What we've been up to....

Fundraising without breaking a sweat
Having been inspired to support HOPEHIV by my adventurous sister, I signed up to be a cupcake ambassador. I figured I should play to my strengths and sporting enthusiast is NOT one of them! Cupcakes, however, are. So I decided to do what I do best, and host an afternoon of champagne and cupcakes with lots of friends and fun. We raised £130 and had an absolutely awesome afternoon! I hope to host at least one event a month, my mantra has always been the more the merrier in my home, and I hope I can inspire others to do the same.
I am originally from Zimbabwe and had my son, Zach, 14 months ago. As any mum will tell you, it changed my life. Seeing first hand the devastation of these young people when they lose their parents, siblings and other loved ones to HIV/AIDS is heart breaking especially as I am a mother now, and cannot imagine my son’s life without his dad and I to take care of him, hold him when he falls, support and guide him through his life and above all, love him always. It's not just about food, water and being clothed, it is also about love and hope for a better life, one where these children and young people have options and a chance to make something of their lives, and HOPEHIV empowers organisations all over Africa to achieve this.
This is, after all what any parent wants for their child, and if they are no longer around, at least we can try and get them there.

March- Brutal 10K
When I say 'Never enter a run based on its cool name' - I mean it. Designed by the British Army and set in Windmill Hill, the Brutal 10 was... Well ... BRUTAL! 10k of steeper than steep hills (couldn't run or walk up them, but needed to scramble up on all fours), knee deep mud,wading through rivers and a fellow runners behind me shouting: 'Aaw F...' at every incline saw to an exciting event. I made a few friends, had a respectable time and would certainly recommend the run. Next I'd like to do the Brutal series!

Running into the dark

Having got myself all psyched up for my first adventure race: I put in time pedalling through mud and water and up steep hills and also mastered the use of a good ol’ fashioned compass, I didn’t secure a place in the race so it was not to be. So, with only six weeks of running training under my belt, I took on my first half marathon of the year: The Twilight Half.

Running into the sunset along the Brisbane River was quite spectacular and the views distracted me from the sound of my own heaving lungs and desperate gasps for air. I am dead serious…. I think my lungs must be the size of ping-pong balls! My legs where strong and without any aches or pains, however my poor lungs struggled to keep up with the rest of me for the whole 21km.

In spite of this, the six weeks of training in the hills, heat and humidity of Brisbane paid dividends and I knocked 5 minutes off my last half marathon time with a new PB of 1:53. I’m clearly not going to get into the 2012 Olympics with this time, but this is my Olympic year and there are a few more half marathons as well as marathons, triathlons and adventure races still to come.

My next 12in12 is the Mini-Kokoda Challenge, a 25km trail run, which is set to be epic. Alongside this, swimming training begins in earnest next week as I gear up for three ocean swims later this year. Eek!

1200 Press Ups in a Day
What do you do when you haven't organised a challenge for a month and the end is fast approaching? Don't ask Sarah, Kerry or Meredith for ideas that's for sure. Actually I can't blame them. I'd been winding Kerry up for a while with statements such as " I could run a marathon tomorrow if I wanted" and "I could do 1200 pull ups in a day" (I can't. Not yet anyway). It was time to attempt one of my brazenly outlandish claims.

1200 press ups: 120 an hour for 10 hours: 2 a minute. Sounds easy but it isn't. It's boring and increasingly painful. Not to mention embarrassing when performed in airport lounges, on airport buses, and at 30,000ft in an airplane aisle.

Starting strong with 2 sets of 50 in the first hour I soon dropped to sets of 20 every 10 minutes. When press up 19 started to get hard I was forced to do 10 every 5 minutes which comes around far too quickly. Liking to make a challenge harder I was enjoying the Cypriot sun a little too much. By Midday I had sunstroke, sunburn, and a splitting headache that no amount of water would dispel. And 600 press ups still to do.

Thankfully I had the knowledge that Kerry would give HOPEHIV 4p a press up: £48 if completed my challenge! I was going to finish even if my arms fell off (a real concern after 900 or so).

I didn't keep to my 10 hour schedule. We had to drive to the airport which took a while. I started at 9am and finished at baggage claim in Gatwick at 11.23pm having done 120 on the flight. I finished strong with a set of 21 and discovered I couldn't see my feet on account of my swollen chest. For me it was a great challenge. I had no idea whether I could do it, I enjoyed it in that way you do when you forget what it was actually like at the time, and I never have to do it again :-)

Best of all I convinced myself that I had earnt an extra "challenge": 12 cadbury's creme eggs in 12 minutes. Good times

This month’s adventure was the Jurassic Coast Challenge, and as the organisers put it “This event is a challenge of a life time. Open to all abilities to run, walk or crawl the total distance of 78.6 miles.”

Breaking that down....

“Challenge” – It is a challenge not a race, we were reminded on day 1. Obviously quite a few didn’t listen, as they barged past on cliff edges! And out of the 225 who started, 130 made it across the final finish line.

“Open to all abilities” – err, no. This should have said “open to seriously fit, slightly mental, endurance athletes only”

“to run, walk or crawl” – again, no. Running was most people’s choice, crawling was needed at times for the really steep stuff, but walking it – just not an option. You had to be able to run/jog considerable amounts in order to make it to the checkpoints in the allotted time and be permitted to continue.

“total distance of 78.6 miles” – well, we reckon we completed about 55miles of the course, but the gadget minded types with garmins on their wrist insist that most of the days were more like 27-30 total, so we probably covered about 60, mostly due to the elevations, 1 mile up hill is surely more than 1 mile actually covered?!!

However many miles we did, and however much our feet and legs ached, this challenge really did feel like we were pushing ourselves way out of our comfort zone and attempting something that we would never have done without cause. Over the course of the weekend we met so many people who were there as a personal challenge, some had travelled from afar (one American lady was so determined on day one that she finished at 8.30pm in the pitch dark, having done an extra 5k en route), some were returning having attempted the challenge before, some were using the weekend as an escape from their children, some knew 1 day was enough, others were hardened trail runner who could comfortably churn out 4 hours marathons in spite of the terrain. All had personal motivation and as we chatted over the carb feast that was provided each night, many were interested to hear why we were there and what HOPEHIV can achieve with the funds we are helping to raise.