My Whole Body Aches!

Apologies for not posting sooner, just seem to be too busy to do anything since signing up to the Lejog challenge.

Sitting here on the last day of a week off work and my whole body aches, I can feel muscles and joints I did not know existed. I will try to put it into words, my:

• Legs are burning, they do not want to move, heat is radiating from my thighs.
• Back and shoulders ache as if I was suffering from flu.
• Arms are really heavy.
• Wrists feel like I have spent a day pummeling a boxing punch bag.
• Arse, well let’s just say the area around my sit bones is tender.

And it’s all because of training. 

I have been pushing myself for the last 6 weeks to get my fitness and stamina up and can really see the benefit when out on the bike, but having completed a century ride (100 miles) yesterday I am very aware of how much my body aches this morning and the notion of repeatedly doing century rides for 9 consecutive days is way beyond my abilities at the moment so I have a long way to go in order to be ready for this.

For the ride yesterday I kept myself within reasonable distance of home and chunked it into 3 rides returning back to base to eat and replenish supplies.  Most of it was on roads I know but I did a little exploring between Southrope and Bentworth to mix it up a bit.

Best parts where

• Huge deer strutted rather majestically across the road about 30 meters in front of me.
• Large bird of prey looking back at me as I passed under it.
• Banana, 7 ginger nuts (biscuits) and large dollop of extra thick cream for my first pit stop.
• Sunshine, spring has sprung!

Worst parts where

• Head wind!  Strong and constant from the south.
• Everything from 80 miles on was really, really hard work.
• Bike started creaking around 90 miles (I hate a noisy bike)

I feel my training is going pretty well so far, but there is a long, long way to go before I will be ready for Lejog.  Sometimes whilst struggling along on the bike I do wonder why am I bothering and at those times this certainly helps

 http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=JustynMarshall

The What and the Why

21 years ago I came within inches of death and the Air Ambulance came to my rescue.  Further details of my story are below, as well as a summary of the brutal challenge I am now training for.

My aim is to raise £2500 which is the average cost of an Air Ambulance call out.
My employer will also match every penny I raise so hitting this target would represent funding two missions and potentially two more lives saved.

If you would like to donate, my fundraising page is here.

My Story
I am told that while driving to work on the morning of 26th February 1996, I hit a patch of black ice which sent me skidding across the road and collided head on with a 7.5 tonne sweeper lorry annihilating my little car.

Car Wreck	News Article
	Car Before Crash

With the severe force of the crash, my body took quite a battering.  My head had collided with the steering wheel with significant force, something was impaled in my lower left leg and I have several other scars on my head and body from the day which I cannot explain.

The head injuries had given grave cause for concern so the emergency services scrambled the air ambulance to get me to a head trauma specialist at the Royal London hospital.

The swift response of the helicopter service in delivering me to hospital meant that the doctors were able to quickly establish the extent of my head injuries and limit the swelling on my brain through sedation.

Whilst I have no memory of the day itself, or for several weeks after, I know from the photo of the car wreck and the months of recovery, I am very lucky to be alive.

Around February every year I find myself reflecting on how my life could have ended that day.  Having only recently found out that the Air Ambulance is largely funded through donations, I have decided to do my bit to raise money for them as without their existence and attendance things could have been very different.

My Challenge
If you need further convincing to sponsor this worthwhile cause, how about I cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats in just nine days?

I have signed up to join an organised ride with a gruelling schedule, way over and above anything my puny little body should be asked to do:

Map	Day	Description	Distance	Climbing
	Day1	Land's End to Okehampton	107 miles	7,000ft
	Day2	Okehampton to Bath	110 miles	6,000ft
	Day3	Bath to Ludlow	99 miles	3,087ft
	Day4	Ludlow to Haydock	105 miles	2,300ft
	Day5	Haydock to Penrith	108 miles	5,188ft
	Day6	Penrith to Hamilton	100 miles	2,800ft
	Day7	Hamilton to Fort William	126 miles	6,000ft
	Day8	Fort William to Kyle of Sutherland	110 miles	4,900ft
	Day9	Kyle of Sutherland to John O'Groats	104 miles	4,100ft
	Total	Lands End to John O'Groats	969 miles	41,375ft

To put this into perspective, I have only ever ridden a hundred miles five times before and these rides were spread out over four years (it takes me that long to recover!). 

Oh, and it will be September so could be very wet, cold and windy - and we will be camping!!!

If you would like to donate / sponsor me, my Virgin Money Giving fundraising page is here

I will be keeping a record on this blog of how my training progresses and will also update it with more information about how that day affected me so please do check back from time to time.