What An Amazing Night!

Well we did it! All those months of training have finally paid off and at approximately 6am GMT on the morning of Sunday 17th May, after 6hrs 45mins and 26.3 miles Caroline, Clair & Dawn passed the finishing line of the 2009 Playtex Moonwalk, raising over £1600 for Breast Cancer Charities, through the WalktheWalk charity.

What an experience, there are many sights & sounds from the event that will stay with us for a long time:

The river of pink hats which snaked out ahead and behind us as we made our way through the darkness of Hyde Park at the start.

The wide variety of bra's, fur, fluff, feathers sparkles & ribbons all used to create some amazing designs.

The photo's and stories which people wore on their backs or t-shirts to show who they were walking for, both survivors of this horrible disease or poignantly friends and family members who had been taken by the disease.

The fantastic support from bystanders, clubbers, friends and families of the walkers who were generous enough to clap, cheer & encourage everyone who passed by, and finally the fantastic army of volunteers who gave up their time & sleep, to ensure the organisation of the event went so smoothly.

The Moonwalk Route

Many of you have been asking where the route will take us. The map above shows the route we will be taking.
We will start at Hyde Park, from "Playtex City"setting out at Midnight. As full marathon walkers we will need to arrive between 7.45 & 8.30pm. We will be able to have our team photo, eat our pasta meal and enjoy the BBC Big Band. There will be massages available (at a price!) temporary tattoos and side stalls.

We will be amongst the first group to set off and our route will take us:
Down Bayswater Road, through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park Corner, St James' Park, Past Big Ben and up to Victoria Embankment. That will be 5 Miles!

We will then walk past Blackfriars and cross over the Thames by the Globe Theatre, We will pass Tate Modern, & walk down the Albert Embankment. That is where the half mooners will cross over to make their way back to Hyde Park. The Full Mooners as we like to think of ourselves will carry on to Vauxhall bridge. That is 10 miles.

Staying on the south side of the River we will walk to Battersea Park, Cross at Albert Bridge Road, down Cheyne Walk & Brompton Road....15 Miles!!!

Next Kensington Gore, Knightsbridge (No time for shopping in Harrods!) Sloane Square, and down to the Chelsea embankment, 20 Miles.

Now we have walked 20 miles & know we can do that in around 5 hours. We should therefore start to go into unknown territory as far as stamina is concerned at around 5 in the morning.
The next one and a half to two hours will be the crucial time.

Grosvenor Road, Westminster, past the Abbey, up to Big Ben again, and then we retrace our steps, going round St James Park, Hyde Park Corner, Kensington Gardens & Finally back to Hyde Park, where we will collect our Finishers medals, and have our team photo again! Talk about before & after shots! You will all be ablt to see what a toll the night will have put on us.

I am sure at that stage we will probably crash out! All our hard work and training will (hopefully) have ensured we get back in one piece and with a reputable time. Than it will be home for a well earned bath and sleep.

6 DAYS TO GO .....BRA - VO!

Less than a week to go now & we are almost prepared...

Well, the bra's are all decorated! We've opted for a gorgeous pink gingham bra, and as the theme this year is strictly come dancing, we've glitzed it up with beaded fringing, in pinks and purples, pink & purple sequins and some gorgeous pink & silver rhinestones........

but before you start thinking how tasteful that is, be reassured, for we have stuck with our team name & have placed a pink felt letter on each breast to spell out the name :

F L I R T Y

we are in debate as to whether we should put the letters F I T on our hats, or marker pen them on our bodies. The photo's from the event will tell that tale!

Last chance to get your sponsor ship in.

A huge thanks to everyone who has sponsored us so far. I'll update the totals to date later in the week.

Thanks Again

Fit & Flirty

Another small step for womankind....

Well, that was a long old walk! Your intrepid adventurers have set forth again on their (seemingly endless) training regime. This time we set off from Overdale, and walked we believe around 19 miles. Our destination was Squires Garden Centre in West Horsley, and we travelled via Bocketts Farm, through Great & Little Bookham, Effingham, East then West Horsley.
The Weather was kind to us today thankfully. We completed the walking part of our journey in 5 hours, (although we did stop for 1/2 an hour for a quick sandwich & toilet break)
We had lots of lovely support, with quite a few toots, waves and hoorahs from friends & strangers.
I'm far too exhausted to give you any more detail at the moment, but if you see Clair, Caroline or myself limping around over the next few days, feel free to ask us how we are.

So what did YOU do last night?

I ask, because yesterday evening, Fit n Flirty, AKA Dawn, Caroline & Clair, continued their relentness pursuit of peak physical fitness, by taking on & completing a 10 mile walk, in torrential rain!

We set off at 5.20 from Dawns house, in Overdale, then followed the Twilight walk route, which took us down to B & Q, over the M25 walkover, down past the Star, & Malden Rushett, where we turned right at the lights. We continued on into Epsom, then up past the hospital, turning into Craddocks Avenue, and finally back to Overdale.

The phrase "drowned rats" springs to mind when I think how we looked when we finally got home two & a half hours later. Not only did we have to contend with the constant rain, but also the spray from cars, who I am sure could have avoided some of the puddles, which helped to soak us to the bone.

Still, at least the rain ensured we didn't receive cat calls from any oversexed & generally overweight men, who seem to find it hilarious to shout out things like, " You're supposed to be running!", or "get those knees up!" generally with a few expletives thrown in for good measure.

We did get a few beeps & waves from people though, which I am assuming is because we have now received our lovely pink walkthewalk caps, t-shirts & bras. We've only ventured out with the bra's under clothes so far. We are still trying to agree on a theme for decorating them & I'll keep you "abreast" of the news as & when we finally sort them out.

In the meantime, we have been getting a few more miles under our belts, since our 16 mile trek a few weeks ago. We've upped our normal weekly walk to 8 miles a time, which we try & do twice a week. We have a walk to Squires garden centre scheduled for next weekend, which we believe is around 18 miles, We will check it out in the car before hand! The weekend after will be our big 20 miles walk, then for the last two weeks before the Moonwalk, we cut back to short fast walks of 3 to 5 miles. Am I looking forward to that!

Thanks again to all of you who have sponsored us so far. A few of you seem to have experienced some problems when sponsoring through www.bmycharity.com/fitnflirty

If you would like to sponsor us & do find it hard to get into that system, you can always use the good oldfashioned way & fill in our sponsor forms, or email us with the following details:

Your Name, Home Address, Postcode, Amount pledged, If you are a tax payer whether we can claim gift aid, and finally any message of support.

Thanks Again

Dawn, Caroline & Clair

Breast Health

Get to know your body


With 1 in 8 women in the UK expected to experience some form of breast cancer and an increase in men having breast cancer, it is a goal of Walk the Walk to encourage women and men to become fitter, healthier and to take more care of their well being. We only have one body, and yet it’s a known fact that most people are prepared to spend more time and money looking after their cars than themselves!You are the most unique and precious vehicle so befriend your lumps, bumps, warts and all and if you notice anything that seems different CHECK IT OUT - BE A NUISANCE! Anything, even a hole in your tooth is easily fixed if you act quickly.

Checking Breasts


Most of us don’t really want to do it... just in case we find something! But be brave or get your partner to help out and whilst you’re there return the favour. Follow the easy steps and just get to know your body, very soon it will become a habit like cleaning your teeth!


When to check:
Examine your breasts once a month preferably immediately following the end of your period, or if you do not have periods, on the same day each month.
How to check:
Firstly stand in front of a mirror, hands by your side and look closely for any changes.



Lift your arms slowley above your head. Turn from side to side to observe the outline.



Now with your hands on your hips, press down & tense your chest muscles




Check For
Any unusual change in the shape or size of one of your breasts.
If one breast has changed and become lower than the other.
Changes in skin colour or a rash around the nipple.
Puckering or dimpling of the skin.
A nipple that has become pulled in or changed its position or shape, (retraction of the nipples is normal in some women).
A lump or thickening within the breast or armpit.
Discharge from one nipple or both.
Constant pain in one part of the breast.

For more detailed information on how to examine your breasts, please click on the link below www.walkthewalk.org/Health/BreastHealth

Note to self..... When planning to undertake a 16 mile training walk at 8.30 in the morning, it's probably best not to eat curry, drink wine & stay up until nearly 1 in the morning!

Moonwalk Training:
Date - 28th March
Distance - 16miles
Route - Ashtead to Dorking Via A24 & Back

Details:
The three of us, Clair Hunt, Caroline Reeves & me, Dawn Proudfoot arranged to meet at Carolines house at 8.30am on Saturday morning. Caroline had previously driven the route to check the mileage. The night before we, along with our friends Vicky & Jo, had had a girls night in. We ordered a vast amount of take away curry, and consumed this and substantially less wine than we would normally do, as a nod toward the fact that we would be walking 16 miles early the next day. We finally left around12.30 am, after a cup of tea & chocolate cake!-)

We met at Carolines, wrapped up warm, with woolly hats, gloves, layers of clothing, flourescent jackets, and bum bags full of essentials, lipsil, plasters,wine gums, mobile phones & money. After a bit of stretching we set off at 9.01am.

It is amazing the things you talk about when walking....kids, men, "aches & pains", holidays, home improvements, "how far have we walked now?" food, parties, "Where would the best place be for a toilet break?" nights out, weekends away, "I really need a wee now!" restaurants, family, " My legs are feeling a bit achy!" ............ Then we got to 2 miles !

Actually, we did talk about all of that, plus people & houses we passed, news events and sooooo much more. The time passed really quickly, and we reached our halfway point in 2 hours. That is an average 15 minute mile. We stopped, for the much anticipated wee break, had a quick cake & cuppa in a coffee shop & set off for home after synchronizing watches again.

The journey back was certainly not as comfortable as the walk there. We had a variety of aches and ailments, the heel of Carolines foot was painful, Clair had some knee aches, and I felt everyone of my 42 years as we reached the 12 mile mark. It was at this stage that we realised we would have to cover double that distance in around 6 weeks! The last couple of miles seemed much quicker though, and we got back to Carolines house in just under 2 hours. We had been rained & hailed on at various stages of the route. Fortunately they were just spring showers rather than sustained assaults and we were delighted that we managed to complete the walk at an average of under 15 minutes a mile. If we can sustain that for the moonwalk we should complete the 26 miles in around 6 and a quarter hours! Not bad!

We decided that this week we would try & do a short fast walk. We plan to go on Tuesday evening, although Carolines heel pain proved to be a rather nasty blister, so we will see how that is.

We saw a few of you on route & I am sure you will bear testiment to the fact that we looked like three rejects from the "Where's Wally" books, either that our council workers in our bright yellow flourescent jackets.

A big thanks to all of you who have so far sponsored us. Please log on to our online sponsor page:
www.bmycharity.com/fitnflirty to make your donations and see our total raised so far.

For more details on the charity log on tp www.walkthewalk.org

Thanks again & See you soon
Dawn, Caroline & Clair, Fit & Flirty!