Ta-da!

Match report

I often find myself in slightly ridiculous situations which may explain why I power walked 21 miles on the hottest day of the year so far.

Just in case you missed yesterdays post, the walk is done – 21 miles, five hours 35 mins, 46,096 steps. A week earlier than anticipated, but hey-ho! I have photographic evidence of the pedometer and hopefully Natalie will be able to get it off my phone tomorrow (I can be such a Luddite at times). Plenty of my colleagues have seen it so I can produce character witnesses if required.

Anyway, back to the walk. I knew something was afoot on Saturday evening when I was putting together my iPod’s 16 mile playlist (imaginatively titled ‘Walkies!’). I decided to add on an extra hour’s worth of tunes ‘just in case’ - hmmmm.

Woke up on Sunday morning and I knew what I had to do – get this walk out of the way. Rather than fully admit that to myself or anyone else I set off on my training walk as planned, just with extra provisions on the off-chance I fancied tagging an extra five miles on the end.

I would love to report some kind of triumph over adversity tale of five and a half hours of hell but it really wasn’t the case; in the main it was very enjoyable. The only problem I encountered was crushing boredom. To overcome this I mulled over such insightful topics as:

‘Would I like to live at River Cottage?’ (yes, but only if Hugh moved out)

‘What would being married to Tim Roth be like?’ (awesome)

‘Is my neighbour using his ice cream van empire as a cover for drug dealing (quite possibly)

The only time I came close to breaking was being forced to return to the house when I ran out of water at 37,000 steps. It was heartbreaking to dash in, fill up and leave again – all the time knowing that all that stood between me and that sofa was another 9,000 steps (sigh).

Mr Swift was kind enough to accompany me for the last hour and his company was greatly appreciated. His sense of humour at 43,000 steps, was not. “Wouldn’t it be funny if I locked you out of the house when we got back?” Err, no. We’re friends again now.

Once it was all over i celebrated by having a glass of bubbly and watching the second half of the Bollywood film Fanaa – an epic tale of casual holiday sex and international terrorism.

The good news is it’s not too late to sponsor me if you’re feeling that way inclined; my justgiving page is still very much open for business. So far I’ve raised £369 (thank you, thank you, thank you) and would love to see that grow a little larger.

Right, I bid you all goodnight; I’ll be back in the next couple of days to give you an update on progress.

Hip Hip Hooray

Hello again. I’ve only gone and bloody done it!

You’re going to have to take my word for it at the moment as I can’t get the pic of my pedometer off my phone.

So, 21 miles in 5 hours and 35 minutes has got me to 46,000 steps. I wasn't planning the big push until next week, but i just knew that today should be the day from the moment i woke up.

I am extremely relieved to have it in the bag. My calves ache the tiniest bit, but I think that may be down to dehydration rather than anything else. It was extremely warm out there today.

There will be a full match report tomorrow once I’ve recovered, but tonight there will be some long overdue chocolate cake and champagne - hooray!

Week eight round-up

Week eight! My, it only seems like yesterday Stuart convinced me this blog would be a good idea.

Can i get a drum roll please ............. 16 miles nailed in 4 hours 10 mins. I'm chuffed to bits with the time and the distance. No major problems to report apart from abject boredom. I desperately need some new tunes on the iPod to keep me entertained.

Anyhoo - here's what i've learned this week:

• Hugh's River Cottage Garlic Soup is amazing (even if you substitute the chicken stock for a veg alternative)
• Never underestimate the comedy value of a short Irish man in a cape and jackboots (or a giant purple cow)
• iTunes support section is full of lies

So, week nine - the penultimate week. I'm looking at three midweek walks (two six miles and one seven miler) then a repeat of today's 16 mile endurance test next Sunday. I feel tired just typing that.

Pollen, Garlic, Hooowwwwwllllll

What a blissful way to start the weekend - I’m sat in my study (at my shiny new computer) looking out over the garden, wondering what on earth I’m going to do with abundance of fruit ripening nicely on my apple tree (I’m leaning towards cider).

The only thing spoiling this scenario is the puffy eyes and streaming nose courtesy of my arch nemesis, pollen. I’ve had hay fever for the last 20 years but for some reason this season is particularly bad. For someone who spends a great deal of time in the garden, this is not cool.

This week has been pretty easy going on the training front; just a couple of six-mile midweek jaunts. Six miles really is nothing now, I can do it well within the 90 minutes recommended in my training schedule. However, tomorrow’s 16 miler looms menacingly in the background. My clothes and trainers are sitting in a pile, ready for me to drag myself out of bed early doors in order to get round in time to still have some of the day left to enjoy. Last week’s 14 miler wasn’t the nightmare it could have been, so pollen permitting it could be ok.

I should really mention the crushing tiredness that’s probably making the pollen appear ten times worse than it actually is. I had a very late night/early morning thanks to Andrew Maxwell and his merry band of fullmooners (hooowwwwwllllll) . As per usual, Maxwell overran by a good 40 minutes, meaning that Waterloo had closed for the night by the time we got there. Cue much frantic TFL checking on the iPhone (Natalie) and desperate attempts to locate bus stop D (Me). 50 minutes later we arrive in deepest, darkest Penge. I’m not complaining – the gig was a riotous laugh, and ended with Des Bishops's Gaelic rendition of House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’. Des was accompanied on stage by Maxwell, three breakdancers and a giant dancing purple cow. If that’s not worth braving a trip on the night bus, I don’t know what is.

Anyway – will leave you all to your respective Saturday pursuits. I plan to spend the day repotting chili plants and picking my first garlic of the season. Can’t make my mind up whether to roast the bulbs whole or make a garlic soup. Either way, I apologise in advance to any Campaign staff that have to speak to me next week – its’ going to be a fragrant experience.

I love research!

I’ve just got back from one of my favourite Breast Cancer Campaign events, our annual Induction Day. The event, in its ninth year (I’ve been to seven of them), is designed to bring together our newly funded scientists with Campaign’s staff, Trustees and Scientific Advisory Board members. We split the day into two halves - the scientists talk about their research in the morning and Campaign’s staff talk about what they do in the afternoon. Hopefully, by the end of the day we all know a little bit more about our ground breaking research and the scientists understand the dedication and perseverance of Campaign’s staff and supporters (and how they can help us to raise even more money).

I have the great privilege of suggesting the scientific speakers and it’s a wonderful opportunity for me to share some of my favourite new research projects with staff and scientists alike. Here’s a few of the research questions that our new researchers are answering right now:

· Can a type of physiotherapy called myofacial release help to improve the lack of mobility and pain people experience in their upper arm after breast cancer surgery and radiotherapy?

· Can we design a brand new way of treating breast cancer by putting a gene into breast cancer cells that causes them to self-destruct, leaving healthy cells intact?

· Are a group of cells called cancer stem cells responsible for people’s breast cancer returning after treatment? If so, can we develop ways to kill these stem cells and prevent the cancer from recurring?

I am inspired by what I hear at every Induction Day, not just from the scientists but also the dedication of our staff. It’s motivated me to keep on going with the walking, and I know however much I raise will be a step in the right direction (no pun intended) to helping us support event more research.

I won’t go on about the current economic climate but as Liz (our Director of Fundraising) pointed out in her talk this afternoon there are around 20,000 active charities all vying for your cash right now. Each person is motivated to raise funds for Campaign for very different reasons; mine is the unwavering belief that Campaign’s research does and will continue to make a huge difference to the 550,000 people alive in the UK who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and those people who’ll be diagnosed in the future.

I guess a spot of exercise and a few inconvenienced weekends seems like a small price to pay in return.

P.S – On a more flippant note, I’ve calmed down 1000 per cent since last night’s Apple-directed tirade (a note to Steve Jobs, it’s probably safe for you to pop round our house now). The iTunes issue still isn’t resolved; however I have (unrealistically) high hopes for this evening.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Just spent the last three hours failing to transfer mine and Mr Swift's iTune libraries from dying laptop to shiny new computer. If Steve Jobs walked into my study right now i'd punch him very hard in the face.

*deep breaths* Let's hope tomorrows six mile walk will help calm the nerves.