Size DOES matter...

It's official... yesterday I became the proud recipient of the BIGGEST parcel ever... HR even took a picture of the box to excite me until I got home. Check out its proportions - it only just cleared the roof.

Honestly no word of a lie it was as large as a single bed (our 7 year old wants to keep it for a den) and it contained my lovely new shiny treadmill. So guess what we spent a few hours doing last night? Yep setting the puppy up – a few nuts and bolts, a smattering of swearing and a kick or two was all it took between the facilities manager and myself before the beast was ready. I can now train come rain or shine, day or night, babysitter or not. Let’s hope I use it as much as I had promised procurement (it will not become an expensive clothes rack, it will not become an expensive clothes rack, it will not....).

However I confess all: in true female form I might have upgraded the model bought at the last minute (I didn't think Iogstics would notice but it seems I was wrong). What was the rationale for the upgrade? Well I could talk of the additional programmes, increased incline, larger run bed but, I can't lie, it has speakers and MP3 adapter. Who could resist such gadgetery?

So this evening I excitedly popped my training gear on and entered what is going to become my second home: the garage. My lovely new shiny toy awaited its virgin voyage and to ensure I was suitably focussed and motivated coach pinned inspiring images at eye level.

If you can't work it out they are colour print outs of the London marathon to keep me focussed. I think this might have been a joke and it had the appropriate response... I couldn't help giggle and think what a great team I have behind me. This is absolutely a team effort; my coach is the best (facilities manager, procurement and logistics aren't too bad either)!

5 weeks down 15 to go gulp!

Climb every mountain

I am broken! I have notched up 22.09 miles since Friday, burnt 2,075 calories and run for 3.89 hours... and still have would not have finished the marathon!!! My thighs are no longer my own... have I really got another 14 weeks of this? To be honest I am feeling like I am not sure I can climb this mountain today. It is such a huge challenge (did I not realise this before I signed up?) and the donations are slow in coming in. This is absolutely not a moan... people are so generous and no one twisted my arm to do this. I am doing this off my own back and will somehow keep fregain my focus. I set myself this challenge so there is no backing out now.... but seriously me and my big mouth!

On the up side logistics have been busy clearing a space in the gym (aka garage) for my shiny new treadmill to be installed into when it arrives tomorrow. Luxurious huh!

I hope it is a good as I am expecting and that I can add in another few training sessions mid week when the children sleep, and then MAYBE I can get a whole day off at the weekend to see the family. Poor Thea sees my trainers and says "mummy run again".

Sober up

My ponderings during my 9 mile run today were inspired by an amazing young lady called Alice Pyne. I stumbled across her through setting up this Blog and searching for other Blogs with similar tags, sadly our matches were cancer and charity so you might well see where this is going.

In short Alice is a 17 year old girl who has terminal cancer (she lists her occupation as “full time cancer fighter”), having first been diagnosed at the tender age of 12. But instead of wallowing, at the age of 15 she set up a Blog as a way to communicate with her friends and to share her bucket list; things she wanted to achieve before she left our world. Unlike your average cider swilling 15 year old Alice’s list included the following as her top three:

• To get everyone eligible to join a bone marrow register
• To get EVERYONE to have a bucket list
• To get to the Royal Garden party in May

Sobering isn't it. Now think back to your 15 year old self and I dare you not to swallow hard.

When Alice launched her Blog back on 6^th June 2011 no one, least of all her and her family, could have predicted the turn of events that followed. Through the magic of the interweb in just 2 days Alice's Bucket List had over 7,000 followers and lashings of comments from around the world with many promising to join bone marrow donation schemes in support of her wishes. By 9^th June she was mentioned on This Morning and the Anthony Nolan bone marrow charity web site received 17 times its weekly web traffic over night which could only be attributed to Alice. 10th June and following a postscript on her Blog for people to sponser her sister in her Race fo Life taking place that Sunday, donations topped £10,000, the majority of which came from generous strangers touched by Alice and her story. Staggeringly by the 11^th June this had reached the substantial figure of £30,000!

But as we know there is always evil around the corner and on 14^th June there were countless clone sites claiming to be Alice and taking generous donations from innocent people for their own pockets. Seriously I still can’t believe this as I write it but it gets worse. On 19^th June her charity was hacked and funds were stolen. Thankfully some wonderful strangers donated their time and skills to help Alice and her family secure and protect their Blog and charity site from further hacking.

What I find most remarkable is that what started purely as a means of communication and diary for very poorly 15 year old resulted in registrations for bone marrow donors increasing from 6,000 per year to over 40,000. A legacy to the wonderful and inspirational Alice.

But Alice isn’t alone. There are sadly thousands of other children fighting the cancer battle; some will make it but many won’t.

If this has touched you I ask you to please consider joining the Anthony Nolan register here or the British Bone Marrow Registry here. It is easy: apply, spit on a stick that they send to you, post it back, sit back and have a cuppa!

Whether you are eligible or not (there are varying criterias for the two registrys above) I really urge you to follow Alice's blog or Facebook page.

If you are left wanting to do more then how about you consider supporting me. I have a Vigin Money Giving site set up in aid of my two chosen cancer charities (Macmillan nurses and Breast Cancer Care) click here to donate.

Still want to do more? Then send me a message. Come watch me stagger around London and cheer me on. Or offer to help me organise my various charity raising balls, quiz nights and more; I need so much help from designs for invitations and more, help obtaining auction and raffle prizes, idea generators to come up with innovative ways to make everything more than just fabulous, ticket sales and coordination and much much more.

You could also share this page via your Facebook, Tweet about it, email it to friends and colleagues, talk about it... as Alice has proved the power of the Internet is huge. Everything counts and helps raise awareness, and funds, for an amazing cause.

One final thought. Cancer is a term we are all familiar with (some sadly more than others); something we live in fear of; and one day may need to fight.

Zone in and out and in and out

Another day another run. Just a mere 6 miles today but it felt really good and I could have carried on. As usual the first mile was the hardest but miles 2 - 6 flew by! It appears I have found the "zone" that they speak of. The combination of beat bopping, camp music to keep the legs moving, and free brain space to unleash ideas of how in 361 days I can raise a staggering, but slowly reducing £9,940 (thanks Jo for my third donation) just seemed to make the miles pass in a blur (less blur and more slight haze considering the speed I plod at.)

So today I gave some more thought to the charity ball idea and ways in which I can subtly (and not so subtly) draw pennies and pounds from pockets. I am hoping a certain family member (and professional chocolatier) might consider making after dinner chocs (as tempting tasters) which might lead tipsy diners to part with £10-15 for a full box of chocs to take home. Assuming we have 100 - 150 guests I figure 50 would buy a box so that is £500-£750 in an instant. What do you think?

But I need to get myself in check. First things first: when and where. From here the rest will follow. So my task for the next fortnight is to agree location (Oxford is most obvious) and begin to draw up a short list of potential venues which I aim to approach before end of the month. I am also hoping that another family member (and charity ball organising connoisseur) might be able to give me friendly tips (and time seeing as he is retired and has lots of time on his hands - albeit poolside in Portugal most of the time!). Once this is nailed I can begin to put the rest into action. Watch this space...

As always any ideas , inspiration, support and suggestions welcome.

Back to work

Like most of the country I returned to work today and was more than a little heavy hearted kissing Thea goodbye at nursery. From today until April 21^st most of my daylight hours are going to be spent either at work or running. Now there’s a daunting thought!

This may seem extreme but my training plan comprises of 4 running sessions per week and I only have available daylight time on Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Evenings are out due to both our village location, and its complete lack of street lighting, and my irrational fear and paranoia of the bogey men who come out at night. So you can probably see why my training plan is so strict and allows for absolutely no “force majeur”.

It was whilst contemplating this that I realised how impossible this rigid plan is going to be to commit to, especially when my priority is undoubtedly being a dedicated partner, mother, daughter, employee, sister, cook, cleaner, ironer, friend, taxpayer, PTA treasurer (!)…  rather than would-be-marthonite.

And so it seems my options are simple:

-          Accept failure to complete training to the letter

-          Join a gym

-          Buy a treadmill

In true Hellie style I look at the pros and cons of each and quickly come to the conclusion that the most expensive option (ie treadmill) is the solution. My rationale is that a gym membership for 4 months would cost in the region of £150 and for “not a lot more” I could be the proud owner of a shiny new piece of machinery that I can use as and when I want without having to consider opening hours, childcare or even what I look like. I did ask a friend whether it would be wrong to use sponsorship money to fund the machine and it appears “yes it would!”. Of course I knew that but it was worth a game of scrupples just for the second!

And so I passed my well thought through, considered decision over to procurement for consideration to which I received the following response

“I think it's an OK idea to be honest… What's the objective? i.e. is a home workout the right choice for you?  ….. I guess I'm concerned that we're spending cash on what might end up as being an expensive clothes horse.”

Initial response was “He knows me so well” followed by “Clothes horse – I am going to have to buy more clothes to drape on this piece of furniture”. Who knew buying exercise equipment could be so exciting!

 To be continued...

Oh so pretty?

If you have visited before you will realise that the Blog design has had a face lift. The "concept" is to visually represent the 1,000,000 pence but as pennies are brown it looked really dull. So with some image wizardary we have shocking pink.... I am certainly no designer let's be honest but I think this is an improvement... but your thoughts are really very welcome!

To Ball or not to Ball

It is officially day 1 of my 1,000,000 pence challenge and I already have £30 (plus gift aid) pledged. What a fantastic start (thanks Joy, Johnny and Sam for donation number 2) but the hard work really starts now and I am not simply referring to my marathon training but also to the serious fund raising I need to begin to plan and formalise.

So last night (New Years Eve) whilst sat around the dinner table, having followed the dress code to the letter (slob clothes), with dear friends, gossip and drinks flowing, the subject of how I might reach such a significant target was raised. Having just streaked (I assure you it was an accident - but you wouldn't believe me if I told you the story so I shall leave you intrigued) it was suggested by the caveman in the group that I could simply raise money that way. Luckily, despite the drink, I had enough sense to realise that a 37 year old streaker was probably not the inspiration I was intending for the children and so I declined the suggestion. And then hope appeared in the form of my lovely girlfriends (having wiped the tears of laughter following said streaking incident) who suggest a charity ball as a good one hit wonder which should get my target hit (and possibly exceeded).

Now this is something I have considered on and off over the past few weeks but always dismiss due to a reoccuring concern. What if I don't sell enough tickets and make a loss - it is not my money to gamble with? How can I be sure to make it a fantastic night (we've all been to lacklustre charity events) so that the money raising becomes almost a by product rather than the purpose. Or am I missing the point? Maybe I am being terribly British in my embarrassment to openly ask people to open their wallets and spend. Maybe people expect auctions, raffles and alike and am I trying to fix something that is not broken? Maybe I am asking too many questions at this stage?

And so I close with my new years resolution; to make a decision and run with it. As someone very special always says to be "you always get it done... somehow"