So, just a little bit of chat for you all today...
Firstly, my pal Lauri held her charity quiz night in Broughty Ferry last week, complete with raffle. Dad, Russell and myself all managed to make it along to play which was unexpected! The night was great fun and a brilliant success - Lauri managed to raise £500 through the quiz and raffle (helped along by the 2 winning teams who kindly donated their prize wines back into the raffle! On top of that, one of Lauri's friends from work held a bake sale the next day for us, raising £124.89!! So a grand total of £624.89!! Muchos love to Lauri and everyone else involved for organising this, or coming out to play! Here are some photos of the night...
So, Quiz night over and £600+ more in the fund we continue to move onwards and upwards...
This weekend Shona, Russell and I are joining troops (headed by cousins Donna and Lisa) and Peebles tesco to do a 6 hour stint of bag-packing. I've said it before and i'll say it again, i am not a natural bag-packer, anyone who's chummed me on a trip to Asda will readily confirm this... Oh dear...
Next weekend we have a coffee morning in Peebles, organised by cousin Lisa. Again, Shona and I shall be attending (I may even attempt some baking to contribute - but no promises!) We've been in touch with MND Scotland and have banners, posters, balloons and buckets all at the ready! :)
There are also still a few bits and pieces working away in the background, or being planned. Mandy, one of my mum's Dundee Nursing friends is selling notelets made by her mum to raise funds for us. So far Mandy has raised £100 - and also provided us with a box of notelets for our coffee morning. Janice, my mum's other Dundee Nursing friend, is working hard to organise the sponsored cycle and her parents have kindly asked for donations to MND Scotland for their golden wedding anniversary next month!
Dad, Shona and I continue to be amazed at how many people are willing to help out/organise events and donate money in order to help us reach our target of £11,400! It's nice to see that human kindness really is still out there! Muchos love to all of you who have got involved! We're so grateful for all the help and support and i'm sure Mum would have been hugely proud of everyone! :D
So, thats my chat about fundraising... now for the scary chat!! At the weekend we all received a package from MND Scotland. This included some general info and a training programme. I'm beginning to understand the recruitment process here...
"Would you like to go to Machu Picchu? it's a 4 day trek in Peru."
"oohh Peru?! They have llamas... i like llamas,it sounds fun and like an adventure holiday. Yes please!"
"ok, now you're signed up and in too deep to back out here's your info pack..."
Oh. My. God.
Several things in this pack have scared us... here's a short list -
1) 6 month before we go we should be able to complete 4 hour walks (we're currently at T minus 7months and i've mainly sauntered round the park with the dog...)
2) We have to do exercise most days of the week. This means hitting the gym, walking or generally getting off the sofa pretty much every day of the week... Also the level of training obviously increases as we grow closer, up to the point of one month to go when it advises our training programme as follows - complete a weekend of 7-8hr walks both on saturday and sunday, aerobic trainng 4x per week, interval training 2x per week, Hill or stair climb 3x per week and strength train 3x per week. Honestly, Who wrote this!?!!? I thought i was going to mosey around the country side a few times between now and September, and also join the gym and go twice. Apparently not...
3) Altitude sickness sounds bad. That is all. If anyone's going to get it, it'll clearly be me.
4) We need to take water purifying tablets with us for drinking water - this indicates a high risk of upset tummys. not good when spending 4 days on a mountain with no actual toilets (i shall be buying the chemist out of immodium well in advance!)
5) Apparently some nights it is advised that we don't leave our tents at night particularly without a torch. yes. this is sensible, but here's why "Due to terrain, tents often have to be pitched on the edge of steep falls..." Arrrgghh! I don't like heights! this does not sit well with me.
Sooo... there you go. we are scared. But we are also in too deep and are clearly going so we'd better listen to instructions and get working.
And as always i have blethered on far more than intended. So that's all for now folks.
Muchos Love
The McAdam Clan
xxx
