01. The idea…

It all started with this burning desire to do something, anything, that would make a difference, raise awareness, display alliance… feel filled with love. But what? I’d done so many charity things in the past and was known for being active and adventurous so it felt like it had to be a real big challenge to go out and ask people to dig deep in their pockets.

I was finding this self inflicted pressure difficult for a number of reasons;
1. I’ve had two children
2. I’m so out of shape… cause I’ve had two children
3. I have no time for me… cause I’ve had two children

It’s taken me 45 minutes to just type this intro as my 2 year old is determined to dance his Happy Land character all over my keyboard… how on earth could I commit to do anything big?

Then, I started pondering the idea of shaving my head. I talked to my husband about it and he was unphased and really supportive. After being in each others lives for more than 20 years; not much of my ‘kookiness’ surprises him anymore.

I eventually started mentioning it to a couple of other people and as I talked, and thought, more about it I realised a few things;
1. I have short hair, will people think its easy?
2. The action of shaving my hair off didn’t seem hard… it was the months of awkward hair styles afterwards that got me
3. It felt like a lonely challenge - just something I would only fully experience (staring, whispers, judgement, assumptions)
4. It felt like a real mental challenge as apposed to physical or even both
5. It didn’t speak to; all the amazing people I wanted to represent and the devastating illnesses I wanted to raise awareness of

Essentially, it just didn’t tick all the boxes I was looking for.

A few weeks later, it just came to me…. I actually have no recollection of how, where or when but it was decided. I would do a full Olympic triathlon each day for 5 days. I’d travel to 5 different location across the UK that meant something to my parents. I asked my mum for a list of meaningful locations with no explanation and she said “well all special places are abroad”… it would have been amazing to fly around the world visiting South America, Australia, NZ, various mountain ranges and beaches across Europe, America and on and on….. however, I’ve had 2 kids so… the UK it is.

I’ve settled on the below locations and exact routes are to be planned;
1. Sheffield
2. The Yorkshire Dales
3. Northern Scotland
4. Northumberland
5. Gateshead

It will be in September of 2025 that I swim 7.5km, cycle 200km and run 50k in 5 days.

Best get started!