As I write it’s the end of a great day! I was woken ten minutes before my alarm this morning by a phone call. Normally this is a bad thing. A very bad thing. In this case however it was a great thing – the call was from my co-climber Adam in Australia, telling me he had booked his flight to Kilimanjaro. So now we’re definitely going! He also needed some calming down, as he’s nervous as hell of a long haul flight to somewhere he’s never been before.
Groggy with sleep compared to his early evening/nervous energy, I coached him through exactly why a long haul flight was no big deal and globe hopping the most fun thing ever.
Getting out of bed was no problem after that – we were going to climb Kilimanjaro! Yeah!
On my walk into work I had an attack of nerves myself though – what if I couldn’t do it? What if I wasn’t able to climb the mountain? One quick conversation with Australia later all was ok – Adam’s going to make sure I make it up the mountain, and I’m going to make him fall in love with random travel. Sorted.com!
Arriving in work with a new sense of purpose, I decided at lunch time to sort out my visa and jabs. As far as I know you can get your visa at the airport in Tanzania, but it’s slightly cheaper and it involves no queues to do it by post now so post it is. Fingers crossed I haven’t forgotten a flight I’m due to take over the next fortnight or so. If I have I won’t be going; my passport is currently on its way to the Tanzania High Commission in London.
Jab-wise I’ve fished out my little yellow book that shows exactly what I’ve been vaccinated against in the past. My Kilimanjaro guide mentioned only a yellow fever vaccination – which I have – but I’m going to err on the side of caution I think and go with whatever the good people in the Tropical Medical Bureau tell me to when I go to see them in a couple of days.
I spent the last half hour in work looking at Kilimanjaro blogs. The old hips have been playing up and I haven’t done as much as I should to find an alternative path to fitness. I hate the gym, and when I made paltry attempts to join the trainer I spoke to recommended a hyper fitness course he’s doing outdoors instead. Which sounds nice, but I’ll believe it when it begins – it’s been in the planning stages for quite a while now it seems! I’m comforted by blogs though – yes, climbing Kilimanjaro is tough, but it seems I have as much chance as making it up as someone who has run a bunch of marathons. More chance actually, because super fit people tend to go faster than is recommended and wear themselves out. “Pole pole” (“Slow but steady”) is the phrase of choice on the mountain apparently, and I know already I can do that!
In fact, I’ve decided from now on to chill out, do what I can and stop worrying. And that goes for everything from fitness to fundraising. I’m going to do what I can, but make sure I continue to enjoy life all the while and not get wound up about preparations.
And so I ended the day off in as nice as way as I can think – a two hour walk on the beach in Dun Laoghaire culminating in 99s from Teddy’s. Life is good!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
We're all in the mood for a melody...can anyone help me out with that?
A quick fitness update to start this week – it’s been a while since I’ve written about it. I’m in the middle of sorting out an alternative to running as my staple workout because my hips have started to give me a bit of grief if I overdo it! It kind of makes me laugh, having bad hips at the ripe old age of 28. However, I have to work with what I’m given, so all I can do is get as fit as I can some other way, and make sure not to have injuries by the time I leave for Kili.
In other news my first fundraising gig is this Friday in the Sugar Club on Leeson Street in Dublin and I’m nervous nervous nervous! I’m petrified nobody will come and the gig will end up costing me rather than bringing in money for my charities. I have a horrible little nightmare vision of me dancing all by myself to cheesy 90’s dance tunes. Argh! It mightn’t be the best marketing plan ever, but my plan this week is to spam everyone I know with emails and texts begging them to come along! If you’re in the Dublin area or fancy a trip to it this weekend (Friday, June 11) the details are this: 90’s cover band “Pump Up The Jam” play all your 90s favourites from 9pm in the Sugar Club. The cover charge of €10 goes to my charities once you get there before 11pm, so, em, please come along!
I’ve also just made preliminary arrangements for a fundraising gig in Shebeen Chic on Dublin’s Georges Street in July. It has the cutest gig space in the basement, and management seem really cool. I had a quick meeting with a fantastic drummer friend of mine called Seb from Argentina yesterday, and he’s off persuading two bands he’s in (one rockabilly, one rock) to do the gig for a couple of pints from me as I write.
The main thing I want to do this week though is ask for a big favour. I’ve been offered a great venue in Tullamore on short notice – June 25. I’ve been scouting around trying to put together a cool line up, and already I have two great acts. I need a headline though. Ideally I’d like The Dirty Blagards to headline, but Steve Mooney packing off to Lanzarote at the start of this year kind of scuppered that one before it even became an idea! Almost as ideally I’d like The Whisht to play, but while they’re willing they’re not able – they have another gig scheduled for that night.
So the favour I have to ask is this: do you know any musician or band that I could ask to headline? Or are you a musician or part of a band who could help me out? If so I’d love to put together a great line-up over the next couple of weeks and give Tullamore a cracking night out and a chance to support my fundraising efforts.
If you are my headline act or know of an act that could be, please email me on lauraryder@gmail.com – I’ll love you forever!
Sensei Michael says: “Your attitude always determines your altitude”
He’s getting good at this, hey?!
Until next week,
Lollipop
Sponsor me
http://www.mycharity.ie/event/lollipop_kili_headstrong
http://www.mycharity.ie/event/lollipop_kili_simoncommunity
Follow me on Facebook
http://facebook.com/lollipopversuskilimanjaro
In other news my first fundraising gig is this Friday in the Sugar Club on Leeson Street in Dublin and I’m nervous nervous nervous! I’m petrified nobody will come and the gig will end up costing me rather than bringing in money for my charities. I have a horrible little nightmare vision of me dancing all by myself to cheesy 90’s dance tunes. Argh! It mightn’t be the best marketing plan ever, but my plan this week is to spam everyone I know with emails and texts begging them to come along! If you’re in the Dublin area or fancy a trip to it this weekend (Friday, June 11) the details are this: 90’s cover band “Pump Up The Jam” play all your 90s favourites from 9pm in the Sugar Club. The cover charge of €10 goes to my charities once you get there before 11pm, so, em, please come along!
I’ve also just made preliminary arrangements for a fundraising gig in Shebeen Chic on Dublin’s Georges Street in July. It has the cutest gig space in the basement, and management seem really cool. I had a quick meeting with a fantastic drummer friend of mine called Seb from Argentina yesterday, and he’s off persuading two bands he’s in (one rockabilly, one rock) to do the gig for a couple of pints from me as I write.
The main thing I want to do this week though is ask for a big favour. I’ve been offered a great venue in Tullamore on short notice – June 25. I’ve been scouting around trying to put together a cool line up, and already I have two great acts. I need a headline though. Ideally I’d like The Dirty Blagards to headline, but Steve Mooney packing off to Lanzarote at the start of this year kind of scuppered that one before it even became an idea! Almost as ideally I’d like The Whisht to play, but while they’re willing they’re not able – they have another gig scheduled for that night.
So the favour I have to ask is this: do you know any musician or band that I could ask to headline? Or are you a musician or part of a band who could help me out? If so I’d love to put together a great line-up over the next couple of weeks and give Tullamore a cracking night out and a chance to support my fundraising efforts.
If you are my headline act or know of an act that could be, please email me on lauraryder@gmail.com – I’ll love you forever!
Sensei Michael says: “Your attitude always determines your altitude”
He’s getting good at this, hey?!
Until next week,
Lollipop
Sponsor me
http://www.mycharity.ie/event/lollipop_kili_headstrong
http://www.mycharity.ie/event/lollipop_kili_simoncommunity
Follow me on Facebook
http://facebook.com/lollipopversuskilimanjaro
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