158 days to go....

Date: 12 April 2010
Weather: SUN SUN SUN
Footwear:  Black ballet pumps

Well its 158 days until we depart on the trek to Kilimanjaro and I'm starting to get scared, excited, worried and anxious.   The enormity of the task ahead has finally hit me, the training, the altitude, the distance from home and the very real chance that I *might* not make it to the top.

Some quick fire facts about Kilimanjaro for you all...

• Kilimanjaro sits 19,340m above sea level - Ben Nevis is 1,343m above sea level.
• Kilmanjaro is the worlds largest freestanding mountain.
• Its lost nearly 83% of its ice caps since 1912
• In the year 2000 over 1000 reached the summit to watch the sunrise into the new Millenium.

Some quick fire facts about me...

• I've never been more than 251m above sea level before
• I only recently found out that I'm not infact Amphibious, I am actually Ambidexterous...
• I can't read maps and don't understand why a compass moves ALL THE TIME!
• I brought in the new Millenium on my backside because I'd slipped on the dance floor in the club that I was in.

So you can see there are some pretty huge challenges for me to face. 

I have my boots (yucky brown colour... but apparently Hiking doesn't DO chic), I have my gators, I know where Kilimanjaro is so I'm part way there...

I heard that bugs arn't so much of an issue the higher you go because they are all DEAD thanks to the altitude (always comforting...) and I've read a number of travel blogs that decribe the lovely effects of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) and the 5 star toilet facilities.

And yet I'm excited.  Yes - I have been called insane recently.

I'm not the worlds most confident person and I have self-esteem that, at times, is so low its below sea level and my recent party trick is to perform a panic attack when in the company of strangers or in stressful situations (Never underestimate the impact years of being told you're not good enough).  Kilimanjaro will be a massive achievement for me physically and mentally and I'm going to do it.  I'm doing it for me and for my charity.  Nobody else. 

But I know that I'll have people rooting for me and waiting for me to get back.  The support you are giving me is pushing me forward, I don't want to let you down!!

I'm climbing Kilimanjaro for CCLASP, an Edinburgh based charity that helps children and adolescents suffering from cancer and leukaemia & provides advice & support for parents. 

I've volunteered for CCLASP for around 2 years, ever since I moved to Edinburgh and its been so much fun.  Christmas parties, Summer picnics, X Factor trips, Stacey Stroll's, Ladies Day at the Races to name but a few events I've helped at.  But CCLASP also provide transport to and from hospital appointments, running a drop in centre, run a telephone helpline, arrange holidays, fundraisers, newsletters and the weekly clown entertainment on a Wednesday (theatre day) for those in hospital.

Please please please dig deep and donate to this wonderful and monumental charity through my justgiving site JUSTGIVING

I (and the rest of the Kili team) want to raise over £10,000 for them to help them continue the amazing work they currently do.

Kmac xxxx

Monday Monday

Date:  15 Feb 2010
Weather:  Bright and cold - but a very pretty day in Edinburgh
Shoes:  My favourite black Nine West peep toe courts with 3ins heel.   Gorgeous I tell ya!


Morning blog world!

I hope you've had a lovely weekend and no matter where you are, what you were doing, Valentines day treated you well.  In the words of my beautiful friend and flatmate, even if you are single on Valentines day you are not alone - 3 steps behind you is your angel.

My weekend was really really good, although very bad on the excercise front.  Recently I've found that I've been so busy with various other things that I've not been able to get as much training in as I'd have hoped.    But I guess life has to take over sometime, but ultimately I am in control of my time and I have to prioritise!

Friday night was a bit of a late one, we had a leaving party at work so I went along for that and ended up getting in at about 2am.  A great night was had by all and I was a little bit bleary eyed on Saturday morning but I got up and discovered something dreadful......

My laptop had a virus!!!!!  Now being as daft as I am, I dont have the first clue about how to fix this type of issue... so I went through to see if anyone was in the house... Ewan was!!  Ewan is very level headed and knows things and is a very claming influence on my life, and in this time of need he was there with his MAC Book Pro to help fix wee Lappy.  Turns out she had Security Tool which is a bugger of a virus that pretends to be a virus scanner, it "scans" and tells you that you have some virus' etc.   But you don't..... and it just starts to eat everything in the laptop (ok maybe not eat.. but its the best way to describe it).

So Ewan managed to fix that for me.  HUGE hugs and thanks to Ewan for that!

That was the eventuful Sat morning, Sat avo I was lunching at Nandos and watching Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief which was a great film with great company :o)

Quiet Saturday night lead to a monster rehearsal on Sunday through in Dunfermline and this week it was all about the Overture (recap on what we did to slot some more people/new cast members in) and also Hosanna.   So far so good, although the venue was super dusy... but I guess Jerusalem would have been a bit dusty so we are just getting in the mood of the day!   I need to source some gladiator style sandels... so give me a shout if you know where to find them?!

And then its all back to Monday.   I got up this morning and headed to the gym, being a regular morning person you tend to see the same faces so a morning is quite nice.  A wee hello to the other people you recognise and jump on the treadmill.  Ran 3k in about 22mins then start to get a bit bored so thought I'd nip up to the spin studio as a class was starting at 7am.

As I headed up the stairs I bumped into Andy (my PT), turns out hes taking spin which means its going to hurt!!  But it was what I needed.   Kicked me into touch and a grand way to start the week.

This week is crazy busy, but my mornings are all being handed over to the gym.   I've got a hospital appointment this avo and if all goes well I'll be back on top form in no time.

Its also only 213 days until Kilimanjaro!    Please please please show your support and sponsor me.  All money goes to CCLASP which is a beautiful charity based in Edinburgh.  I'll be doing a wee post on CCLASP very soon, but in the meantime if you head over to Fudgey's blog you'll be able to read her post on CCLASP.  Fudgey and I work together, train together and generally have a riot together and this year we are both doing events that challenge us physically and mentally to raise money for CCLASP. 

To sponsor me all you have to do is click HERE!!!!! and follow the instructions.  I'm trying to raise £10k so need all the help and support we can get!

Have a lovely day everyone

Kmac xx