The preparation for the two amazing and very different fitness challenges I've completed to date, alongside the unfaltering and immense support of SUPERchicks, friends and colleagues, is what has single-handedly driven my training forward with leaps and bounds. Without these specific goals – I’d have never EVER got off the starting block never mind stuck with the relentless training over the many months. And without all the training I’d have never lost the weight or gained the physical AND mental strength OR discovered my amazing allies who have ensured that I completed all my challenges to date, be they the big “official” challenges or the smaller daily hurdles.
These nine months have taught me A LOT but most importantly I've learnt that a training focus is ABSOLUTELY key to ensuring continuous progression, interest and {some brief!!!} enjoyment between all the various stages of oxygen deprivation!! Plus I suffer from that oh so common human flaw of never being able to back down once I’ve accepted a challenge. It WILL be my downfall!!
Since I’ve now had a month off since the last fitness challenge, it’s time to get back on the training horse and see what else I might be capable of, even if it's just keeping the training going over the next few freezing months. However, this time I want ALL YOU amazing supporters, friends and SUPERchicks to decide what the THIRD chapter of my Mission Mayhem should be. You may very well find yourselves involved – at least I hope you will, so you really should have the opportunity to weigh in, before you find yourselves up to your elbows in mud or at the back end of a pantomime horse scaling a tightrope over a rushing waterfall. Well you never know!!
I have laid out FOUR great challenges for next February/March 2011 that I personally think will get me out of my training and personal comfort zone. All you have to do is vote for your favourite via the voting gadget on the right hand side of this post. There is also a fifth WILDCARD option, in case you don’t think that my options are sufficiently heinous, gory or challenging. If the WILDCARD is the winning option then SUPERchick FOUNDER, the legendary SUPERcat, has agreed to take on the AWESOME responsibility of selecting the next challenge for this Girl on a Mission – what it might be – one can only guess?!
However I think any of my four options also have TOTAL awesomeness potential; I have scoured the web, perused training magazines and tapped into the inner wisdom of the fittest people I know. I have come across some amazing challenges and had to seriously talk myself out of the Patagonian Expedition Race – a 10 day race in Chile involving rock climbing, sea kayaking and mountaineering. But then who doesn't fancy hanging from a sheer rock face by their fingernails?! Just slightly out of my depth currently, but who knows for 2012?!! I was also quite up for a boxing challenge, until I realised it would involve getting hit in the face. As I would cry on impact that really is a no go. I am also a little disappointed not to find some more innovative challenges – everything seems to involve running or biking and is a bit samey – EVENTERS: how about an amateur synchronised swimming event, a hulahooping extravaganza, cage fighting dressed as fluffy sumo wrestlers or a Gladiators tournament presided by the Wolfman!?! Sadly for now these events seem to be somewhat lacking, at least for the timeframe I’m after. Plus, I should say that I’ve also dismissed anything with “Hell” or “Death” in the title cos I may be loony but I’m not yet certifiable. I’ve also dismissed anything that required raising c.£3k in sponsorship e.g. climbing Kilimanjaro. SORRY but I can’t bear to attempt this scale of fundraising when so many people I know are in such precarious employment and after people have already given so, SO generously in previous challenges.
But here are the BRILLIANT options that DID make the final cut so getting perusing and voting. VOTING CLOSES ON SUNDAY 14th NOVEMBER, 5pm SHARP. THANK YOU so much for your input - hopefully I’ll still be talking to you all once the results are in!!
Option Number 1:
Kicking off with my own personal favourite – ADVENTURE-X on Saturday 12th March – High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. A race that’s physical and completely MENTAL – no joke!
Here’s what the organisers have to say: Adventure-X is a ground-breaking, uplifting adventure challenge that will test your team…to the power of 10! Following a marked trail –route on foot and mountain bike will be the straightforward part. Tackling the TEN special challenges will be where it really gets interesting. Here’s a taster of what is in store for your team of three……
• “Board Senseless” – fancy a go at mountain boarding? Good – it’ll be fun!
• “Bolder Boulder” - traverse a bouldering wall - no head for heights required.
• “Kayak Konundrum” – Steering committee of 3 essential!
• “Gym’ll Fix It" – probably the most unusual outdoor gym you’ll come across.
• “Snooker Orienteering” – a mini navigation test. Have you got the balls?
• “Work –Life Balance” – a challenge that won’t show our dry sense of humour
I so LOVE this although it doesn’t let on how long this race is!! I should also acknowledge that I don’t own a bike currently – will one of Boris’ bikes stand up to this?!
Option Number 2:
A stamina/ endurance event - the return of the Tortoise: Running to work, complete with rucksack, EVERY day for the entire month of February. I so DON'T love this!! I should say that both my workplaces are just over 10km from my flat so that would mean running over 200km in a month. YIKES. Anyone who saw me attempting 10km last Saturday in Richmond Park will know firsthand just how rubbish I STILL am at running a 10km distance – on Saturday I was actually praying that I would, please Lord, slip, sustain a head injury on a rock and so pass out – that was really the best case scenario I could come up with. It was THAT tough – I even spotted AJ slowing to a walk at one point!!!! FACT.
To lighten the mood of this – as part of this challenge, I would also like to throw in getting 19 people to join me on the 13th February to run the 10km Valentine’s Run – wait for it – dressed as a packet of LOVEHEARTS!!!!
Bags I be “Wild Thang!!”
THIS WOULD BE FREAKING AWESOME – I really have no shame. Truly.
Option Number 3:
A DUATHLON: I was going to propose Mud Runner Ice Breaker on the 6th February – 10km run, 20km ride and a 3km run to finish. But this looks BEYOND awful – distance wise and the fact that it will be FREEZING. The mud part is the bit I can cope with after CC, I think. Enough said.
So I am proposing the slightly less heart attack inducing option of QX’s Off Road Duathlon on the 20th February – a 5 km TRAIL run, 15km mountain bike, 5km TRAIL run. I literally have no idea what a trail run is but I’m guessing I’ll be spending my life in Richmond Park for the next four months if this is the winning option.
Option Number 4:
Disney’s Princess Half Marathon on the 27th February 2011. Can I just say this looks AMAZETASTIC although it is based in Florida which is quite far to travel for a jog, even if its a 12.1 mile jog. But your wish is my command and this is really my only option for attempting to run this distance in February and not have my lungs shrivel up and die in the cold. Plus it’s at DISNEYWORLD – which would be majorly AWESOME!!!!! Can you tell I never got to go as a child?!
Option Number 5:
Le "WILDCARD". Want to rest my next challenge fate in SUPERcat’s hands?! Please note: I have already got on my knees and pleaded with SUPERcat NOT to select a marathon and after my shocking performance at Saturday’s SUPERfun run10km, I’m reasonably confident that I might be saved from that particular HELL currently. But you just never know.
Those are the options - so think happy thoughts and get VOTING! xx
p.s. In my digging around I found a 10km race on the 20th March which looks so hilariously BRILLIANT – How about a team of fluffy SUPER“chicks” for FARMYARD FROLICS? Think CC but crazier: Check this out.
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