Tomorrow I am heading down to Cornwall after collecting 'Lowen', the official PaddleFree kayak from the Family Adventure Store. It's time to say goodbye to the big city and head for home!
First on the Cornish agenda will be plenty of hugs, both human and canine. Followed up by a 2 day sea saftey course with SeaKayakingCornwall. This is extremely important as, although we have a safety boat every step of the way, knowing how to rescue yourself and deal with tricky situations properly is literally life saving knowledge. The sea can be a dangerous and unforgiving environment and should not be underestimated. We all want to complete this challenge but rest assured we are erring on the side of caution every time!
The support for the porject is really growing now and we owe a lot of that to my mum, Christina. She has been doing a massive PR push down in Cornwall and is even negotiating a pasty sponsorship with Barnacutts Pasties!! How groovy will that be!!
Anyways, I'm off to pack (I hate packing!) and have my last session with Sam at PT-Troop headquaters. Hopefully I will escape this session ache free, but I doubt it!
Sara x
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Countdown!
Well, we did it! The PaddleFree team successfully completed the Bristol 10k on May 9th 2010. Dan was the first in with a time of 59:06 (what a legend!), I came in at 1h:12:20 and Kerri's time was 1h:15:47. Awesome effort all round!!
The day was quite cool, and standing in the 'holding pens' for 45 mins waiting for our start raised more than a few goosebumps! But the cool breeze was very welcome during the run as was the support of the spectators that lined the route. We had celebratory champagne and roast dinner after a well earned shower, and ended the day with an indoor Pimm's pinic (by this time the clouds were spitting at us!) and a film. All in all it was an enjoyable day! I'm not too sure I like the rumblings coming from Dan's direction though, a half marathon in September?!?! Maybe next year!
So now it's down to the paddling business. With less than 20 days to go I take delivery of the kayak this week and have finalised the equipment list. A sea safety course is next on the agenda and then.................we're off!
We're trying ahrd to get media interest and hopefully that should pick up soon. I finish work this week and so will have more time to dedicate to the project. Trying to organise PaddleFree and hold down a full time job, plus out of work commitments hasn't been easy. In fact at times it's seemed damned near impossible. Delegation is the key and now that I have stopped being a crazy control freak the project is running a lot smoother!
Hopefully some more videos to come soon and some more sea practice too.
Sara x
The day was quite cool, and standing in the 'holding pens' for 45 mins waiting for our start raised more than a few goosebumps! But the cool breeze was very welcome during the run as was the support of the spectators that lined the route. We had celebratory champagne and roast dinner after a well earned shower, and ended the day with an indoor Pimm's pinic (by this time the clouds were spitting at us!) and a film. All in all it was an enjoyable day! I'm not too sure I like the rumblings coming from Dan's direction though, a half marathon in September?!?! Maybe next year!
So now it's down to the paddling business. With less than 20 days to go I take delivery of the kayak this week and have finalised the equipment list. A sea safety course is next on the agenda and then.................we're off!
We're trying ahrd to get media interest and hopefully that should pick up soon. I finish work this week and so will have more time to dedicate to the project. Trying to organise PaddleFree and hold down a full time job, plus out of work commitments hasn't been easy. In fact at times it's seemed damned near impossible. Delegation is the key and now that I have stopped being a crazy control freak the project is running a lot smoother!
Hopefully some more videos to come soon and some more sea practice too.
Sara x
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Run, run as fast as you can................
The Bristol 10k race is just 3 sleeps away! Dan, Kerri and I have all been training (although probably not as much as we should have!) and the day is almost upon us. Kerri and I went for a practice 10k last weekend and managed it in a very respectable 1hr 10mins. Hopefully we can replicate that on Sunday. Whatever the outcome we have Champagne, Pimms and strawberries waiting for us on completion. A Pimms pinic on Bristol downs after a good physical challenge, what more could we ask for?!?!
The project is stepping up a pace now and I love it!! We have 23 days til launch day and yesterday I sorted out one of the most important aspects going.......................the kayak!!!! It may have been left to, almost, the last minute but we finally have a kayak. A beautiful Wilderness Systems Tempest 170 Pro, sorted out by the Family Adventure Store. What fantastic people they are! They have been putting up with my crazy for 5 months now and remain as resolutely helpful and cheerful as they were that first day I walked into their store. If anyone needs any helps with paddle based activities, these are the guys to see. Check out the link to them on the PaddleFree home page (www.paddlefree.co.uk). Can't wait to get my boat out on the water and start getting comfy in her (the adjustable, padded seat should help with that!).
Christina is busy sorting out our on land accommodation and it looks like we have another company willing to give us a good deal to support the project. More on that to follow later........
Dan is hard at work securing permission for our mooring sites. He assures me he knows who to talk to and what to say. We might find ourselves a tad adrift otherwise!
There is certainly still alot left to do before we launch, but it all seems well in hand. A far cry from the panic ridden days of a few weeks ago. Decent sleep, a bit of perspective and the mass of support we have been getting are making it easy for the fear to subside and the excitment to burst through.
Expect a race day update. Anyone taking bets on who comes in first?!? My money's on Kerri personally, but we'll see how the day pan's out. Our 'wave' start running at 9:30am, starting from @Bristol in the Millenium Square. If any of you are around that area on Sunday 9th, keep an eye out for the PaddleFree logo, we will all be wearing our official t-shirts.
Sara x
The project is stepping up a pace now and I love it!! We have 23 days til launch day and yesterday I sorted out one of the most important aspects going.......................the kayak!!!! It may have been left to, almost, the last minute but we finally have a kayak. A beautiful Wilderness Systems Tempest 170 Pro, sorted out by the Family Adventure Store. What fantastic people they are! They have been putting up with my crazy for 5 months now and remain as resolutely helpful and cheerful as they were that first day I walked into their store. If anyone needs any helps with paddle based activities, these are the guys to see. Check out the link to them on the PaddleFree home page (www.paddlefree.co.uk). Can't wait to get my boat out on the water and start getting comfy in her (the adjustable, padded seat should help with that!).
Christina is busy sorting out our on land accommodation and it looks like we have another company willing to give us a good deal to support the project. More on that to follow later........
Dan is hard at work securing permission for our mooring sites. He assures me he knows who to talk to and what to say. We might find ourselves a tad adrift otherwise!
There is certainly still alot left to do before we launch, but it all seems well in hand. A far cry from the panic ridden days of a few weeks ago. Decent sleep, a bit of perspective and the mass of support we have been getting are making it easy for the fear to subside and the excitment to burst through.
Expect a race day update. Anyone taking bets on who comes in first?!? My money's on Kerri personally, but we'll see how the day pan's out. Our 'wave' start running at 9:30am, starting from @Bristol in the Millenium Square. If any of you are around that area on Sunday 9th, keep an eye out for the PaddleFree logo, we will all be wearing our official t-shirts.
Sara x
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