Time for a personal Trainer

Well I have been stair climbing and working my butt off to get fit and shift some weight before China, and while my legs are resembling something like Arnold Schwarzenegger on a skinny day, the rest of me does not seem to be keeping up with the attempt to get fit.

After much encouragement from some lovely friends and of course my family, today I had my first session with a personal trainer to help me get my fitness levels up.  I am not going to lye, it was tough - I don't think I have done a push up in 10 years! 

The trainer did comment about my leg strength, which pleased me, but there is no point walking up those stairs on the wall if I am huffing and puffing by the time I get to the top.

So after session 1, I am not yet in too much pain, I am feeling some tightness in my arms, but I guess the next few days will be the test on how much pain I will be in - NO PAIN NO GAIN is some clique that seems to be said.

Nobody can ever say I am not determined to make this work! It is 5 months now to China and by golly I am going to walk that wall and embrace what ever it throws at me!

Laura's Little Shop

So it seems, my work collegues are starting to slow down with the chocolates, and well thank goodness for that, I am so over chocolates - I NEED them out of my house!  I am a little over competing with Willy Wonka for the most amount of chocolate in a single premises.  I am sick of getting a chocolate craving and actually having them there to have, when you don't have them, you don't eat them!!!!!

So in a desire to continue to raise money, I have rebranded and I now sell at work packets of chips and soft drink cans.  Well yes the junk food is a continual theme, I am not sure I could put a fruit bowl out and have the same effect that a packet of Twisties does, but Laura's Little Shop in the office place is in business and raising money for the NBCF.

Pink Ribbon Walk

I have no idea if I can make this one work! ill try of course but with so many things on at Christmas time, this one was always going to be a challenge, let alone attempting to do something a few days before Christmas!!!!!

Stay tuned - success of failure, time will tell.

Fundraising half way mark

Well you could say that I am now pretty much officially at the half way mark in my fundraising. I started this adventure at the end of July 2015 so in around 3 & 1/2 months I have hit a pretty good milestone. I am happy with that!!!! with more bits and pieces to come I think I am well on target to meet my qualifying total for the walk!!!!

If you want to donate, please check my fundraising page at https://nbcfchina2016.everydayhero.com/au/laura-mcdonald

Lobethal Lights Tour December 2015

Ok so my next event has been planned, I am really hoping that this will be a fun event for everyone attending.  I am hoping for a happy family friendly Christmas overload on my Lobethal Lights Bus Tour.

If you would like to attend this event, please log a will attend on the following Facebook event page or comment on this post and I will get back to you.

Training on Holidays.....

So I have had a little break from my training and fundraising due to spending 10 days in New Zealand for an event, then a driving holiday.

But never fear, while I wasn't able to climb the stairs from my work building I did manage to do things like climb the steepest street in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Baldwin Street is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the steepest street in the world. The street runs up the northern side of Signal Hill, a prominent hill overlooking Otago Harbour, at slopes of up to 1:2.86 (for 2.86m horizontal distance, a rise of 1m).

So with all my training, while I still huffed and puffed up to the top, my legs did not hurt!  I made it to the top, I enjoyed the views then enjoyed the much easier walk back down.

My calves are starting to become rock hard, which is awesome, I just need however the rest of my body to catch up with the training.

Billy G's Cookie Dough Fundraiser

When my sister said to me "Make sure you do the cookie dough fundraiser, the people at my work love it", I did wonder if I could make it work.

Well low and behold, after giving her some order sheets, the people at my sisters work bought over sixty tubs of Billy G's Cookie Dough, I sold a few, but Amandas work is the clear winners.

So today I took delivery of boxes and boxes of frozen cookie dough, and fingers crossed we can now get it out to everyone who ordered easily.  Actually I should say hopefully my sister can organise her work team for everyone to take collection.

 

Money raised from this fundraiser was $195.20 which has been paid directly into my Everyday Hero page which goes direct to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Some inspiration, my theme song, thankyou Bon Jovi

What more can I say, when this song comes on - I strut, I dance, I sing, I live!

Family Photos Fundraiser

Ok, so in my quest to raise money for the NBCF, I find that the people in my life just keep on stepping up and helping me.  My dear friend Lisa has volunteered her time and talents to help me with a fundraiser in taking photos for my friends for Christmas presents. 

So this is my next fundraiser, just in time for Christmas!

Officially Amazing - there is a list!!!!

Here is a quick post, since starting my fundraising, I have found that there are a number of people that I can really add to an 'Officially Amazing' register.

Honestly the generosity of people that want to help my cause and raise much needed funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation is beyond words.

To everyone that has helped me thus far, all I can say is a very big THANKYOU! from the bottom of my heart.

12km in the City to Bay

In my attempt to get fitness ready for China, I thought that it would be a good idea to attempt the City to Bay, which is 12kms from Adelaide to Glenelg.

 

My lovely friend Rachel was my support through the walk, I thought I was walking fast, but she was faster, when I slowed down she encouraged me to speed up, you kind of need friends like that to crack the whip every now and then. 



 

We ended up walking the 12km's in just under 2 hours, well 1:59:29 to be exact, given that we didn't run it, I am really proud of our effort.  I am not going to lie, it wasn't easy for me, the last 3kms I found quite hard, more in that I was trying to keep the pace of my team to not let them down but I really was starting to slow down.

 

 



The next day after the race was hard, I had some pain in my hips, but I guess the saying no pain no gain is cliché, because I had pain, and hobbled round a little at work, but now I am good.  I gave it a go and had fun at the same day!

Carpe diem guys or seize the day and life be in it!

First $$$ milestone achieved

Well my Everyday Hero's page has received some visits from some wonderful friends who have donated directly to the NBCF.  I have also been selling chocolates, cakes and had an awesome first event.

So this is a quick blog post to point out that I have reached my first $1000 raised for the NBCF!  I am very happy, having done this is just over 2 months.  I feel at the moment I am on target to continue the journey within the expected time frames.  I just now need $2500 more to qualify, but $4000 more if I want to make my own personal goal of $5000 raised.

If you want to support me, my everyday hero's page is still open and needing your support of any amount big or small. (fully tax deductable)

https://nbcfchina2016.everydayhero.com/au/laura-mcdonald

The Color Run 2015

I sit here tonight feeling a little weary, It was 29 degrees here in Adelaide, and my family and I got up bright and early on a Sunday morning to head into the city to do the Color Run (yes I know it should be spelt 'Colour' here in Australia).

We got to Victoria Park just after 8am, we covered our self's in body paints and geared up for our first Color Run.  The queue to get past the start line was slow, I did wonder if they could release the groups of people a little quicker, but once you were walking it all seemed to flow really well.  The organisers have obviously researched this one.

My husband and eldest son started with a jog and I walked with my little guy. It was 5kms of fun, normally a big walk would have my little one dragging his feet, but the anticipation of colours, glitter and snow being put on us was much to much fun.

This walk was obviously designed for just fun, serious runners might be disappointed that times were not recorded, but that was not needed today.  As we crossed the finish line and was awarded our medals we discussed what we would do next year.

This was a nice little lead up to my big walk next week for the 'City to Bay'.

Sparkles and Bubbles at Everett Brookes Jewellers Adelaide

My first event at Everett Brookes Jewellers in Adelaide was a success!

The team at Everett Brookes were absolutely wonderful.  It was easy to observe that these guys are passionate about their trade and want to create the best product for their customer. 

At my Sparkles and Bubbles event, Ian and David and their crew of wonderful staff, were entertaining, and engaged guests with gold, gems and diamonds.

The evening started with gold, progressed to valuable gems, and then onto the grand finale of diamonds.  The guest enjoyed lovely platters of cheese, dip crackers and fine wine and bubbles.  I think everyone found the night enjoyable and informative.

Quite a few guests commented on how amazing it was that these guys allowed people to come in and contribute to making their own Jewellery. Imagine getting a diamond engagement ring and realising your partner helped to make it.

I really can not thank enough, all of the staff at Everett Brookes Jewellers for their time and commitment in making this fundraising event happen.  Money raised from the event was $285

A big congratulations to Kristy who was the winner of the door prize that was kindly donated by Everett Brookes Jewellers.

 

Corporate Sponsorship

I am about to commence my search for corporate sponsorship for my trek.  I have a fair bit of advertising space to offer.  My back is for sale, I will wear a sponsors logo on my back on a NBCF approved shirt, a hat or I will even wave a flag or hold a banner on top of the great wall in appreciation.

I have just started a list for letters to go out, but if anyone knows of or works for a business that might be interested in me advertising their product globally I would love to chat to them.

Busy Fitness Month in September

Ok so in a bid to get my fitness levels up and having some fun, September seems to be the month for walks and runs in Adelaide.  I am already registered for the Corporate Cup which I do in Adelaide every fortnight, but I have also just registered to participate in the Colour Run and The City to Bay!  I tell you, I am seriously going to kick butt on that wall when I walk it.  Stay tuned for the pictures to follow

Stairs.......Lots and Lots of Stairs.....

One of the things I have been doing in my preparation for the great wall is walking stairs.  I have my lovely stair buddy Noel, and we have been climbing the stairs at work.  For about 3 weeks now we have been doing this a few times per week.  Our work colleagues think we are crazy, but in our 15 minute walks I can feel my fitness levels increasing.  We are now managing to get to the top floor of our building which is 12 flights of stairs - it is still a hard slog, and I am not doing it too fast yet, but the pain in my legs from when we first started has eased.

It would be boring to show pictures of my works stair well, so here are some pictures of the great wall of china that I have taken from Google, this is my inspiration to keep training, working hard and I will conquer this in May 2016.