Breast Cancer Care Pink Ribbonwalk 9th July 2016

One day to go until the 20 mile walk through the night – are we ready?

Back in March when Breast Cancer Care wrote to me to ask if I would help support their Pink Ribbonwalks, July seemed like a long way off. Although I know a lot of people are suffering from charity fatigue, which hasn’t been helped by ‘chuggers’ (charity muggers as they are known) accosting you on the street, I really do think there are some causes we all need to get behind.

Breast Cancer Care is a charity that my friend Sarah Turner supported before her death from breast cancer last year. She will be in my mind all the way around the course tomorrow evening. Breast cancer claims over 11,000 lives in the UK each year and for those being diagnosed it is devastating news. Breast Cancer Care is there right from the start, taking you by the hand and supporting you and your family through your treatment. But they can’t do this with love alone; they need financial support to keep the helplines alive so there is always someone there to offer advice when needed.

I’m not sure if someone put this year on fast forward but it certainly feels like it as tomorrow Charlotte and I will be walking 20 miles through the night. It was such an easy decision to take part in the PinkRibbon Walk, and we both thought that 5 miles was far too easy as we can comfortably run 6 miles (on a good day!) and 10 miles didn’t seem like it would stretch us enough, so we opted for the 20 mile walk. At the time it seemed like a good challenge but I hadn’t considered just how long it takes to walk this far!

Instead of putting in hours of training, I have been nursing a badly damaged toe, which I clumsily caught on the island in the kitchen. The island has only been there 11 years so I have no idea how this happened. If any of you have seen our YouTube videos you’ll know I’m the clumsiest person, and if anyone is going to injure themselves before a walk it’s me. So, for the past two weeks I have been doing all I can to get the inflammation down, thank goodness for Ibuprofen in the early days and Turmeric since, and thankfully my black and blue foot is looking far more human now.

On Wednesday we decided it would be a good idea to get out and take a walk and test out some of the kit we plan to use. Thank goodness we did as I found the lightweight backpack I intended to use doesn’t have a front pocket, which means taking it off every time you want to use your phone. I’m not planning to be making many calls during the walk as most of you will be tucked up in bed; we set off at 10.00pm and walk through the night. I’ve also had strict instructions from Charlotte that I can’t stop and take too many photographs as she would like to be home before breakfast!

Our Wednesday evening walk went well, starting at Old Bond Street, over Oxford Street and on to Marylebone, we then crossed Regents Park and took the tow path along Regents Canal to Islington, where we stopped for a well-deserved drink and supper. In total we covered 8 miles and realised that we need to walk considerably faster on Saturday or we won’t be finished in time for breakfast it will be more like lunch!

Very many thanks to everyone who has already sponsored us, we have smashed our target but there’s still time to top us up a bit if you would like to.

Elemis The Hero Collection for Breast Cancer Care

As Fighting Fifty is much focused on looking good and feeling well, I just wanted to let you know about another great way of supporting Breast Cancer Care. I am a huge fan of Elemis products and there is never a time when there isn’t one in my bathroom cupboard. Regardless of how many new and exciting products I get to test, Pro-Collagen Marine Cream is always there, I constantly fall back on it. Currently Elemis have The Hero Collection on offer in support of Breast Cancer Care, these are the heroes that every woman needs to nourish, smooth and hydrate her skin.