I've never written a blog before so you're all going to have to bear with me! I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually!
Back in May (2010) I saw an article in a sunday newspaper talking about walking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. It said that the walk was arduous, but breathtakingly beautiful and once completed gave the trekker a tremendous feeling of achievement (although that could of course be explained by the altitude sickness).
I, like everyone, have a list of "20 places to see before I die" and Machu Picchu is on my list. The newspaper article went on to explain that a number of charities arranged Inca Trail walks, the deal being that prospective walkers have to guarantee a certain sum of money and in return are permitted to participate! I looked into this further and discovered that Macmillan Cancer Support was one such charity. I looked on their web site (see link on this page) and duly applied.
Having been accepted, Macmillan sent me an information pack including training programmes, sponsor forms etc. Only once these arrived did it start to dawn on me that I might have bitten off slightly more than I could chew.......
The first small matter to address was my decreasing level of fitness and increasing body mass index and waistline. More later.....
The second issue was to start raising money. As suggested by Macmillan I set up a "just giving" account. I then started assaulting friends, colleagues, neighbours, patients, people in the street and Uncle Tom Cobbley and his mates......This is where I started to become a real pain in the bum. I sent out my links via e-mail (personal and work), via Facebook, via text message and through snailmail post, so some people got as many as 4 versions of my initial "begging" letter!!!
The response has been overwhelming. In the first 2 weeks I have raised nearly £4000 . Thank you everyone!
I wont mention names to save everyones blushes but I have had pledges ranging from £1 to £1000!!! Every single amount is important and received with total gratitude......Thank you Mike Zeiderman for suggesting that I just went on a diet and instead of messing about I should just write Macmillan a cheque for £10,000!!!
On friday 13th I went out on a bit of a "hooley" to a posh restaurant in Liverpool with my family and some friends from Radio City (96.7 fm) It was my final "last supper" ritual before starting my fitness regime............I got absolutely bladdered but fortunately all the others were so bad that I don't think anyone really noticed! If they did, I'm so sorry if I was a bit over the top!
The following day I flew to Spain for a couple of weeks sunshine in Albir. Starting that evening (still with the vestiges of an "I'm never going to drink again.....ever"...headache) I did my first walk in my shiney new walking boots. The bay from the south end of Albir to the north end of Altea is beautiful and is exactly 7.5 km. So there and back is 15km! Boy did I have some cracking blisters that first day.... I went to the pharmacy and was given some contraption that you required a degree in bioengineering to fit but it certainly helped my sore heels!
I did that walk every morning for the following 12 days then it was time to come home. Walking around the lanes of the south wirral is not as picturesque as the coastline of the Costa but I've carried on doing a 1 1/2 hour walk for the last 3 days. Do I feel better? Not yet! But I'm quite determined and who knows by next May I may just fit into those snake skin rock star jeans that I bought in Santa Monica in 1994...........another story for another day.........
I know that I've gone on a bit with this first entry but I'll try to be more concise in the future weekly blog entries.
I'd just like to leave you with one question,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, does everyone's bum get so sweaty when walking?? If so what's the answer????
Talk to you next week
Mike x
