Things are moving along

I have set up a charity donations page with Virgin Money Giving - a great site that allows you to give to more than one charity. I have chosen to share any donations I receive between four charities:

MS Society - the more research into this restricting condition the better, it may not help me but it will help those diagnosed with MS in the future. Treatments have improved significantly since I was diagnosed in 1999 so with more funding one day MS may be curable.

Pancreatic Cancer UK - sadly my father-in-law passed away just 8 months after our wedding from pancreatic cancer. The survival rate has not improved over the last 20 years (mainly due to lack of funding and awareness), research is so important and needs more funding.

Diabetes UK - my late Dad suffered with diabetes and I'd like to give a little to help.

British Paralympic Association - since the 2012 Paralympics and our daughters involvement with sport we have come to know two great athletes; Rhys Jones (T37) and Paige Murray (T34). They are just two of the amazing athletes we have competing in para-sports who need more support and recognition.

My donation page is: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ClaresChallenge50

I have emailed the charities to check it is ok to use their logos on polo shirts and sweatshirts and Hubby and I are going to have one each. I thought it would be nice to have the logos (as above) on the front top left and across the back 'Clare's Challenge 50'. There is a printing shop near here so we'll visit and check sizes soon.

I'm hoping the charities will be able to provide me with some logo ribbon as I will be walking with my (late) Dad's walking pole. He was a Scouter for over 65 years and his pole has been on many adventures with him, including to the top of Snowdon. I will need a steadying stick (although holding onto Hubby is always good) and it will be great if I can tie ribbons on it.

I have also ordered 100 business cards so I can give them out at my party after the big announcement and to friends/businesses along the way. I quite enjoyed designing them - they should be here soon.

My next plan is to look at the first section as hopefully we'll be going at the end of September or early October. I need to plan 3-4 miles from the start, checking tube/rail links (as I don't want to have too much added walking) and a couple of pub stops along the way for a sit down, refreshments and of course the loo !!

The excitement continues ....

Starting the Countdown Clock

It's a month to my 50th birthday and the countdown has begun - not just the celebrations but the preparation for my Challenge 50 !

It's a secret (just my lovely Hubby Nick knows) - I'll be announcing my Challenge at my party, there will be a few surprised faces, definitely a few tears and hopefully a few 'whoo hoo's. This blog will go 'live' on 11th September but I will be blogging from now until then with updates, adding links and how its all going as the planning starts.

I contacted Virgin London Marathon a few months ago via a face book message ...

... they kindly sent me the link to the Marathon route page.

I also contacted Virgin Trains to ask about advanced tickets - as we will not know for sure which day we'll be walking it will be difficult to buy ahead and I wanted to know if there was a way I could have a set price for each journey. I was totally amazed when they offered free travel for all our trips:

Totally unexpected reply from Virgin Trains

My plans today are to set up this blog :) add links to the side bar, investigate how to set up the donations page and print the route map :)

I'm not having a disco at my party but will be playing a selection of songs that have been important to me over my half century, I will be taking these on my iphone too for when we go walking !!

I have to say it's all very exciting - Countdown !!