Day.... Uhhhh...... Dunno. Soz.

Hello you poor long suffering blog readers. (If indeed there are any!)
Thought I'd let you know that I am now up to 26% of my total target and I'm still walking like a million miles a week. I'm feeling fit and confident and really looking forward to the actual event now. (I've always been looking forward to it but more so the closer it gets).
There's nothing really to report to be honest. My life is same old same old and I don't want to bore you all silly with it. This is why I have been uber lame with my posts.
Oh and I thought I'd better let those of you who are sponsoring me for my blog know that I intend to put £1 per missed blog into my just giving account with a note stating 'blog fail - I am rubbish'. Hope that is sufficient?!
Anyway, I'm going to send an email to my lovely friends now to see if they would be willing to help me out with a 'bake sale' type event for this.... Yum!
Ta a lot. A very lot.

Day 31, 32 and today, Day 33 - the longest day in the history of man.

Hiya.
I don't really know what to say that's funny and original and stuff because the 'training' has been much of a muchness this week; a few miles each day etc.... my back has been feeling a bit better today - did some serious flexing of the spine yesterday and it has been feeling easier for it so I'll have to do those exercises regularly methinks.
I have hit the 25% mark on my fundraising and would like to thank another non-facebook user, Glyn for his kind donation - what a star he is eh?!
I'm really so very bored of writing this stupid blog now. It's made me realise quite how boring my mundane little life is. Meh.

Day 29 (little bit of fail) and Day 30.

Yo yo yo wassup?
Yesterday I took a nice long nap and a nice long walk with pooch - about 8 miles on the beach. Nice. I ate some Chinese food too. Gotta start practising that too I guess.
Today I cleaned my house, went for a lovely barbecue at my next door neighbours house then went to the beach again. It was freezing! We walked about 5 - 6 miles. My back has been really aching this weekend so I've been trying to take it easy. Shouldn't be too long now before my elbow is well enough for me to be able to see the osteopath and get my back cracked. Seriously, I'm falling apart. 
I'm so bored of writing this blog now. Can you tell? 

Day 28 BONUS!

I didn't drink any tequila - in fact I was really well behaved on the alcohol front... however, it is nearly 5am.... I'd like to say I was sober...

Day 25, 26, 27 and today Day 28. Rubbish.

Hey y'all
I know, I know - I'm crap. Well this week I have been mostly walking a minimum of 5 miles per day. In the rain. Apart from today where I walked 2 miles. In the rain.
I'm off out tonight for my lovely neighbours birthday and I should have been over hers 20 minutes ago so that's it for today. I am crap, it is true.
No tequila for me tonight..... 

Day 24. ...Is it because I lied when I was 17?

What odd weather we have had today; Sun, rain and thunder, sun, wind, sun and wind, sun, thunder and rain, sun, thunder and hail and sun, bit more wind, a rainbow... you get the picture.
I had my elbow looked at by Nursey today - she was brutal with the cleaning. That's right, Love. Get in there, it's only a GAPING WOUND. I mean seriously there was no need. At one point she even started picking. I kid you not. I had to tell her that what she was pulling on was still live and that I'd hit her if she carried on. OK, I lied about the 'hitting her' part but trust me, I thought it. Still, it's healing well and I'm a bit more able with my right arm every day. (Can't wait to be able to straighten my hair.)
Dog and I did a couple of circuits by the river this evening. Approximately 5 miles. The weather was in a 'sun' phase when I got home and quickly descended into 'thunder and rain' so I donned my very old waterproof trousers. I say they're very old, I've had them years and worn them about 3 times. The reason being they are WAY too short for me. I have to wear them low so they cover my boots and then the crotch is by my knees... anyway - it was belting down - I didn't care - I put them on. I also put on the only waterproof jacket I have which is a battered old ski jacket. Got down the to the river just as it stopped raining and the sun came out. I must have been 110 degrees in that flipping coat! We walked a few miles, dog chased her ball and I was starting to feel like a right numpty for being waterproofed to the max. However, I actually saw (only) 2 other dog walkers while we were out and they were waterproofed and looking like they felt like numpties too so that was OK. This is when 'thunder, hail and sun' kicked off. Holy moly! That was one moment in my life to find myself glad that I was roasting in my ski jacket whilst wearing a stupid looking pair of waterproof trousers. It was actually kinda fun. I stayed totally dry (yey!) and dog was belting around like a loony, loving the rain and getting a little freaked out by the thunder. That downpour actually added about another mile and a half onto our walk because we were both just having too much fun to go home yet. It was cool. We then got blow-dried by a gusty wind on the way back to the car. Which was just as well because it occurred to me that I'd get my car seat wet when I got back in it. I know what you're thinking; "take them off". I know, I know but I couldn't without removing my boots and... well it would just get messy. So anyway that wasn't an issue because I was dry so we jumped into the car and headed home. This is where 'rainbow' phase of today's weather kicked in - it was a full rainbow right over Kilvey Hill. It was pretty.
Anyway. I'm boring myself so I'm going to bed now. Night.

Day 22 and 23. Drenched much?!

Hiya
For some reason 'blogspot' was not letting me in to my account in order to post a blog yesterday - they must have known that it was an exceptionally boring day and therefore would've been a boring blog. I'll leave it there.
Today I took dog to Pembrey Country Park for a mega-walk. We arrived just as it started belting down with rain but it's OK - I was testing out some of the kit I have acquired/bought recently so the rain was welcome. I had my little rucksack with my 'water-bladder' in it to keep me hydrated, (note to self - wash it out better next time - my water tasted of rubber. Messy.) a tub of mixed fruit, a mars bar, some crisps and my waterproofs. I will NOT be taking the waterproof jacket with me to China. Waterproof my arse! I will however be taking the new Bridgedale socks and old Ripcurl trousers I was wearing. Anyhoo - got 'waterproofed' up and headed out. Within seconds of being out in the elements the rain turned to hail the size of maltesers, the wind picked up and a thunderstorm ensued. Dog was proper scared of the thunder at first but she soon got used to it. It hail/rained for the first 20 minutes we were out and I got soaked. However, within 5 minutes of the rain stopping my fab Ripcurl trousers totally dried out and all was well with the world. Until dog rolled in poop. Why? Why? WHY?!
Well we walked for 4 hours and having got home and looked on a map at the route we took, I estimate it to be approximately 10 miles. Go me. My big toe on my left foot is feeling a little tender but there's no blister. Another 3 miles and I'd have a cracker I reckon. Other than that I'm feeling pretty good. I could do with crashing out on the sofa now (like what dog has) but alas, I have to mop my kitchen floor. *sigh* To coin my cousins phrase: My life is average.

Day 21. I hear thunder. Hark! Don't you?!

Yo.
Day 21 was all rather nondescript. I went to work and used the stairs and lifts in equal measure. (Up the stairs, down in the lifts) I had a lovely market salad and got LOADS of work done (as usual).
Well, my back was feeling all wonky again (I'm so going to get it 'cracked' when my elbow is better) so I attempted Kilvey Hill - got about 100 yards up the hill and the gradient really wasn't helping so I made my way back to the car with a very disappointed looking dog and headed to the secret beach instead. By the time I got there, the sky was black and there was a thunder-storm taste in the air but we didn't let that stop us. We're double-hard. We walked for an hour and a half watching the sky get darker and the clouds get thicker while I hoped it didn't belt down because I was wearing jeans and a non-waterproof jacket. Dog chased the waves while I hobbled along the sinky sand with the pain in my lower back making me walk like I had a pole up my butt. That was fun. As we made it back to the car the first spots of rain were falling. Now that's what I call good timing.
I got home and lay down on a hard floor with some pillows under my belly desperately trying to 'clunk' my back. It didn't work. So I'm sat here writing this now with what feels like a dislocated hip and burning in my lower back... I'm going to bed. It's half past 9. What a raver.
UPDATE: In my haste to get to bed I didn't actually post this blog. D'oh!

Day 20. Now that's a FIRE!

Hello hello!
Well as I have been exceptionally crap lately, I decided today that I really would get back on it and start proving myself worthy of such a mammoth trek... so I took the stairs twice in work, (that actually hurt again - how quick your muscles forget eh?!) I ate well by having cereal for breakfast, a grilled BLT baguette for lunch and will be munching some scrambled egg and beans on toast as soon as I've finished this.
Oh - and I went back to the hospital about my elbow today too - I have Super-Human-Healing-Powers apparently! Nursey was ever so impressed with how quick it is healing. She told me that she was expecting to give me stitches (and even had the suture kit ready) but all it needed was a new bandage. I'm Amazing!
Anyhoo all weekend Kilvey Hill has been on fire so today, after the first day of rain Swansea has had in nearly a month I thought I'd get up there and check it out.
So once again with dog in tow I headed out. I decided that I would take the same route in the opposite direction today so the what is normally 40 minute down hill route would be my way up. (I guess as a bit of self punishment for being so crap lately.) My GOD that's a steep and long way up! Well, I kept a steady pace all the way up but I have to say that the fire damage to the entire one side of the hill is so bad that I very nearly cried. It really was heartbreaking to think of the amount of wildlife that have lost their little homes and the lasting damage that has been done to the woodland by some little sh*ts with matches. I'd kick their asses if I caught them, bad elbow or no bad elbow. I did my bit for nature though by clambering into the charred skeletons of the trees and stamping out areas that were still smouldering. With all this in mind, I got to the radio masts in 28 minutes. It normally takes me about 40 minutes to get down from there! How can that be?! Well, I did anyway - I'm not lying. Dog didn't roll in anything this evening either. (Yey!)
We did it in 49 minutes.
I guess a weekend on the beer hasn't had too negative an effect on me eh?!

Day 19. Holy Moly! People are generous!

Hi y'all
Just a quick one today to let you all know that I have the most generous friends and family. I hit another milestone today - 20% of my overall target of £3,000 has been met! In fact while I'm writing this I had another very generous donation from another lovely friend taking me to 21%! I'm landed! Thank you so much for your kind donations to everyone who has dug deep and helped get me here in such a short space of time. THANK YOU!
Today I have mostly been tired from a lack of sleep thanks to a combination of pain from my elbow and weird nightmares/aural hallucinations courtesy of the penicillin I'm taking. So I hate to say it but the extent of my 'training' has been a few miles along the river with dog. I know - I'm gonna end up dead on the Wall if I don't buck up my ideas. I will. At some point.... I'm sure. :O/

Day 18. The pain. THE PAIN!!

Yes I know - I've been really crap with this blog lately. Let me start with Day 16 - Sunday. I walked dog by the river - approximately 4 miles at a fast pace on even terrain. That's the extent of my 'training' since Sunday. Feeble effort by me. I then had some lovely friends come from Cardiff early evening to help me and some other lovely friends from Swansea celebrate my 27th birthday. (Ahem). We drank wine, Bud and tequila (well I did anyway) we had a lovely burger at Eddie Rockets - coz there ain't no finer diner and we danced the night away. That was all good. We all then piled back to my house where I 'fell over' in my kitchen and ended up with a big gash in my right elbow. Ouch. My house ended up covered in blood as did my guests but I was double hard and only cried a little bit!
Day 17 I asked my lovely neighbour to take me to Boots to buy plasters and antiseptic stuff. I was, at this point, unable to bend my arm and my elbow had a big lump on it and my right hand was puffy. Needless to say it was extremely painful. Around tea time I realised I needed something more than a plaster as I was still bleeding everywhere so I rang my other lovely friend who lives by the stadium and asked him if he could pop to boots for me and pick up some butterfly stitches. He did and came over and stitched me up. He's a star. I was unable to move freely by this point and was finding myself in a whole new world of hurt so I went to bed. I didn't sleep a wink which brings me on to today, day 18. I woke up and my entire right arm was swollen, my fingers were like chipolatas and the pain in my elbow was such that I thought - hospital.
The thought of having a nurse get in there with swabs and antiseptic was the only thing that stopped me from going yesterday but I figured it had to be done.
The doctor took a look at it and commented on the fact that she could see bone. Nice. She also commented on the fact that it was infected which was causing the swelling in my arm. She cleaned it without any anesthetic and my GOD she got stuck in there! I really thought she'd have to peel me off the ceiling by the time she was done! She left the wound open (yak) and put an iodine dressing on it and prescribed me a course of strong antibiotics and have to go back on Thursday for a check up and possibly stitches. Messy.
I did take dog out for a walk this evening though. We had an hour down the beach and walked probably about 2 miles. She wasn't happy with me though because my throwing arm was lame and had to throw her ball left handed... generally landing about 6 foot away from me. Rubbish.
I've eaten quite well though but I guess that's all been cancelled out by the copious amounts of alcohol consumed. I really am quite crap.