Preparing for the OMM

This blog post is optimistically titled "preparing for the OMM", the OMM being the Original Mountain Marathon that's happening over the late May bank holiday weekend in Iceland. 
Having decided a number of months ago that this was a good idea, my partner Kat and I are starting to believe otherwise. We're also starting to think that preparation might have been a good idea...

The OMM is a two day running and navigational challenge. Currently, Kat is injured and unable to run, and neither of us have successful histories in navigation. We have also not really camped before, and this challenge involves us carrying our camping kit and being self sufficient for the weekend. Needless to say, we're a bit scared. 

So the last few weeks have been a slightly panicked rush of finding/buying/borrowing kit, combined with long runs accompanied by a rucksack. After one of these runs last week, I discovered that a small amount of discomfort soon leads to horrible looking rucksack burns on your back. Ouch!

We're doing all of this to raise money for the Lullaby trust, so to give us more motivation to not just stay in our hostel eating Nutella, then go to www.justgiving.com/RADCC2015 to donate. 

And wish us luck - we're going to need it!!

April - The Ram Run!

Many of you will know that I do a lot of running. I would even go as far as saying as I enjoy it! So you may be surprised that I chose a running event to be one of these challenges. Too easy? I wish...

They say a picture says 1000 words, so here comes a novel!

As you can see, I can't say I enjoyed every minute... But I made it! 

www.justgiving.com/RADCC2015

Everest in July?

So, for my July challenge, I will be attempting Everest! However, instead of risking the snow and earthquakes, I will be attempting the same elevation but in Bath....

With anyone who is crazy enough to join me, I will be running (/walking/crawling/rolling) up and down Widcombe Hill in Bath. It's a 3 km round trip from the bottom to the top and back down again with 150 m of ascent. To get to the top of Everest, this means doing this hill 60 times!!! 

I currently am thinking that my aim will be to do it 30 times, with a team of crazies joining me to make up the other 30 (or as many as possible!). 

Who fancies joining me? Every little helps, so just one walk up and down each will all add up :-)

March!!

My initial intention for these challenges were for my friends and family to suggest ideas, and challenge me to complete them. March was the first example of this actually happening, when my friend Charlotte (Charli), knowing about my fear of heights, challenged me to walk across the top of the Millenium Dome (or O2 arena). I accepted her challenge and got another 2 friends to join her in coaxing me across the bouncy walkway. 

Miriam and I arrived at the O2 15 years after we had been to visit it when it was the Dome, in very windy conditions and quite a lot of rain. We sheltered in a coffee shop waiting for the other two, and watching people in a previous group climb up the side of the building. It was really steep and looked pretty difficult. To distract me, Miriam engaged me in conversation about the rest of me challenges for the year, and instead of accepting June's response of "I'm thinking about doing a skydive", she persuaded me to e-mail The Lullaby Trust and sign up! (gulp). 




So now super terrified about my upcoming skydive, I had been distracted from the challenge directly ahead of me. We met Emma and Charli and went to "base camp" of the O2. We were told that the climb would be cancelled if the average wind speed over a 10 minute interval was greater than 35 mph. Luckily (ha!) it was a mere 34, so we were good to climb. After a briefing video we were presented with our super-sexy climbing gear: boots, waterproof jacket, trousers and a harness. We headed outside into the rain/snow/sleet and sheltered by the entrance for a final harness check and briefing. 

The climb started with a small flight of stairs and then photos. Whilst I was trying to smile and not think about how I could see the floor considerably far beneath me, Miriam enthusiastically declared we would like to go first in the group. So our harnesses were clipped on to the safety line and off we went! So I thought this challenge was going to be pretty easy, but trying to walk up a trampoline, sloped at 25 degrees, with epic sidewinds in the rain was really tough! We were pretty speedy, and had to wait for a bit at the top before the rest of the group joined us and we were un-clipped from the safety line and allowed to walk around the platform at the top. 

On a nice day, I can see this would have been a glorious view. As it was, we were actually worried about being un-clipped, as we thought we might get blown away! Although the average wind speed was 34mph, there were some gusts which were definitely stronger... At best, we glimpsed the Orbit in the Olympic Park through the cloud and dreamt of tea and warm baths. And then it was time to go down: again, easier said than done. The slope on the way down went as steep at 30 degrees, as there were no stairs to get you to the ground. If it hadn't been for the safety mechanisms, I think we would have all slid down on our bums and ended up in the Thames! 



Feeling very damp and cold, but accomplished, we were given back the clothes we had left at base camp and we headed off in search of tea... 

Thanks to Emma, Charli and Miriam, and don't forget - it's all for charity! I'm raising money for The Lullaby Trust in memory of my twin sister: to find out more and to donate go to www.justgiving.com/RADCC2015

Lullaby Trust "Family Day Out" at Cadbury World

Today I helped out at a Lullaby Trust "Family Day Out" at Cadbury World. These days are for bereaved parents and their families, are free, and give everyone a chance to meet and talk to other families and Lullaby Trust staff. 

I arrived at 10:30 to help Sandra (from the Lullaby Trust) with the registration and giving out tickets. My job was to hand out stickers and make sure the families knew about all the events going on in addition to the tour. I was amazed at how many people came: they had 270 signed up, and most of those were able to attend on the day. Most were families with young children (or grandchildren) and some had come from quite far. 

Everyone had arrived by 12, and I then had a chance to go round the tour (and get some chocolate!) before heading to the education room. The Lullaby Trust had booked the room for an hour and a half in the afternoon, for the families to come in and have a relaxed chat. 

Before attending today, I had no idea what the real benefit of these days was. Being there, it became obvious. For the families, being able to speak to others who had been through the same as them was invaluable. These days give them the opportunity to openly discuss their tragedy, without the awkwardness that must come with talking to people who haven't been through it and so can't possibly understand, no matter how hard they try.

It was great to see the number of families who came in to speak to one another, and to see how valuable the day was to them. It was also great to see how many had gone on to have more children, helped by the Lullaby Trust's "Care Of Next Infant (CONI)" scheme. 

Seeing the benefits the charity brings to families was a massive reality check for me. It gave me even more motivation to succeed at these challenges this year, and raise as much money as possible. So, I have been searching for things to do....

In March I have found a 20 mile walk in Wales (http://www.threepeakstrial.co.uk/), 
in July, I have found a 24 hour running race (http://www.100milerun.com/cotswold-24-hour-race/sign-up/),
who wants to join me??

February

Last night I did my February challenge! I did stand-up comedy as part of the Bright Club at the Birmingham Rep. As I had written about before here, I had gone to training a few weeks ago which had scared the living daylights out of me! I wrote my script over the last few weeks, and spent most of my bike ride on Saturday and my drive on Sunday going through it in my head. It wasn't until the run-through directly before the performance that I had actually said it out loud…

I arrived at the rep a bag of nerves, very much not feeling like a comedian, and feeling much more like an awkward academic who wanted to go back to their windowless basement! After encouragement from Jim (the organiser) and the other “performers” I stood up and did my run through. It went surprisingly well, and I knew then that the real thing would at least be possible! I saw my friends and some family arrive and I'm not sure whether that calmed me down or made me even more nervous! But by that point I’d got my Lullaby trust t-shirt on and so I knew there was no going back.

From being called on stage to sitting back down afterwards is a bit of a blur – all I know is that it feels awesome when a whole theatre of people laugh at something you thought was funny! I was surprised at how I managed to ad-lib a bit, adding in bits for the final performance that were never in my original script.

When I finished, I was shaking like a leaf but feeling very proud! As I was on 2^nd, I then got to enjoy the rest of the night – my fellow academics were excellent and the bright club atmosphere led to a really good night.

For those of you who were unable to come, the link to the recording is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3_IaeK0xu8&feature=youtu.be

And I’m still not booked in for March... Those of you who would be interested in doing the Nuts challenge, we need to get booking! 

Training for challenge number two!

So February will bring challenge number 2: a stand-up comedy night!

I will be doing a set as part of Birmingham's "Bright Club". It will be at the Birmingham rep theatre on the 2nd Feb (click the name above to get tickets!). The description says:

"Join a new set of academics as they channel their inner comic genius to show that university research isn’t always as serious as you might think. Expect amusing tales about life and work in an evening of laughter and music."

So today I went along to some UoB organised training for the event. Before turning up, I had no idea what I was going to talk about, or how much I was supposed to be speaking about my research or trying to be funny! 

During the training, we learnt all about the format of the night (a professional comedian as a compere, with 6 academics each doing 8 minute slots), how to use a microphone and what kinds of things to talk about. 

I would love to say that the training has made me super relaxed, confident and ready, but that would be a massive lie! I am as terrified as ever, so maybe instead of telling people how to buy tickets, I should be directing them somewhere else in Birmingham on the 2nd Feb....

So the next few weeks bring many a discarded notebook full of scribbles and hours of me talking to wall trying to make it laugh: wish me luck!! 

(And if you do want to come, then tickets can be bought by following the link above)

www.justgiving.com/RADCC2015