Did I forget to mention?

I've also lost 1lb over christmas!!!

Me and my bright ideas!!

Does anyone recognise here?

If you guessed the reservoir in the valley below Pen -Y-Fan - then you will be right!

Wednesday was the day (yup the 27th) and the weather was meant to be foggy with some slight rain.

So off we went, got to the reservoir about 11am and I couldn't believe how busy it was. I put on my fleece from Blacks and we started the walk.

Now I have to say that the highest I have been before this was Loughrigg and I couldn't even see the top of this "mountain". It was dry and not too cold, but still no peak to see.

After about 30mins we could see ice on the grass - but we carried on. We were going along the old roman road towards Cribyn. We climbed through the gate at the top and thought we should prehaps put our waterproof jackets on (thank god for these) and then we started the steep climb. We then passed a group that was about 15 mins in front of us (I was feeling pretty pleased at this point)Now I have to say I am not sure whether it is a good or bad thing if you can't see the top, but after a fairly steep climb we were there and I could see nothing!!

Still no time for stopping, so it was a slight (!??!) descent down at which point we passed someone in trainers (barking mad)

note to Trail - I seem to have some problems mentally in descending I am convinced that I am going to fall - please help!

We passed over frozen boggy patches and water and I was feeling great. Then it was the steep climb to the summit of Pen-Y-Fan - not impressed!! Only joking I found it hard and Paul realised the importance of breakfast, but what an achievement when I got there! I saw a pile of rocks and realised that there was no way I could do a video blog up there. It was freezing, blowing a gale, ice whipping around and no viz! So after a quick cup of tea (i had also forgotten to wash the flask out properly so it tasted of washing up liquid) it was back down the way we had come because of the bad weather.

So down we started - i was slightly better this time and we met a group of people who were slightly disoriented so we brought them down with us and we took another path which took us around Cribyn and back down to the roman road.

Now because of my leg length and size I can't seem to get walking trousers so I had cotton combats on (Please note - they are no good for wet weather - my legs actually hurt at one point they were so cold)

Well we all got down safely and it took only 3 1/2 hours and how did I feel?

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!! I HAVE THE BUG OFFICIALLY NOW

I was running to have my photo taken by the reservoir.

But enough of that we took the people backto their car and ensured that they were all safe and well before we wen back to pick the monsters up.

I clocked up over 22000 steps and did I ache? NO, i think I was more shocked by that then anything else - not a single grumble - prehaps things are changing for me!

Photos I promised

Who needs fancy balancing equipment?

Practising my climbing skills!!

Me and Ioan enjoying a little ramble!

Merry Christmas

Hello all,

just a quick note to wish all a merry christmas. I have enjoyed a lovely dinner today (in my nice dress wearing my pedometer) did really well and did not have a huge plate as normal. But then I donned my baby rucksack and took the kids to the park, where I even managed to practise my climbing skills (photos to follow)
Last week I also planned to beat 7000 steps per day average and I hit 7109 - lots of yippees now please!!
This week I want to hit 7500 - I work well with little goals.
Off to do the Brecon horseshoe on wednesday with all my shiny new gear
I had
a blacks roc 35+ rucksack
a pink camelbac bottle
a silva compass, headlight and binoculars set
and a trekking pole!
So just checking the weather and we have an alternative planned (honestly just not sure what yet)
Will be off for another walk tomorrow as we did yesterday too (scattered some of dad's ashes yesterday so we had to go on a walk for that)

So keep eating and drinking well (lots of veg & water anyway)

And watching lots of fab telly while standing on 1 leg!
Sian :)

Did I manage it?

Nope, my good intentions of a bike ride or walk today were all in vain!
I woke up at 7am and was really unwell again - so that was it for today. I was relegated back to bed for a few hours and then had to get everything ready for the trip back to Wales.
It was then off to a shaky start with the steps and didn't want this to be my lowest day so managed to have clocked up 3500+ (still a few hours left yet).
So very disapponted in myself but have packed my new shiny ruckscak ready for a walk on wednesday and Yes I am definetly going on one!

Well would you believe it?

Today and it isn't over yet I have done over 10000 steps - Yippeeee!!!

I know you're all thinking "well what hill did you climb today then Sian?"
And the answer is None!
All I have done is taken a 30 minute walk to the shop and back (all inclusive) and dancing to the Ipod with the monsters.

I am very chuffed and will doing this again - I found it no effort at all today and the plan is to keep it up. Wanted to average 7000 steps per day this week and I think I shall be doing it.

Off on a bike ride or walk tomorrow - it's still on and need to check the weather for the Brecon Beacons next week.

Some more good news - my jeans are getting to big for me!

Food for Thought...

Just thought that I have a craving for lots of veggies, so decided to make a sausage stew for tea with lots of them in (and a big yorkshire pudding to put it all in) when I had a ponder and realised that I have some advice for people and some friends of mine (you know who you are)
So here it is

11 months ago I bought my own business - I own a day nursery. It has been hard, with lots of tears and swearing, lots of tantrums, but mainly I have felt good about it. I know that it will pay off and become more successful. I only have to look at what I have achieved over the months.
But back to the point I'm trying to make, don't worry about things you have no control over. Life is really too short and any opportunities that you get given TAKE. If you don't do or try something when you are presented with it - then in the future you may never get the chance again.
Don't be scared and take the plunge whether, don't wait hoping the right moment will come along - it never will. There will always be a reason why you can't do something,but there will also be a reason why you should do it!
Don't wait for opportunities go and grab them.
Ring that man you fancy, go for that job you have always wanted - send that email to the magazine.
Don't wait as life could pass you by sooner than you expect.

Plodding on

Well yesterday I was really unwell but still managed to clock up over 7000 steps, but now today my eldest Elli is unwell. So I am in proper Mummy mode and looking after her. So far have nearly 4000 steps done, and I'm cleaning the house ready for christmas so keeping very active. The pedometer is amazing I'm wearing it all the time and it really spurs me on. As of next week I am going to start the other exercises in the pack that Darren gave us.

Tip of the Day
If you still have christmas wrapping to do, place the presents in one part of the house as far away from the room that you are actually going to be doing the wrapping in. Then only take one item at a time and wrap them. So you'll keep going back and fore. It'll really help get those steps up! Especially if you have to keep going up and down the stairs.

I'm back

Lets bring it up todate. Over the 2 weeks of my dad dying I put on 8lb, since the 11/12 I've now lost that! Good News no 1
Been on a walk with Sarah - about 6 miles and over 14000 steps - Good News No2
Healthy eating is really on par - not drinking as much as I should be but that is in hand.
Breakdown of daily steps
I figure if I do an average over the week it gives me more to work towards
3000
5623
8080
3094
5300
6543
14892
Daily average 6647
Plan to hit 7000 this week.
Went to Ellis Brigham last week to have a look at the climbing wall - my god it is so high - so still thinking about booking a course with my birthday money - but I have my eye on a pair of boots - so tough decision!

Good news no 3 - bargain pair of brand new merrell boots on ebay £31.00 - was gutted they got muddy on sunday!!

was quite upset that no-one took my photo in Starbucks the other day - I was practising my standing on one leg - I think someone may have actually called security!

Taking the monsters out on a bike ride on saturday as it should be quiet - with everyone christmas shopping hopefully. Its the 1st time Ioan will have been out - so fingers crossed the littlemad one should enjoy it.

Off to Wales on Sunday over the christmas period, so we can't decide what walk to go on - Paul is under orders that we are going out.

Tip of the Day
If you are struggling to afford all the gear - go to the shops try on different brands and know your sizes and what you want - wait till the sales, you can just go in and grab what you want. And it also means after christmas lots of things on ebay due to unwanted presents and clearing out of old gear. Having things come through the post will keep ou motivated as you'll just want to get out there and try them
Tip of the day

Retail Therapy!

No idea what happened with the photos on the last post.

Anyway Friday morning woke up and all my muscles ached so some ibuprofen later and a cup of tea I realised that my trousers for the funeral hadn't washed properly - thank god for 24hr supermarkets. So at 7.45 I was speeding through the streets of Newport as we were being picked up at 9am - phew managed it and actually looked presentable for a change.
I wouldn't go into the details too much as I'm still in denial of it all - but it was standing room only at the crem and it was a service unlike any other I have been too. I didn't cry and I stayed all the way through.
I am finding it more dificult now then I did at the time.
So whats a girl to do when she is feeling down?

It was off to Blacks in Cardiff where I really needed a new rucksack as the one I had used the day before was "pants". So for christmas off my kids I have a shiny new bag - yippee!
But enough of all of this now I spent another week not doing anything that I was shown to do or wearing my pedometer - but I hope you'll all agree that I had good reason not to. But Monday the 11th december it was full steam ahead.

The lakes finally

thursday morning arrived and I looked out my window and saw Loughrigg and thought Wow!

So off to breakfast it was and there was a beautiful pinky colour to the sky which made it all seem so surreal. I was sat there eating breakfast about to embark on the biggest challenge of my life.

All those times I started a fitness kick and a diet and now I have all these people to keep me on track and the readers to make sure that I do it!

Me and Sarah then remembered that we had sacks of stuff of Santa Clause at Blacks to open!!

So a sneaky word directed at Claire and off we were. Well kid in a Candy Shop I am!!

We had so much stuff - it was fantastic and a real incentive - I now have to keep Blacks happy too!!

So off to get dressed and then meet downstairs ready to start, where Darren introduced us to the best flapjacks in the world - if anyone knows of any better ones please point me in the right direction.

Now it was time - all kitted out and ready to go, after a warm up of a walk which felt like miles and a quick detour in Ambelside we were at the bottom.

we all took our pulses and the pedometers were going abit haywire!! The steep first bit was horrible, we even meet an 80year old man that was in better shape than me (big reality check!)

But I got second wind and off we went with Tom deciding to take some unflattering photos of us (no doubt you'll be able to have a laff in the next few weeks)

It was then that we saw a pile of rocks - didn't look to bad and that's what we were going to scramble. So Tom run(yes really ran) up the pile of rocks and thats when we saw how big they were!!

I'm ever the optomist and knew if I didn't have a go I probably would never do it. So with my little short legs off we went and even though hard work what a sense of achivement. The day was just full of them!

At one point I thought my heart was going to explode, but Darren got me to slow down and it made all the difference. The views were fantastic and what a great day, I meet really nice people and most of all it really helped my head. I was absolutely knackered but I couldn't stop feeling so excited!

I was really disappointed and was hoping to get lost as the next day was Dad's funeral.

So we travelled back to wales to get ready for the next day, here are some photos of loughrigg fell!!

one day and counting

Wednesday arrived and after a quick trip to the dry cleaners we were on our way!
After an uneventful journey when we arrived it was too dark to see any mountains - I was gutted!! But the youth hostel looked lovely and we arrived nice and earlier so a rest was in need.
Didn't have clue what to expect so about 7.30ish (i think) ventured down stairs to see if anyone had arrived and was waiting like me. Low and behold there was 2 ladies sat on the seats. i think we all looked abit lost and there I met Sarah and Jess.
So a quick chat and husbands meet to go off on a manly pint later every one arrived. So it was off to a lovely little pub in Ambleside for a nice dinner.
I think everyone was nervous and scared to eat as we were sat opposite Darren the fitness guru!
So we meet Claire and Ruth, the lovely ladies from Trail who send us lots of nice emails. We also met Tom the photographer and Graham the gear tester. I also got to meet the other 3 fitness academy victims (sorry not sure how else to put it) Emma, Stephen and Richard.
So after a very tasty supper and a good chat it was time for the walk back and a good nights sleep ready for the next day. Also antcipation of a very steep initial climb - Arrrrgghhhh

I will post some photos of the good day later so it's goodnight for now as not having a very good day emotionally today -but still it's going to happen some days. not worry still keeping the steps up!!

Felt like the longest week...

It was a good job that I had packed my bag for the Lakes already as now we would be staying in Wales. Monday involved making the funeral arrangements and a phone call to Claire asking if Hubby could stay with me. In the circumstances I really wasn't sure if I could face sleeping with people I didn't know.
As sad as I was, I realised that I needed to do this and was looking forward to it. It actually kept me focused. So Tuesday was the day that I decided that I didn't want to the funeral. I was adamant and got quite panicky about the whole thing. So it was decided that I would go in the car and then make my decision when I got there. I have a fear of the curtains closing at a crematorium as I know it's the last time that I'll see Dad.
But I had to get ready for the Lake. So i did.

Devasting

Saturday we went out so I could look for some stuff to take with me to the Lake District as we had received a further email to say that the lovely early christmas present wouldn't be arriving in time.
I had a phone call off my brother to say that prehaps I should be thinking about getting home.
Well I had to sort out staff wages and invoices so I got on with making sure that that was all done. I spoke to the Hospice and was told that Dad had taken abit of a dip, but no need to rush home yet.
So I rang Sunday morning and spoke to my Mum who said that I needed to come home as we only had days left.
We got in the car at about 10am and drove home.
Arrived at the hospice about midday and i saw my Aunties outside. They had come to see Dad but was told that they couldn't go in.
I knew what had happened deep down and went in to the Hospice and saw the Nurse and just said "It's happened hasn't it?" and she just nodded. My dad died at 11.15 aged just 50 years old.
I went in and saw him and the first thing my Mum said to me "Promise me you'll go on Thursday" - the only reason I applied was because I wanted help to get me in a position, fitness and knowledge wise in order to raise money for the Hospices that do so much hard work.

I will carry on tomorrow and bring the blog up to date over the next few days.

In anticipation

So we were told there was six of us and we were off to Loughrigg Fell in the Lake District.
We should have been in France on hols that week, but we had already cancelled due to Dad being so unwell. So the in-laws were having the kids and it was all systems go.
Had a look on the net saw the place we were going thought that looks lovely, and then we had the kit list - Arrgghh - so much stuff - so expensive. Being a newbie I had very little of the list but most importantly no waterproof jacket!
So it was off to Blacks when the 20% offer was on. I had my eye on a lovely North Face 3in1. So monday morning - dropped the kids off at Nursery and then realised I had forgotten my wallet! But crisis averted was able to get some money and off I went. I even bought a hat and a bag to match - all for under £150. (including trousers from Next as no walking trousers fit me at the moment - too short and too fat!!)

Went back to Wales for a few days and then had an email from Claire from the Mag, Blacks are sponsoring us - yet more screaming and jumping up and down. Very excited phone call to Hubby - who just laughed at me.

So dropped the kids off at the in-laws on the friday and came home to Reading to have a romantic week.

And in the Beginning....

I think that I should explain how this all begin.
Well back in September my family got told that my Dad's cancer and recurred and was not curable. So one night my brother and I was talking and we thought about doing something for the Hospice that was currently helping my Dad.
I then came up with the idea of the Three Peaks Challenge and even booked a date. I then posted a Help Wanted on a forum (sometimes I don't think things through this will become apparent lots of times). But then I picked up Trail Magazine in Tesco (I had originally bought Country Walking) and thought Wow - I forgot what walking up mountains looked like.

So anyway there was an article asking for Walking Newbies to volunteer to help prove that you could lose weight by walking. I kept saying to hubby I'm going to email them about this. But I kept forgetting and not getting around to it and then I went home to see my Dad. I came back, got upset, drunk a few glasses of wine and then wrote the initial email.

Well then on the following monday at about 5.55pm I had a phone call from Ruth off the mag and was asked if I could send a video in. Hubby was away on a course and my 2 year can't operate a video yet, but I was allowed to answer the questions by email and send a photo. All by the Tuesday.

I then sat up for many hours trying to get right and being honest about what I wanted. So the send button was pressed and the next day was spent waiting in anticipation. On the Tuesday evening I got an email to say that I was selected.

I really really did scream the place down and after some jumping around and kissing my little ones - I thought "What have I done?"

Sorry Sarah - I had to have one too!!

I apologise now to Sarah, I think your Blog is great and really like the idea of being able to write down my thoughts and feelings as a 60-90 second video means you can't really get all you want to say out there!
So on the spur of the moment (I have far too many of these!) I created this one. Later today I will explain the whole Trail Academy Fitness thing and how I came to be choosen as a Victim!