So far, so good!

Over the past few weeks cash I have been busy car washing, cake baking and gardening for the neighbours in return for donations. I am glad to say my fundraising box was begining to get full so I decided it was time to pay the bank a visit. Combining this with the money raised from my Easter event at work I deposited £358.28 into the Society's account this morning. I have also received £90 in donations on my "justgiving" website so far so have reached a grand total of .......

£448.28

I still have a long way to go but I am hoping Norwich Union will add to this with their £ matching scheme and I still have lots of fun ideas up my sleeves!

A huge thank you to those who of you who have donated and/or supported me in my challenge so far, and to those of you thinking about it, what's stopping you? Please visit www.justgiving.com/sarah09 and remember every penny counts!

Celebs run London Marathon for National Autistic Society

Since I have become more interested in running, I really enjoyed watching the London Marathon this morning. Watching the elite runners was impressive but I felt truly inspired by the people of Britain, people from every community and walk of life who took part to raise money for so many good causes. Even during the economic crisis, people are prepared to go that extra mile to help others and we should we proud of all that the London Marathon represents! Congratulations to everyone who took part, particularly to those who entertained the cheering crowds with such creative costumes!

As usual a number of celebrities also took part in this year’s marathon to raise money and awareness for charities close to their own hearts. Of particular interest to me, the Irish Singer/ Actor Keith Duffy and the Olympic medal-wining cyclist Chris Boardman ran for the National Autistic Society (NAS). Since Keith’s nine year old daughter Mia, was diagnosed with Autism at 18 months Keith has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of Autism and money for related charities but this year was his first marathon. He completed his first ever marathon in an impressive 3 hours 52 minutes and was very emotional when interviewed by Sue Barker across the finishing line.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPviadg2N2k&feature=related)

Chris has been working closely with the NAS for a few years now and completed the marathon in 3 hours 19 minutes, despite problems with his ankle!

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8019342.stm)

In total 139 runners completed the marathon in aid of NAS raising an incredible £250,000 for the Society. Well done to all of you, a truly fantastic result!

For more information on NAS please visit http://www.nas.org.uk

World Autism Awareness Day - 2nd April 2009

For more information visit www.worldautismawarenessday.org

The story so far!

6-steps to success!

1. Register to secure my place on the trek and pay my £200 deposit - DONE
2. Create my fundrasing plan - DONE
3. Start fundraising to raise my minimum target of £2800 - IN PROGRESS
4. Get fit by following a fitness programme - IN PROGRESS
5. Forward funds raised to the Society, secure Chinese Visa and complete all paperwork
6. Go to china and complete the trek (and hopefully not finish last!)

Training

If the truth be told I have always had a fairly functional approach to exercise, gritting my teeth and doing it because I felt I should to stay healthy and to prevent the odd bit of flab from multiplying, but never really viewing it as fun. I have always enjoyed skiing, cycling and hill walking but I have never excelled at team sports and going to the gym felt like a chore. Even when I forked out for an expensive gym I had to push myself to go.

When I signed up for this challenge I was well aware that I would have to prepare myself physically. It's vital that I build up a good level of fitness for this trek as I will walking continuously for up to 8 hours a day, and there will be many steep climbs en-route. It's a good job I don't suffer from vertigo! Completing the trek will depend solely on my own commitment, preparation and fitness and so I decided to get some professional help.

Back in February I came across an ad for a personal trainer in the local newsletter and called the number for some advice. I got through to a guy called Oliver who immediately put me at ease and suggested we meet up. A week later Ollie came to my house and went over a typical training programme with my personal needs in mind. His enthusiasm for health and fitness rubbed off on me and since mid-February Oliver has been putting me through my paces. He has created an exercise programme that is specific to my ability and goals but is also very varied which keeps me motivated. It's hard work at times but I'm surprised at how much I am actually enjoying it!

Itinerary

DAY 1: Depart London for Beijing.
DAY 2: Acclimatisation day in Beijing with opportunity to see the Forbidden City.
DAY 3: Transfer to Huangyaguan where we commence our Trek on the Great Wall.
DAY 4: Huangyaguan to Mountain Village - including Heavens Ladder a steep 200 step climb.
DAY 5: Mountain Village to Jinshanling - Follow the contour of the hills along steep farmer's tracks
DAY 6: Gubeiko to Jonshanlin. Bus out to Gubeiko then follow the wall back to Jonshanling passing remnants dating back to the Qing Dynasty.
DAY 7: Jinshanling to Simatei - stunning walk along this largely restored section of the wall.
DAY 8: Simatai to Mutianyu - Hike from the village to Mutianyu part of the Wall.
DAY 9: Mutianyu to Juyongguan - Final day's walk on a circuit of the restored wall before returning to Beijing.
DAY 10: Beijing to London

The Great Wall of China

Image from www.sxu.hu (royalty free)

"You are not a (wo)man if you have not been to the Great Wall", so the saying goes in China.

Targets and donations...

My target is £2800, the vast majority of which will go to the Scottish Society for Autism, a small percentage will go towards trek costs but I have already made a personal donation of £200 and will continue to do so up until the trek. In order to raise such a large amount I have broken it down into smaller action plans.

My first step was to set up a justgiving webpage as it a simple and secure way for people to donate and support me. Justgiving process my donations, reclaim gift aid from the government for all sponsors who are UK tax payers and send the collected amount to the charity on my behalf.

I then sent emails to all my friends and family raising awareness of my venture and encouraging them to support me. To set the ball rolling I then organised a fun Easter quiz at work (Norwich Union). I charged 50p an entry and received a lot of interest! I also offered creme eggs and mini eggs to all those who donated and enrolled the help of my colleague Nicola to go around the office wearing Easter themed bonnets and shaking out collection tins!

Our efforts were well received and I raised a grand total of £203.28, a big thank you all to all my colleagues who supported me! The quiz was perhaps a little on the difficult side as only 3 people got full marks but another 6 runners-up also won delicious Easter Eggs courtesy of Tescos!

Tescos in Perth, Somerfields in Kinross and Giacopazzi's in Milnathort all donated a variety of Easter Eggs for my event and I am very grateful!

What is the Scottish Society For Autism?

The Scottish Society for Autism is an independent Scottish registered charity (SC009068) established in 1968 and has been supporting people with autism for over 40 years. It aims to provide care, support, opportunity and education for individuals of all ages living with this condition throughout their lives. Working together with families, carers, agencies and professionals it seeks to improve understanding of autism, influence policy and practice and provide the best possible services, founded on the most up-to-date knowledge and expertise.

Although the Society does receive some government funding, funds raised by volunteers through a variety of challenges help enormously to extend the range of services, activities and interventions available to meet the needs of those who need it most. By embarking on the Great Wall Trek I aim to raise as much as I can to be added to the Society's general funds for distribution across the whole of the country.

For more information please visit www.autism-in-scotland.org.uk

Work in progress!

Be inspired!

So why am I doing this? Around Christmas time I stumbled across an article asking the reader “When did you last challenge yourself?”. 2008 had been quite a year with the end of a serious relationship, moving back to Scotland, the search for employment and an appendectomy just to top it off! Dealing with the hurdles life threw me made me realise I am quite a resilient individual who can adapt fairly easily but it also offered me the opportunity to reflect on what I want to get out of my life. I realised I needed a challenge for 2009, something to focus on, to help me get fitter and ideally to help change the lives of others at the same time! That’s where the idea of trekking the Great Wall of China came up!

Browsing the Scottish Society for Autism’s website my attention was suddenly grabbed by an advert looking for volunteers to raise vital funds by joining a variety of overseas challenges. The notion of joining a charity trek in China, a country steeped in tradition, history and mythology excited me and on impulse I called the challenge events team for more info. After speaking to a number of different people about the trek I arranged to meet with Sabrina, the events co-ordinator in the New Year.

I was still in two minds about it all, considering the recession and to be honest my dubious levels of fitness but in January I went along to a local hotel to meet Sabrina with an open mind. She put me at ease immediately and gave me an insight into the challenge and patiently answered all my questions. I was concerned about the minimum sponsorship of £2800 and a little uneasy about doing it all on my own but I am very independent and once I get an idea in my head, it’s hard to stop me. After all I am the girl who completely out of the blue decided to head off to Thailand on her own for a month and off she went! I am the first to admit that I am a dreamer, but everything we want from life starts with a dream which we then act upon. The road is not always easy but there’s nothing to lose!

My mind was made up and I agreed to face the challenge of a lifetime and at the root of every plan I make, every event I hold, every penny I raise and every step I take will be a very special charity, The Scottish Society for Autism!

Welcome and thanks!

Thank you for visiting my blog!

The world of blogging is relatively unknown to me but I have joined my fair share of social networking sites and am getting to grips with cyberspace, surely it can’t be that hard! The reason I have created this Blog is so that you can keep up-to-date with my fundraising and training progress. I am sure those who have been kind enough to sponsor me will want to know that I am working hard for the money! Day by day I am finding how much time, effort and commitment this challenge requires and the wall is not even in sight! But I truly believe every minute will be worth it!

Please feel free to leave a comment, question or suggestion on my blog at any time and if you would like to donate please visit www.justgiving.com/sarah09!

Keep smiling and thanks again!