Progress this week – or indeed lack of it!

Despite my good intentions I haven't made much progress this week. My foot was hurting after the walking/running session with Ollie so, for once, I've been quite sensible and rested it! It's now feeling much better so no more excuses this week!

I've had a great suggestion from one person – take a Shewee! Now I'd never heard of them and luckily she provided a link to Amazon which led me to find the main site itself http://www.shewee.com/ and then I also found another one called Whiz http://www.whizproducts.co.uk/en/ . I never realised such products existed! Now I have a choice and can't decide which to try!! Then of course I found even more products http://www.amazon.co.uk/Travel-John-Disposable-Urinal-Pack/dp/B0019M7VE6/ref=pd_sim_sg_4 which gives me even more choices so I haven't bought anything yet! What a fascinating topic to explore!!! I must admit they all look preferable to the fragranced nappy sacks on the kit list I've been sent J

So this week I need to be a bit more focused. I've just put a link on Facebook to my donation page so hopefully will get some response from that. Based on Catherine's experience trying to raise money for her Moonwalk I'm going to have to gently remind people!

What else will I do this week? Go for some walks! The forecast for the rest of this week looks dry so I'll have no excuse! I will send out at least one more email as well – I have a list of groups of people to send email to so will tick at least one of those off. I will also start planning a schedule of walks based on the one I've been sent by Classic FM. I also need to get the medical form signed by my doctor. I've not reason not to accomplish all these this week as I'm not working so I need to take this opportunity and not squander it.

Trek China 2010 Planning and progress

I've broken the project down into four strands:

• getting fit and healthy
  
• raising the money
  
• preparation - covering all the things I need to buy and sort out (such as clothes, visa and money)
  
• packing - will undoubtedly be done at the last minute although I will be starting a list of what will go in my hold bag and what will go in my rucksack before October!
  

Great – now I just need to come up with some timescales for each of these! Challenging as I'm very much a last minute person and, although I teach project management and planning, I like to be flexible and sometimes feel constrained by plans! My plans therefore will be high level – I can cope with that!

PROGRESS TO DATE

I've got an excellent personal trainer who today took me out for a walk in the rain - well he said it was a walk when he actually meant it was walking and running - which I don't do! The road was flooded, the path was flooded and we had to leap across a small stream so all good fun! Wet feet are a small price to pay for trekking the great wall!

I've set up my website so people can contribute http://www.doitforcharity.com/louise and have emailed family to encourage them to sponsor me. Lots more to do though - this is one of the things on my list so I can now cross that one off (this is the first time I've created a blog too and I have no idea whether anyone will read it or be interested! Never mind - it helps me to focus and review progress so it's good for that alone!

Enough for today! Back again soon - maybe the end of the week is a good time to update!!

 

Trek China 2010 Project Start up

Undertaking a sponsored trek on the Great Wall of China wasn't on my list of things to do or places to visit this year until I heard about the Classic FM's Trek China trip to raise money for their Music Makers charity. My first thought was how exciting – my second that it would be a challenge both physically (I haven't been to the gym for a couple of years so am unfit and overweight) and mentally (it looked like heights were involved and I have a fear of heights). However, I do have 8 months to sort these two 'minor' problems out so I decided to take the plunge and set myself a challenge for the year, raise some money for a good cause and, hopefully, have an extraordinary experience.

I thought I'd better put what I preach into practice and treat this as a project!

So let's start from the beginning and do an outline business case to see if I can justify this trip

The aim of the trip is to raise money for the Classic FM's Music Makers charity by participating in a sponsored walk on the Great Wall of China. However, for me there are other aims and perhaps these are the real reason for me doing the trek - it's giving me a focus in order to lose weight and become fit by October 2010 and also to overcome my fear of heights!

Apart from raising money for Classic FM's Music Makers charity, which funds music therapy and music education projects working with disadvantaged children and adults across the UK, I'll gain personally from all the preparation needed in order to undertake the trip. It gives me a focus for getting fit and losing weight so I'll be fitter, healthier and will have more energy, I'll be able to look back over the year and feel I've achieved something worthwhile by raising money for the charity and I'll be going to a country I've never been to before, seeing the Great Wall and experiencing the culture!

I don't have to join the trek in order to raise money for the charity so I did consider other options:

• Do nothing – yes I could do this and remain as I am now (overweight and without a real focus to get myself fit and healthy!)
  
• Donate to the charity without going on the walk – something I had considered. It's an easy option and doesn't challenge me.
  
• Do some fund-raising events without going on the walk which would be challenging to some degree. It would not present me with any physical challenge though unless I did an event to specifically challenge me physically.
  
• Do the Trek! This will present me with a number of challenges, physical and mental as well as enabling me to travel, experience a different culture and meet like minded people. So this is why I've signed up!
  

So lets consider the major risks now. The biggest one to me is that I may not be able to raise enough money through sponsorship and so will have to top it up myself. The likelihood is quite high but the impact is fine as I was planning to go on holiday to Namibia this year and that would have cost me more than it is likely to cost me to go on the Trek (assuming I get some sponsorship). I'm sure I will identify more risks as I think more about the project - and of course I must remember it's not just about what could go wrong it's also about identifying opportunities and there should be plenty of those to take!

Now the costs and timescales - the easy bit as it is all supplied! I just have to fit in with the predetermined milestones which are:

• The Trek takes place from 15^th – 26^th October 2010
  
• £1,200 to be raised by 14^th May (40%)
  
• £2,280 to be raised by 16^th July (80%)
  
• £2,850 to be raised by 17^th September (100%)
  

Well I'm convinced even if you aren't! it's do-able as long as I get fit between now and October so now to the planning.