Finally....

I've managed to include some photos!
This is a picture of us (Team Coliseum M&S) in our "team t-shirts" at our bag packing event last Saturday.

And here's a couple from our walk on Moel Famau on Sunday.  This first one shows us after we have climbed the zigzag heart attack path (!).  In the picture with us is Bryan, one of our support crew members, and Jack & Harry the Border Terriers.  Oh to be a dog....they must have done double the miles we did and all they needed to keep going was a drink of water and plenty of trees to pee against!!

And this shows us as we start the descent on the other side.  A great view of the top and the lovely wide path leading down.

Trailwalker vs Housework....FIGHT!

In fact there was no fight...Trailwalker won hands down as the major activity for my precious weekend off!  Friday in work brought the drawing of the little Easter raffle we had put together to raise a bit of cash and it netted us £34 towards our total.  Saturday was planned as our first bag packing event in store - something we actively encourage other local charity causes to do and therefore an activity we knew would be well worthwhile.  What we hadn't bargained for when we picked the date was the local Derby FA Cup semi final AND the Grand National!  So, what was planned as a full day activity became a 3 hour shift which lasted until just after kick off at 12.30pm!

What a lovely surprise when we counted the cash though....we had raised nearly £200 in that short space of time!  M&S have some very generous customers.

Sunday dawned bright and clear for another team walking day to Moel Famau in North Wales - a walk first attempted by just my husband and I back in early February, and one which quickly brought home just how unfit I was at the very start of my training, so I was eager to see if I had improved and the route was to take us, once again, up the infamous "fire escape" - a 700m steep zigzag ascent towards the summit.  On the 1st occasion it took me a good 30 minutes to gasp my way up this path; this time we were up in 10 minutes flat, still quite breathless but who cares!  My fitness has obviously improved - oh how good did I feel.

We were joined on this occasion by 2 members of the support crew and 3 x 4-legged friends...Woody the Airedale, Jack & Harry the Border Terriers.  The weather was stunning and the views from the top just made the walk.  Not the longest of training walks - a mere 10 miles - however, the terrain was challenging and we all "felt the burn" at various stages.

Being back in work yesterday, we decided to empty the collection tubs we have at the tills plus the tub we have in our staff canteen and to top off an excellent weekend, we bagged another £30-odd, which means I have today been able to bank and then donate a brilliant £260 to the cause, pushing our virginmoneygiving barometer up quite considerably.

Until the next time, my friends.....

Walk, Jog, Gasp....

So here we are a couple of weeks later.  Training going well.  Personally I've decided to include in my daily training walks some interval jogging - OMG, I haven't jogged since I was about 15 at school and boy does it hurt!  But, i've been doing this now for a few weeks I can really see the difference in my fitness and recovery times - I am actually jogging up to 8 lamppost lengths now vs the 1 length when I first started!!! Progress indeed.
And what about the rest of the team.....Hayley continues to pound the fields and pavements around her home in North Wales, even walking 3-4 miles to Donna's house to then start a 15 mile training walk the other Sunday. Now that's what you call dedication.  Donna is a regular runner, so probably the fittest of us all.  Jane regularly walks during weekends with her husband, so again, doing some training.  Our next full team training walk is this Sunday (15th Apr) when we will walk to the summit of Moel Famau in North Wales, a lung-bursting 800m steep (not gradual) ascent, which almost prompted my husband to call out Prince William from RAF Valley the last time we attempted it back in early Feb.  It will be interesting to see if all the training really is paying off - watch this space.
On the fundraising front, we are having a slow but sure start.  Being M&S employees, we have been very lucky to have access to bag packing in store, which should raise a few hundred every time we do it - this Saturday sees our first bag packing event.  Also our colleagues have voted for us to be the store's nominated charity for the new financial year, which means any charity activity undertaken by the store donates its money direct to us/Oxfam - fantastic news and we are so grateful for all the support we are receiving from the Company.  Go M&S - you rock!
I'm glad I've finally got round to writing another post - The Red Harrows blog has inspired me.  Who knows, next time there might even be a few pictures!  Bye for now.