End of Month 7 ... what's been going on?

Welcome to Month 7’s update on the 365challenge, and wouldn’t you know it, there’s a lot to tell!

My 365challenge has been rolling on … I’ve hit the 1100 KM mark on the Bike Ride, which puts me around Glasgow on my travels, with just 500 KM to go, in my last 5 months. My rowing down the Thames has been a little slower, admittedly, because of the on-going numbness in my hand, but I have just hit the halfway mark, 173 KM, which is great …

And the fund-raising pot has hit TWO significant milestones … my own sponsorship support has been wonderful, and this month I hit the £7000 mark, which is astonishing, and I am truly humbled by all of your backing, thank you so much. Not to be ungrateful, however, while this is all great, I still hope to raise even more, so if you’ve been meaning to get round to sponsoring me and add to this pot, you still can – just pop along to my Just Giving Page

The other milestone has been achieved with the support of the other 365ers out there who have started their own 365challenges and fund-raising … when I checked the other day, I was delighted to see that their earnings have cumulatively taken the 365challenge total to more than £10000 for Cancer Research UK … and seeing that they have only started out, there should be much more to come …!

I’ve also now set the dates for my actual, additional, 3 Peaks climbs … along with a small group of other 365ers and friends. If anyone else fancies joining us for one, two or all three of these adventures, we’d love to have you along, so get the dates in your diaries. Email me on colin@365challenge.co.uk to let me know you’re up for it, and I’ll send you more details.

So ... the dates are:

SNOWDON: May 9th

SCAFELL PIKE: June 6th

BEN NEVIS: July 4^th

Thanks again for all of your support for the 365challenge. Keep in touch with my progress by following this blog or Follow Me on Twitter.com, as @365er

All the best for now

Colin

halfway up the Thames ...

Regular readers will know that I've been having some problems with the rowing part of my challenge ... quick aside to bring you newbies up-to-speed ... you see, my tumour was on my left forearm and now when I row, after a few Km, my hand goes numb, which doesn't really make hanging on to the "oar" particularly easy, so I have to stop, meaning that my progress has been slower than I had hoped.

ANYWAY, I noticed that I was only 10KM off the halfway mark for this part of my challenge, and so, given that today (Sunday, March 29th) is also the day of the Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race (big thing here in the UK), I decided to go for it ... in the end, I did have to stop four times to shake my hand out and get the circulation going again, but I stuck with it and completed my 10KM ... so, I have now hit the halfway point on the Thames, with five months left in my 365challenge year to get the rest of way!

That may sound like I'm off-target, but I have pretty much knocked off the other parts of the challenge (okay, I do have 500KM still to go on the bike, but that'll be fairly straightforward enough, honest!), so I'll have more time to focus on this rowing lark!

Oh hold on a minute, haven't I gone and decided to take on the 3 Peaks again, in person, so to speak ... well, I guess I'll be pretty fit and/or knackered at the end of this thing, but hey, we'll have raised a bucket load of dosh for Cancer Research (£10000+ so far when you add in the other 365ers efforts too), so ... bring it on!!

Rob's ready to raise a glass (and the rest) ...

Remember Rob, the Cider King from a few posts ago?

Well, he's only gone and got himself some press coverage down there in the Hereford Times ... read more of his story here.

He's got a great challenge starting on April 1st (no, it's for real, honest), so best of luck with all your efforts Rob, and readers, do please feel free to support him - you can leave comments here or visit his website.

He's looking good in the 365challenge t-shirt too, if I do say so myself ...

Another important 365 milestone ... breaking through £10000

You know I recommend using Just Giving as the best way to sponsor the 365challenge, right? Well, I send all those who decide to take on the 365challenge instructions as to how to set up their own Just Giving page too.

Several of them have let me know when they've done this (and I then include links to their pages on a page on my website: meet the 365'ers), though there are still a a couple who have been shy about promoting their efforts ... hopefully that'll change over time?

But, the thing is, there are these other folk out there undertaking wonderful challenges for their very own 365challenges for Cancer Research UK, and they are building up the pot of money that is being raised for this very important cause.

I've just (nosily) flicked through the Just Giving pages I'm aware of for 7 of us 365'ers, and am really excited to be able to announce that cumulatively, we have just broken through the £10000 raised barrier! The total (including my own £7000, I know, I know) is sitting at £10030 just now, and given that these guys have only fairly recently taken this on, and that there are at least another 10 365'ers out there, with more hopefully coming on board as this idea grows, this pot can only grow and grow!

Well done everyone, and for those 365'ers who have yet to set up their Just Giving page, do please have a look at mine, then give it a go yourself, and don't forget to tell EVERYONE what you're doing!

Just how LONG is the Thames ...?

Six months and three weeks into my 365challenge for Cancer Research UK ...

And I know I've achieved a lot of my targets already ...

But ...

Just how bloody long IS the Thames?

After all this time, I've only covered 147 Km, and only just broken the 200 Km to go mark (199 Km left now) ...

Has there been a particularly high and constant Spring tide, pushing me back up??

milestones ...

Firstly, it's Paddy's Day, so salutations to all my fellow Irishmen and women, home and abroad ... I'll be heading out for a glass or two of black Irish gold a little later on to mark the day.

I've got two milestones to note in today's blog, one 365challenge related, one not, but significant to me, nevertheless!

The first of these relates to my ever-growing total. Yesterday, I hit the wonderful figure of £7000 in my fund-raising pot for Cancer Research UK, thanks to a donation by a dear old friend, Elmer Wolff, in California, and then, following a blatant shout-out on Facebook and Twitter for the £35.43 that I needed to reach £7000, the delightful Debs, another 365'er, coughed up to help me reach that milestone. I'm overjoyed and overwhelmed by the support, but I'm not going to stop just yet, and I have new targets in my sights ... next up will be £7300, which will mark 200% of my original target of £3650, and I know that it's within reach, so ... don't be shy, kind reader, if you want to contribute via my Just Giving page ...!

The other milestone relates to Paddy's Day and an event 24 years ago today that changed the course of my life, and as such, is one I mark and will toast tonight.

You see, on Paddy's Day 1985, your intrepid hero (ha!) was stomping across the Wicklow Mountains, south of Dublin, as was his wont, while back at his flat in that wonderful city, a low-life was paying an unauthorised visit ... so that when I returned, I discovered that I had, almost literally, been cleaned out ... everything I valued was gone. Not good. But, I was insured, which was my saviour, and the nice insurance company called me about a month later to tell me that they were going to settle my claim with a healthy sum with which I could rebuild my world ...

And I could have, but ... at that point, I wasn't enjoying my work, in an advertising agency, and I suddenly saw a way out ... no possessions, single and a wad of cash in my pocket! Next day, I resigned my job ... and set about planning to travel. Which I did, spending 2 years travelling, first west across Canada, then south to San Francisco, from where via a combination of events, I ended up working on an almond farm in Central California, owned by a cousin of the previously-mentioned Elmer (it all links up eventually!), then back east to New York, where I spent a wonderful year, before realising that I wanted more, and that more turned out to be to study psychology in Wales, meeting my wife Donna, in the process, and taking the career direction that lead me to where I am today ...

So, while I'd love to ask that burglar what he did with some of my rare vinyl back then in 1985, I'd also like to shake his hand and thank him for being the catalyst for the life I now live and all that has happened in-between ...

Life turns on such events ... slainte!

1000 KM down, "just" 600 Km (read Scotland) to go ...

It's been a fractured month in the gym, with the day job getting very busy and long days in the office leaving me with either too little time for my 365challenge or too tired to face the gym after slogging in front of a PC writing reports. I've been feeling it and all the more so, as I knew that there was an important milestone (kilometre-stone just doesn't have the right ring to it, does it?) looming ...

The good news is that this morning, I dragged myself off to Total Fitness at 8.00 am, despite a Saturday of copious beers, enjoying Liverpool thump Man U (sorry Peter, but it WAS a thumping!) and Ireland continue their drive towards the Grand Slam, and I finally knocked off the 25 Km on the bike that took me to the 1000 Km mark in the Lands End-John O'Groats part of my 365challenge. I'm more or less at Carlisle now, with just the entire length of Scotland to go (600 Km), with loads of time (5.5 months) left of the 365challenge year.

I'll get back to more regular gym-ing shortly, so I do expect to complete this part of the challenge within a few months, leaving "just" the slog on the rowing machine to get me another 207 KM along the Thames, and now, of course, there is also the small matter of 3 wonderful peaks in Wales, England and Scotland to drag myself and a select group of 365challenge supporters up between May and July.

Who's idea was all this again?