Hi Everyone!

I have decided to make 2019 the year of my challenges and making the most of being in good health myself by raising money for a fantastic charity while forcing myself to stick with training for the (somewhat) grim & challenging events I have looming in the horizon.

I have entered my first Half Marathon in March and aim to complete a hat-trick of them before the year is over and in Nov 2019 just after my youngest starts school full time, I will be packing my bag and heading off as part of a team of 80 women to Costa Rica to cycle 222 miles cross country, up and over mountains from the East coast to West coast. This is the first time I have ever done anything like this before, I have seen other people do these challenges, read about them and always been in awe of those that do it and wished I would have the guts to do it too.  

When I saw the Costa Rica trip to raise money for Women V Cancer I just knew I had to sign up. I need to raise £3300 minimum with £1600 of that paying for the cost of the trip.  I have just kick started my page and donated my £1600 to cover the cost of this trip myself meaning that every single penny that is further donated on this page will be directly helping the Women V Cancer charity above.   

Unfortunately SO many people I know have been affected indirectly by cancer – having good friends & family diagnosed with it.  Women's Cancers in particular could affect any one of the females you know and love;  your sister, your mother, your daughter or your best friend.  As a mum to 2 daughters and knowing so much more about the stats of Women’s cancers since I started learning more about this Challenge I am totally dedicated to raising as much money as I can to help the charities continue with their amazing work.

At the recent trip information day, I learnt the following shocking statistics:

Breast Cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK, every 10 minutes someone new is diagnosed with it. But survival rates are improving, 40 years ago only 40% survived, now it is 80%

Cervical Cancer is most common in women under 35, between 2-3 people will die of it EVERY day.

Ovarian Cancer - only 10% of women know the symptoms and shockingly every 2 hours a woman dies of it with only 46% of women living more than 5 years after their diagnosis.

These stats and the stories I listened to from 3 incredibly brave young Cancer survivors who could have been you or I, really opened my eyes to how much money raised by Charity Challenges such as these help not only fund life-saving research to fight these diseases but also fund absolutely crucial support services for woman – and often their families - having to live through this nightmare.  

I walked out of this event feeling inspired to raise as much money as I can to help the amazing charities and volunteers who help them and I really hope you will also want to help me raise the money too.   In addition to this page I also want to come up with a number of fundraising ideas to hopefully get me above and beyond my fundraising target…. And hopefully this will take my mind off my dark cold training runs when I absolutely can’t face dragging myself out to do it (like tonight), and the hardcore hill training I will need to clock up to get my bike up those mountains! 

I'm not going to lie, knowing no one else on this trip is a bit nerve-wracking but I will hopefully return home with many new friends who will be sources of encouragement on the journey together.  

I am excited, nervous, apprehensive and concerned about the training regimes and being so far away from "normality" for 10 days.....but all I can say is bring it on !

*iDonating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.