12th November 2010

Well al lot can happen in a few days – I have had major Challenge ups and downs this week – but ending on the up thank goodness.

I don’t want to go into detail, but let’s just say that getting certain assistance has been difficult and a lot of time has been lost through a lack of support and broken promises.

It all came to a head at the end of last week and I had to stop and ask myself why I was doing this. I knew that the Challenge was going to be hard, I also knew that it wasn’t just the physical part that was going to cause me issues – it was also publicly putting myself out there. Asking people to help, support, sponsor etc etc, all of that does not come naturally to me.

The issues that I was having had a huge impact on my training. I have managed only 1 run this week (excuses of horizontal rain, gale force winds and being away from home didn’t use to stop me). My diet has gone out of the window and I have managed to give myself a pretty hard time.

I have picked myself up, dusted myself off and now, thanks to the support of some great friends and family, I am back on the road to Everest Base Camp.

I knew that this would not be all plain sailing, but to falter so early on gave me a real jolt.

And so to the ups – I have had more stalls confirmed, and have started a list on the Events Page. I have also had more Grand Raffle prizes offered, the list is updated on the Sponsors Page. Anne Watts, author of “For the Children” has kindly agreed to open the Christmas Fair for me – what an honour, this lady is truly inspirational.

The amazing ladies loungewear company Hush have offered to donate a prize for my new competition “Personal Challenges”. I wanted my journey to be an inspiration to woman everywhere; my thinking was if I can do this anyone can. So following on from this I have created a competition where women are invited to write in and tell us all about their Personal Challenges – how they overcame obstacles in life, where they gained inspiration and how they got through. I am really looking forward to receiving the stories and publishing them for you all, more details on the Personal Challenges page.

We had a major Yeti war this week – my daughter Charlotte put a bid in with a name, but my friend Marion equally decided that she had the right and proper home for him – it was chaos. At one point they were questioning whether the Yeti was a boy or a girl!! The Yeti will be making several public appearances between now and Christmas and if you want him to come and live with you just take a look at the Yeti page.

Finally, I have a training session with Petra tomorrow at 10:15 sharp – if she isn’t going to shake me up and tell me to sort myself out then nobody will!!