I Completed my Ultra Hike Challenge!

I am so sorry about how bad I have been at making timely posts on this challenge.

I successfully completed my final 100km challenge and then headed straight into the chaos of year two of university (alongside volunteering, my chairperson duties, family life, and a few other commitments thrown in for good measure) and hence a delay in my posting.

My children seeing me across my final finish line

HOWEVER.

I am here to say that the challenge is over but the work is not yet complete. I’ve shared the money between Pebbles and Pregnant Then Screwed and going forwards I’ll continue to update on how the money at Pebbles is being spent.

For those who don’t remember or who don’t know, I’ve been raising money to improve our offering at Pebbles for children with additional needs.

Over the years we’ve seen an increase in the number of children and their families dealing with additional needs (social, educational, and behavioural) and whilst our staff do an amazing job, there is always something that could be improved in our offering, in our training and in our setting and as such that is where I wanted to focus the fundraising.

I’ve opted to donate a larger portion of the funds raised to Pebbles as it became apparent during the fundraising process that the majority of those donating were directly impacted by or related to the setting and our community.

In the new year we will be looking at how that money is going to be spent and I will be keeping this blog, and the GoFundMe page updated with what is happening.

The Emotional Cost of The Challenge

If you have read any of my updates thus far you will know that I have struggled not only to find the words to describe the experience but also an inability to feel proud of my accomplishments. This emotional process has contributed to how difficult I have found it to post about what I am doing which is a shame but it’s the truth of the matter.

Tears at dawn…

At the date that I am drafting this post, I completed my final hike 3 months ago and it was only in the last couple of weeks that I’ve noticed myself feeling proud of what I achieved there. Up until now I’ve been plagued with a sense that it’s not enough or that I should have been able to do more than I did.

In the end I hiked 473 miles across the Ultra Challenges themselves and my training. And that doesn’t count the miles of running and the hours put in to weight training, yoga and swimming…

I also realise now that there is no other time in my life when I’ll be able to (or have been able to) dedicate the amount of time necessary for this challenge. Training hikes in themselves take a full day, let alone everything else that comes with it. It was only in my first year of uni that I could dedicate a whole day a week to training hikes, plus countless other time to training, and then essentially a whole summer to travelling and hiking across whole weekends - as has so adequately been proven by how time-poor I feel now I’m in year 2 and taking on more work related responsibilities!

Thank you

Thank you to everyone, to the staff at the nursery who have repeatedly told me how proud they are of me even when I haven’t felt it myself. Thank you to my support network of friends and family who did so much to help me through this, from WhatsApp voice notes to see me round the toughest parts, to care packages, to traveling round the country with me to support me. Thank you to Tanya who even booked on to tackle one of the hardest hikes on my schedule with me. Thank you to absolutely everyone who donated and shared the fundraiser with others.

Training Hike with Tanya

I couldn't have done any of this without you, and I wouldn’t be able to put my name to the amazing work we are about to do for the nursery without your support.