Coast to Coast is here......

17th June 2012

Well the training is done! In so much as we are now out of time!! What is done is done, that’s it, time is up! The real thing is upon us. I have run, swum & cycled for miles, in some quite extreme weather conditions (snow, icy rain and wind that meant we had to pedal hard to get DOWN the hill and the uphill’s were virtually impossible – to the point where I was swearing under my breath and vowing never to get on a bike again!) in an effort to be match fit! I even went to ‘Kettlercise’ (exercise whilst holding weights) to try to strengthen my cycling leg muscles, but instead it resulted in me being unable to walk downstairs for about a week and as for standing up and sitting down – forget it! At Easter time we were on top form, we managed long, hard, off road rides followed by the same again the following day. We went on an official training ride with the Purple Mountain team (who are organising the Coast to Coast) and it was really great to meet some of the other people hoping to take part in this great event. But then we got back to work, school and life in general and inevitably the training tailed off a bit and had to take a back seat to life, kids and all that goes with it. However, last week we managed to get babysitters in order to get out for one last Peaks training ride and we set off to tackle long, hard, rocky hills. About half an hour from the end of the ride my legs were really starting to struggle and I started to worry about what lies ahead. While I have no doubt that I will complete the challenge (one way or another) what began to worry me was whether I would be able to actually enjoy it along the way, rather than just enduring it! But only time will tell on that one! We have also been very lucky with our fundraising for Marie Curie, our very generous family and friends have done us proud and shown us great support, so I really feel that others will benefit from us putting ourselves through this. The bikes are prepped; the gear is waiting to be packed. So all in all, I feel that I am ready, I just want to get on with it now, bring it on....let’s get started!