Llamas Not Included

It has taken me a while, the best part of 40 years, to realise something about myself.  It turns out that I love a challenge!  The last few years have been dominated by them.  They started when I dreamt up The Olympic Food Challenge and a group of us attempted to cook and eat a meal from every nation taking part in the 2012 London Olympics.  That was 204 meals in 19 days.  That was followed by The World Cup Food Challenge.  With far fewer countries, we tried to cook a meal each time a nation took to the field.

The last couple of years my challenges have been a lot more personal and have all involved being on my feet.  The first challenge was to start running in the first place, the urge to not run is very strong at the beginning and it would have been very easy to pack it in after the first slow, painful run/walk/plod around the park.  Then came my first 10k race, followed by my first half marathon.

I'm not sure when I first saw an advert for the Oxfam Trailtrekker but it must have grabbed my attention.  On the 22nd August I, along with the rest of team Llamas Not Included, will be setting off from Skipton to walk 100k through the Yorkshire Dales.  Having completed the Yorkshire 3 Peaks last year, I'm under no illusion that a 30 hour non-stop walk through some of the best scenery the UK has to offer is going to be hard work, but that is where the team comes in.

There is a saying "If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together."  The team should, in theory, be the moral support needed to complete the challenge.  I'm sure that most teams that enter Trailtrekk are best mates, people who have know each other for years.  Drinking buddies, colleagues from work, team mates from Sunday League football, even families.  This is where Llamas Not Included differ.  We are a diverse foursome who know each other primarily through Twitter and to date we have only met each other once in real life.

So on top of the endurance aspect of the walk, Dalia Hawley (@chapiteaumt), Debs Davies (@roseytints), Jonathan Bliss (@JonathanBliss), and I have the added challenge of getting to know each other.  Luckily we are all of a similar mindset or we wouldn't all have decided that this was a good idea.

The route will take us past the majestic Ingleborough

The four of us are not taking on this challenge alone.  My good friend Lyndon Marquis (@LyndonMarquis), who late last year had a horrific fall while mountaineering, was in the original team line up, but since the fall he rightly decided not to commit to the trekk whilst still recovering.  He has however come on board as leader of our Support Crew who will meet us throughout the walk with extra clothes, food, and cuddles of encouragement.  So far Lyndon and Zoë (@Urban_Magpie) are the Support Crew but we'll be recruiting more members between now and August.

As this is an Oxfam event there is also the challenge of a fund raising target to reach.  I'm sure there will be raffles, cake sales, sponsored silences and the like.  We've set up a Just Giving page for recording our efforts and so that people can sponsor us for undertaking the trekk itself.

I know that this is a running blog but the Trailtrekk for me sits in exactly the same sphere as all of my other physical challenges, including the Yorkshire Marathon which I'm running in October.  I only hope my feet survive the 100k walk and don't hinder the preparation for my 26.2 mile run.