Last year I did a few charity events. I completed the 2015 London To Brighton 40th anniversary bike ride (56 miles), I also took part in work organised 2015 ReCycle charity bike ride (45 miles) and finally I took part in the 2015 Cancer Research UK Shine Walk marathon (26.2 mile).
I have taken part in many charity events over the years – I have done the 2006 London To Southend (65 miles), I organised (I designed a route and somehow managed to convince friends and family!) to ride round the Isle of Wight in 2010 (45 miles) for Marie Curie Cancer and I have also completed the 2014 London To Brighton (56 miles) and 2014 ReCycle (45 miles) charity events.
I have now raised, getting close to, £30’000 across those various charities.
Despite all those events, I am comfortable to say that the Shine Walk charity event was the most fulfilling. I didn’t do ANY training for this one. I only picked my shoes to wear about two hours before I walked out of the door to head for the train – plus, this was the first one of these I have done on my own. Even with that, I still found it the most fulfilling.
The event was pretty well organised and I only managed to get lost once – (yes, even with 17000 other people walking around London in the dead of night with green flashing armbands on, I STILL managed to get lost!) In fairness, it wasn’t just me, there was about 30 of us that were told to “turn left and cross at the crossing” – what they failed to inform us was that were were to turn RIGHT after we crossed at the crossing… Instead our little troop merrily walked left and carried on for about a mile before noticing that there was NO green flashes in front of us. A quick check of Google maps and a view of the map provided quickly showed us we had to back track…
Walking through London with Wales having beaten England didn’t seem to stop the crowds from being incredibly supportive. Every time were were spotted by drunk people (and yes, pretty much EVERYONE in London at 0100 is drunk) they were cheering and clapping us on – wishing us well, and saying how “brilliant” we were for doing it for such a great cause.
The walk was hard – it really was tough. Getting to the half way point seemed to take ages, and when I hit mile 15 (or there about’s) and realised I still had such a long way to go I had to really concentrate and focus on what it was all about.
What was it about? It was about raising money for people who were touched by cancer… During the walk it was sad and inspiring to see so many people taking part (but knowing that so many of them had been touched by cancer in some way was tricky). One group of ladies who I seemed to relay the entire walk with was one of the most inspiring.
They were a group of five or six. Most people had their number of the front and a message on their back – it would read something like “My name is …. John and I am doing the Shine Walk for …. My Nan”. Most of this group had something like this written on their back “My name is …. [their name] and I am doing the Shine Walk for …. Kreena” – one of them has written “My name is …. Kreena and I am doing the Shine Walk for …. Me”
Nuff said really.
As mile 23 arrived and my feet started to really get sore, and the legs were starting to give up, and the sun was beginning to rise I really wanted to finish. Unfortunately no one was to meet me at the end, BUT the thought of getting home to my lovely family was enough – I will most definitely do it again this year (actually I am already signed up) and I WILL be trying to get friends and family to join me. For those that know me – consider that a warning!!
