This message was sent to us by Eleanor, a volunteer joining this summer’s Ugandan expedition. She is training for the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge on the 30th May 2010 and we’d like to wish her the best with her fundraising activities and will be sharing her experience with you here on our website.
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Dear All
Thought I might update you on how I’m getting on with training for the the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge that I’m doing on 30th May, to raise money for my expedition with The Great Primate Handshake www.primatehandshake.org in July.
Training up in the hills has been going really well despite the very wintry weather. At times I’ve been wondering what country I’m and considered buying crampons! Really enjoying it though, as seeing our mountains in the snow and ice is something very special. I’ve been out training every weekend, mostly in the hills but also cycling and running to get the stamina up. Friends have been fantastic and I’ve been inundated with requests for people to join me on my training days, which has been lovely as I was anticipating doing a lot of it on my own. Cheers you all, it’s been fab being in the mountains with such a cracking bunch of people! Oh and the monkey picture is my new mascot, Funky Monkey, who seems to follows me around…..
I’ve also had support from a friend of mine, Andy Cummings of www.manzoku.co.uk who has already done this challenge, but ran it and cycled the bits in between (nutter!). He’s given me lots of very invaluable advice for training and how to keep myself fit and able to last the whole day. Ta!
James is getting fitter, though his back and leg is still giving him hassle (mainly on the flat), but he’s done a couple of big walks with me over the last few of weeks. Even though it’s still dubious whether he will do the whole challenge, he’ll be joining me for a good chunk of it.
I’ve also really got my head (and legs!) around running, which is something I used to loathe. Brisk mornings in the hail may well have addled my brain. I’ve got so into it that I entered my first 10K race last weekend and completed the course in a respectable 59minutes. There are other races coming up…
I’m feeling really confident about the challenge now. Three mountains in one day. It will be tiring, but I think I will manage.
THANK YOU to everyone who has sponsored me already! Your response has been fantastic and I’ve raised over £500. If you’ve offered sponsorship but not got around to giving it, let me know if you still want to sponsor me and I’ll come knocking on your door with my trusty sponsorship form over the next couple of weeks!!
James and I are off to North Wales on Friday to remind ourselves what Snowdon is like (very snowy I think) and do a couple of the Glydders and Cadair on the way back home.
Thank you all once again for your support and I’ll send another update nearer the challenge day. More info is on my news page on my website at www.eleanorflaherty.co.uk/news.html and I’m posting updates weekly on my Facebook page. I hope that some of you will join me for my final push up Pen-y-Fan on the 30th. I will be Tweeting updates to my news page all through the challenge so you’ll know where I am!
Keep warm and hope to see you soon
Eleanor x
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