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Hayley Field

Hayley Field is crowdfunding

0%
£1,837
raised of £5,000 target by 80 supporters

Weʼre raising £5,000 to give girls a chance to experience the benefits of being strong, and help people through periods of poor mental health.

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Story

After a recent period of poor mental health, due to some pretty debilitating perimenopause symptoms, and feeling that I couldn't actually do anything extraordinary anymore, I decided that I needed a challenge!

The Ultra Challenge Series of events always put on a few 100km walks throughout the summer, so I thought I'd sign up & get one done.

Excited to feel like I could challenge myself one more, I loaded up the events page for 2023, and browsed the events, wondering how I'd decide which one to do.

In what can only be described as an extreme moment of 'WTF' 😳, I decided to sign up for all 15 events 🙈

Two 25km walks, 1 Marathon, 4 continuous 50km walks, and 8 continuous 100km walks!

That oughta get me out of this slump I thought to myself 🤣

Then I thought, why suffer for nothing? Why not let other people get the benefit of my blood, sweat, tears and blisters?

And so I've decided to raise money for two charities that mean a lot to me, and hopefully bring some awareness to how perimenopause can affect our mental health.

The first, for obvious reasons, is Mind, the mental health charity. Having been lucky enough to get access to NHS mental health resources when I needed them, I know that in the current climate this isn't always possible, so the work that Mind does is more important than ever right now.

The second is a community project run by my friend Kristen Ingraham Morgan, the owner of LN CrossFit, and founder of the Strong Girl Squad, based in Lincoln.

The Strong Girl Squad is a group of female strength and conditioning coaches who saw there was a need for girls to be given access to strength training equipment and instruction in a safe and encouraging environment.

Their girls-only weightlifting workshops teach girls in years 7 to 12 that weightlifting is safe and fun, and that being strong is cool!

I found weightlifting later on in life, and came to it after trying a whole host of unhelpful coping mechanisms to distract myself from my problems, including various addictions, spells in hospital, and lots of other 'risk taking behaviours'.

Many of these were rooted in my teens, and steadily got worse into adulthood. Weightlifting, and specifically CrossFit definitely helped get me off a path of self destructiveness and showed me how to be proud of myself once more.

If I'd had access to a project like the Strong Girl Squad when I was a teenager, I imagine my life would've looked a lot different.

And that is why I'm super passionate about showing girls that lifting weights is cool!

I know Kristen has big plans for the project, and I hope that I can help her make them happen by raising some money.

Any money raised will be split equally between both charities.

I'll post regular training updates here and also on my Instagram and Facebook page.

Thanks for reading!

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Updates

16

  • Hayley Field11 days ago
    Hayley Field

    Hayley Field

    11 days ago

    A slightly more subdued finishers photo for the Thames Path 100km challenge. THE HEAT 🥵 It was so damn hot! With barely any shade...and to add insult to injury, much of the path passed people enjoying their Saturday afternoon, sunbathing in their bikinis, splashing in the river, eating ice-creams....I tried my best not to look too jealous 🤣 20h 41m 38secs.👊🏼 The last 100, and event 13 of 15 is done ✅

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  • Hayley Field11 days ago
    Hayley Field

    Hayley Field

    11 days ago

    So event number 12....the one with horrific back pain 😬 Having a spinal fusion, which likes to be a little 'warmed up' before I start traipsing up hills, did not serve me well. Turn right outta the start line and immediately walk up a massive hill...and once you've recovered from that, here, have the 7 sisters 😳 Literal blood, sweat, A LOT of tears & an accidental overdose of paracetamol 🙈🤣 And a lot of help from some very awesome people as usual. I cried the whole last 3km 🙈🤣 22:19:48 30th female 👊🏼

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  • Hayley Field11 days ago
    Hayley Field

    Hayley Field

    11 days ago

    Well, this was very unexpected! I quick 25km jaunt round London for the Summer Walk, and I actually WON the whole bloody thing 🙈 I came first overall out of 572 participants, in a time of 3h 26m 07secs. Can I retire now??? 🤣

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1 year ago

Hayley Field started crowdfunding

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Page last updated on: 9/16/2023 21.16

Supporters

80

  • Anonymous

    Anonymous

    Sep 16, 2023

    £20.00

  • Claire Byrne

    Claire Byrne

    Sep 12, 2023

    Amazing work Hayley! Hope your toes recover quick!

    £50.00

  • Wendy Pettitt

    Wendy Pettitt

    Sep 12, 2023

    So happy to have met you this year. You are most definitely the strongest, most determined and inspiring woman I have ever met. Good luck with the final 2 challenges....they'll be a walk in the park!

    £20.00

  • Chi <Westover CrossFit 💪🏽>

    Chi <Westover CrossFit 💪🏽>

    Sep 12, 2023

    You are a super human 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽

    £20.00

  • Chrissie

    Chrissie

    Sep 10, 2023

    £10.00

  • Katie

    Katie

    Sep 9, 2023

    Amazing work, you have absolutely smashed this season and it has been a pleasure seeing you cross the finish line on so many events

  • Ben Wood

    Ben Wood

    Sep 5, 2023

    Just hearing about your target of doing all the Ultras made me forget about my own blisters and pain over the weekend and helped me over the finish line. You are an inspiration - go kill Chiltern!

    £20.00

Hayley Field

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About the fundraiser
Hayley Field

Hayley Field

Food Ninja, business owner, avid walker (good job really 🤣), massive geek for all things health 🤓 Find out more about me here: https://www.instagram.com/iamthefoodninja/

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