I did it!
The 400K 5 Day Coast to Coast challenge is completed......
The pictures attached never really convey the tiredness / exhaustion / cold / being wet to the bone / the beautiful scenery / severe gradient of the never ending hills / how smelly or how little food and sleep you have had. One tends to smile in a picture no matter how much pain one is in. So these pictures may indeed look like I was having a ball (which in small pockets I was) but they cunningly hide all the discomfort. It does show how unglamorous one can look after 6 days with only one cold shower, perpetual wet clothes and very little sleep.
But also the key thing they don't convey is how darn chuffed, amazed and totally over the moon I was to have finished and completed the challenge. Each night you think, there is no way I can continue, but somehow, when I woke up in the mornings I appeared to have developed a new lease of life and just got on with it.
I am, however, glad that the following experiences are over:
1. Flying over the handle bars whilst cycling down a very steep rubbly hill with sheer drop at my side on the first night, in the dark with a pathetic bike light. Then elegantly head butting the ground at speed and cutting my face to bits.
2. Getting a fever after spending 7 hours hiking in the raining jungle at night, in the dark going up and up a hill with a broken head light (being guided by fellow team mates with lights), trudging knee deep through muddy bogs and falling over approx. every 10 steps.
3. Putting on wet shoes and socks every day and having the most incredible selection of bruises on my legs.
So, if you would like, I would very much apprecite it if you decide to donate any small financial token which will go to my chosen charity:
The charity I chose is Crossroads Carers West London because my father, who lost his language and mobility when he suffered a severe stroke 4 years ago, spent the first 2 years at home, needing round-the-clock care.
Crossroads Carers West London, an amazing charity, supplied dedicated weekly care that relieved the strain and burden on my mother who was my father's primary and full time carer so I would like to thank them for their support by giving them a little cash boost. My father is now being cared for by the remarkable Anglican nuns in St Mary's Convent and Nursing Home in Chiswick.
To find out more about the charity: www.crossroads.org.uk
To find out more about the race: www.ctocrace.com/index.html
Thank you, Gia x
