There was no escaping turning 30… but instead of burying my head I wanted to do something different, something memorable to mark the occasion. A few years ago, a friend of mine shaved her head on her 30th birthday and donated her hair to the Little Princess Trust… And although I had nothing but admiration for her this was never really an option for me….

Instead & purely by accident I stumbled across the 100km walk from London to Brighton in May 2018 and thought it might be worth a go (forget little steps & trying the couch to 5km approach). I don’t get the running thing so a marathon was never going to happen but I knew from the off that this event was going to test both my fitness and patience before May! So imagine my surprise when some of my colleagues agreed to complete the walk with me?!?– I should point out that Tim and Adrian were willing volunteers whereas Rhys succumbed to peer pressure :)

Having joined the Staffordshire Search and Rescue team (SSART) as a fundraising support member a few months previously there was never a question in my mind regarding the charity we should be promoting and fundraising for as the team amazes me in every way – many of the members have full time jobs; at the drop of a hat they are ready and willing to go out searching for people and in addition to this they attend fundraising events to continue providing this service whilst still finding the time to be with their own families ….. and perhaps more importantly they do all this with a smile on their face. So, Tim decided we should aim high and set our target for £10,000 – after all these people do have running costs of £25,000 all collected through the teams fundraising efforts.

With the team in place, the Fundraising page set up & the target agreed, all we needed now was some training walks… and lots of them… Sounds easy but getting 4 people to the same place on the same day took a lot of effort and the rejigging of diaries (Even though 3 out of the 4 of us live in Lichfield) :) Eventually we got there and had agreed 8 walks before the main event…!

Setting out on the first walk was tough going especially after all the over indulgences of Christmas and it wasn’t the easiest of terrains going through muddy fields and slipping and sliding everywhere…. but we made it and since then we’ve seen various beautiful parts of the peak district, climbed vertical hills (Literally vertical… I’m still surprised we managed to make it down safely), been soaked through from the predictable English weather and eaten our weights in walking snacks. Unfortunately, one of our walks was sacrificed due to the snow but we soldiered on and are getting ready for our back to back 20 milers on the 14/15th April. Our fundraising strategies are finally being put in place and we are hoping that with the help of our family, friends, work colleagues and local businesses we will achieve our fundraising goal for the amazing local group that is the SSART.

As I write this we have 42 days left to the event and the scale of this feat is finally starting to sink in. Starting a 100km walk between 8-9 on Saturday morning and continuing to walk throughout the night onto completion approx. 30 hours later sounds do-able – until you complete a 20-mile walk and realise how much more training you actually need :)