I feel much better now. I'm sleeping much better which actually means I'm more awake than when I was drinking coffee.

A month without alcohol hasn't been as bad as I had initially anticipated as we haven't been out other than for a dinner a couple of times and when neither of you orders wine with dinner, it doesn't seem as difficult. Having said this, I'm currently sat looking longingly at my sister's glass of wine!

January has been a good month for training and we've both signed up to a new gym. We're both trying to put in as many miles as we can every week but the weeks seem to be flying by and the marathon is getting ever closer.

Our next event is only 2 weeks away so for now it's back to training and we'll update you all again once we've completed the Avalanche Run in February.

Oh and in case you were wondering about the name of the blog, I lost a toenail after doing the Brutal 10 in December.

HellRunner and Brutal 10

Since I wrote my last blog entry the above challenges have been completed. So far, so good.

Tackling HellRunner first, it was just as bad as it sounded. The terrain was tough, the water deep and the mud like quicksand, however, it was my worst fear, the bottlenecking of people, that caused the most problems. Unfortunately, as I've seen with events like this before, there are certain segments of the course that necessitate a single file policy and there's nothing you can do but (at least appear to be) patient and wait for your turn to enter whatever it is that's awaiting, usually a muddy pool. The major downside with this, other than the negative impact it has on your time, is that all this waiting around in cold and wet clothes doesn't really help you to get and/or keep warm. In serious cases, experienced by one of our crew, is that this can lead to mild hypothermia setting in. I don't think this was helped by this particular runner's choice of attire...not mentioning any names.

              You wouldn't have been able to tell who's trainer was who's after the race!

It didn't help that we didn't know the actual distance of the race (the official line was that the course would be 10-12 miles but no actual distance could be confirmed. Lucky us, it turned out to be closer to 12 miles). Importantly, all 4 of us that took this one on completed it and money was brought into the coffers for RHF. Job done.

Training for HellRunner had gone pretty well, even if it was only started a couple of weeks before the event. Sadly, the same can't be said for Brutal10. Although i did get an initial urge after HellRunner to really take my training seriously, this lasted all of one week before I reverted to type, type being not a lot. The timing of Brutal10 didn't help either, with this event taking place a mere 3 days after Christmas. With all the traditional food and drink flying around, I was never going to be in tip top shape no matter how well I trained (or so I kept telling myself) and therefore the lazy side of my brain got the better of me. I can safely say Danni was much the same.

Nevertheless, Danni and myself rocked up to Brutal10 armed with not a lot of fitness but a lot of determination. While we all ran separately for HellRunner to allow each of us to get the best time possible for the individual, with only 2 of us running this one we agreed to run the course together to keep each other company and motivation high, much needed it turned out.

While the Brutal10 course itself was not as difficult or as long as HellRunner, the lack of training made it feel not far off it. Still, we made it as fun as we could and both crossed the line together at around 2 hours 15 minutes, despite Danni trying to cheekily outsprint me (evidenced below) at the end for personal glory. I wasn't having any of that!

So all in all, the events I've done so far have been challenging like I wanted but achievable. There is bigger and tougher stuff ahead but that's 2 down for me now and God knows how many for Danni (I think 6. Actually I know 6, she's just confirmed). 

Next up is Chase the Yeti (how fun does that sound?!) followed by a night race. The Paris Marathon and a 20 mile assault course will follow hard on the heels of these so training really will need to be stepped up in the near future.

We are both extremely grateful for the generous support shown so far and extend our thanks to those of you who have sponsored all of us, some multiple times, who have contributed to the cause. I know Christmas has gone but keep the generosity up!

Sean

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!