Don't say it .... no, don't say it please .... no (oops too late, you thought it)

Yes I know it's late on a Thursday night ..... again ... but life is just SO very full right now but at least I can announce a number of things (which I will follow-up directly with the charities over the weekend).

Firstly (drum-roll please and I'm so excited) the lovely Su at Zinc in Manchester has agreed to hosting an event with a share of takings going to MacMillan Cancer Support (the Group's charity of the year) as part of my fundraising total. The date is provisionally 22nd June 2011 and I'm now looking for more 'unknown' artists who want to display their artwork, for sale, at the event. A percentage of any artist's sales MUST be donated to the charity of their choice (out of the 10 I'm supporting).

Check out http://www.bentynanart.co.uk/ as an example. I'm also delighted that some emerging raw talent, Lucia Kosikova (pronounced Loo-si-ya Ko-shi-kova if you wanted to know), will have some work on display (plus I'm looking for 3 or 4 more unknown artists to get involved so if you know of anyone who wants the opportunity to display in addition to both Lucia and Ben Tynan .... pronounced 'Ben Tynan' just in case you were starting to wonder .... then please ask them to contact me on northpoletrek@ymail.com).

There will be a similar event in Yorkshire (date and location still tbc), in addition to a York wine bar offering to host a black-tie do. Thank you so much to my friend Jane and her sister for offering their superb support.



Hmm now onto training; my harness is in the post according to Simon Albert at Charity Challenge so I'm looking for three tyres (and a £500 donation to the charity/charities of their choice if they'd like me to 'advertise' them whenever I'm out pulling the darn things around). My targets for training are simple: -

a) Every month from June onwards, to increase the number of consecutive days I can pull  a tyre 9 miles by one per month (July = 1 day, August = 2 consecutive days, September = 3 consecutive days etc etc) and my consulting boss says if I text him he'll come and laugh at me .... and put £10 every time into the charity pot. I tell you, being ridiculed is such a fundraiser : ))

b) Every month to increase the amount I can chest press and (seated) leg-press by 2.5kg. Thus far I've gone from 32kg to 44kg chest pressing and have returned to my previous best of 160kg on the seated leg press although I really can't sustain that beyond 5 presses yet without feeling a tweak (what an old wreck).

c) I'll be returning to cycling again now the nights are lighter and the air just a little bit warmer. I don't intend to get back up to 45 miles a day simply because with everything else I have to fit in I just won't have the time.

d) And of course the lovely x-trainer will be my best friend and worst enemy until I can get to x-country ski for real later in 2011.



I'm away on holiday from 11th April until 25th April so the blog will stand idle for some of the time, at least until I return to England, but then the training re-starts with vengance.

Finally, to Dave and his colleagues at the Arndale Starbucks I again extend my heartfelt thanks for their offer of fundraising support. It is with kind spontaneous gestures like this on top of scheduled events (like Zinc), generous donations such as Sam's and Vivienne's and James's and the amazing ideas from some of the charities that I WILL reach the £100 000. I will achieve it, will complete the Trek (safely) and I will therefore be motivated to deliver even more with my 2014 and 2016 challenges.

Good night, sleep well and see you all soon

Think it's the same old routine? Err well no .... actually!

Hello

I'm not going to be late to bed tonight, I'm not. It's really only 9:15pm as I refuse to allow British Summer Time (BST) to steal an hour from me today when I need it the most.

Last weekend concluded with my wonderful trip north to see the Wicks family and the week has just been CRAMMED ever since; work on Monday followed by the cinema with bed at 11:30pm, work on Tuesday followed by 90 minutes at the gym, work on Wednesday followed by an hour of competitive tennis which was followed by Trek activity with bed at 1am, up before 6am Thursday for work and the gym AGAIN and finally it was Friday. Work but NO gym ... but a wonderful late breakfast with a friend. So much fun and the promise by my local Starbucks to do some fundraising for me. Yahoo !!

Also got a lovely donation from both James Crawford at Touchpoint Change and from my best girlie mate Sam(antha) so the week finished well and then onto the weekend.

Gym on Saturday, a positive e-mail from Zinc in Manchester and then ....... leaking pipes. No, not mine personally (doh! and 'gross') but a pipe in my home. What a nightmare and then BST came along and tried to steal an hours sleep from me.

Well I've already written to my friend Yvonne in Singapore, text my friend Lucia and had one of those annoying 'chain' texts telling me if I don't forward it I'll not get rich. Hey ho, could do with the cash so I've now annoyed 8 other friends who will no doubt also feel obliged to forward it. Are these things started by the mobile networks do you think?? do they have armies of creatives who dream up ridiculous chain texts to drive chargeable traffic on their mobile networks?

Darn clever revenue generation if you ask me. There's a mug born every minute who'll forward it to the 8 friends they .... hang on, hold that thought. Doh!

Well now I must get on with my Trek PR activity before it gets too late AGAIN. As far as BST is concerned I'm not having it, I refuse to ...... what ...... oh, really(?) ..... hmmm ..... ok. It seems I have no choice BUT to accept it really is 22:20 already and I STILL need to do my Trek stuff. Double doh (and yawn, I'm now feeling shattered) so I'll be in touch again soon.

P.S. Good luck to Hazel Kurz who flies out to the Canadian side of the Pole to attempt her Trek in 3 days time. Evidently it was recorded as -57c last week and most attempts this year from the Canadian side have been abandoned. Fingers crossed for you Hazel .... while I still have them all : )

Four quickies (uhh err missus)

1. Invited to the House of Commons for a Parliamentary Reception (uww get me) by the lovely and ever enthusiastic Sara Benson of Muscular Dystrophy. So excited and taking a guest ('vacancy' already filled by the lovely Lucia but thanks for the offers).

2. Harness ordered by Simon @ Charity Challenge, and Mark at Yorkshire Air Ambulance trying to secure some tyres from a contact in the tyre industry, so expect to see me dragging tyres around a variety of locations in Yorkshire in the coming months. Target is to be able to do a 9-mile day by the end of June, building up by a day a month until I am able to 8 x 9-mile days in a row by February.

3. Still have SOOOOOOOOO much to do and must do it this week. Five very important e-mails about fundraising but it's late again and I'm tired after the gym tonight. Indoor tennis tomorrow, gym Thursday and then my usual 'family' weekend tasks but MUST complete this weeks action list before bed on Saturday night !!!

4. My thanks to Sir Ranulph Fiennes for his kind words via the amazing and hard-working Denise Armstrong at Heart Research UK and his offer of a letter of support, and to David 'cheap as chips' Dickinson for his support (thank you Trina). Another 98 celebrities to go to achieve my target.

Nighty night

Why is it always so late???

Sunday night, 10:30pm GMT and here I am realising it's been a week since my last posting. Okay so it's just OVER a week .... you're so pedantic : )      And what a week!!

Monday afternoon saw me twiddling my thumbs whilst the local Staples took 2 attempts to print out a 2m high banner that my lovely LOVELY friends at 'Rocca!' created for me. The woman at Staples, give her her due, did make me a really nice cup of coffee but it took nearly 57 minutes to produce something that should have taken 24 and when you're in a rush to get somewhere to set up your Stand at an exhibition, time waits for no man .... or woman (this isn't a sexist blog you know).

By the way, seriously, check out http://www.roccacreative.co.uk/; Marc, the owner, is just so amazingly creative and his team are excellent VFM. (I tell you what he can't do with a bunch of Crayolas and some greaseproof paper ... stunning).

Got to the Armouries in Leeds later than expected to prep my Stand at the Yorkshire Mafia Conference and what did I find?

Firstly the Stand opposite mine was just A-W-E-S-O-M-E with it's high-cost visuals, plasma screens (yes that's TWO plasma screens), three times the floor space of mine and glossy furniture; it made mine look a little like an IKEA-rejects showroom with velcro-friendly wallpaper next to the Harvey Nichs' window. Hmm nothing litigious in that tongue-in-cheek statement regarding IKEA is there?

Secondly I felt some of my material was rubbish once it was in place (but not the banner from Clare at Rocca; that remained ace) so when I got home and my eldest daughter had cooked a lovely chicken curry for me, I might have just been a teensy bit rushed and stressed (soz 'Bigs') but gladly I spent hours replacing some of the material and yes I was now going to be proud because I believed it now looked like ...... a new posh IKEA showroom, even if it did still have velcro-friendly wallpaper.

Anyway that led to Tuesday, eventually. Dropped my car off for service and the lovely Tracey (or is it Tracy? You know I never can remember which spelling ... sorry 'T') asked one of the drivers to take me and my IKEA visual aides to the Armouries. Set up, waited nervously as a few early birds walked passed, looking at the Stand opposite in awe and ...... kept walking. Drat.

Luckily one of the team on the other Stand was soooooo lovely; she asked for some of my leaflets and by 11am there were 3 stands pointing people in my direction as well as JB and I (a friend who helped because he really likes the Involve ethos) talking to lots. All 342 leaflets went, there was a lot of support and good wishes although (so far) only two donations but for those I am thankful !!

Wednesday morning was the meeting with the 5 Yorkshire-based charities (must give a quick nudge to the National ones as, so far, only the lovely Sara Benson has really grabbed the challenge with enthusiasm) and lots of good stuff coming out. Got home that evening around 8pm and found an e-mail reply from the Yorkshire Evening Post; their article on my Trek was in the paper that night so I raced out and bought 4 copies. It was a blinder; 3/4 of a page, full colour and although it contained some inaccuracies, PR is PR !!

And so we are now at the weekend, having had a heck of a session at the gym with Paul (my PT) on Saturday morning, a lovely evening with Lucia in Manchester on Saturday and when I woke up this morning in my hotel in Manchester, a lazy breakfast and then a trip all the way across to Newcastle to see Jane, Kevin and their lovely daughter Tori. WHAT a cutie .... and no I don't just mean me : )

It's so nice to see such a loving couple so happy. Kinda makes the end of the weekend all warm and fluffy, don't you think? Err not that I'm getting all soft .... clearly .... I mean I'm a Yorkshire bloke heading to the Arctic with just a scarf and his string vest I'm so 'ard. Just so we're clear on any of that emotional nonsense : )

See you next week. LOTS to do this week; LOTS !!!

Stunned and dazed on a Saturday night

Just read an on-line article at http://www.dannybrown.me/ and it got me thinking .... am I being me? Well okay maybe that's a LITTLE cryptic so I'll try to elucidate as I type.

Question 1 - What possessed me to commit to pay £25 000 to go to the North Pole, why am I spending almost all my spare time either racing round like a blue-bottomed insect or training like a mad man, and what in goodness sakes am I doing facing risks on this Trek that seem .... sometimes .... darn right stupid, when I could simply write a cheque for say £12 500 to a charity or charities and feel darn good about it whilst keeping the other £12 500 which would pay bills?

It's not that I'm not interested in why others do such things, although maybe Dave Hursthouse can tell me why he does such amazing things or the guy James Crawford knows can tell me why anyone would invest the kind of hours it must take to train to do the Arch to Arc race (run from Marble Arch to Dover, swim the Channel and then cycle all the way to Paris), but I'm currently interested in why am I?

Question 2 - Why am I already thinking about what next (for 2014 and 2016) if I'm wondering what drove me to commit to the Trek? By the way I AM going to the Pole because I have committed to and anyone that knows me knows I can be determined (aka stubborn, resistant to wise counsel and generally blinkered on occasion) when I set myself a target.

Actually why do I feel the need to know why? No this isn't getting surreal it's just that the Danny Brown thing and a conversation with Richard Hill's father (Richard is MD of the Iveridge Hall health club/gym/well-being facility I use) today about the achievement of goals got me thinking. Oh yes and speaking of Iveridge Hall ....

Question 3 - Why couldn't Cassie manage to hit Paul (my personal trainer at the gym) in her kick-boxing class when I promised her £20. Why am I asking you that when you don't know who Paul or Cassie are?

Okay so this COULD be getting a wee bit surreal so let me ask you a direct question; if I could spend some or all of the next 10 years of my life feeling healthy, having fun (that is open to interpretation I accept), helping to change people's lives for the better AND if I could do it whilst earning a living ...... why wouldn't I?

Welcome to the next phase in the evolution of the BlueDucks Involve ethos. Time to start taking it as seriously as BlueDucks itself. Maybe that's what 'me' is all about?

Oh and .....

...... we now have 'readers' from Belgium too. Hello and welcome to my blog : )

The time just flew by; it's Thursday already??

Hello, recently back from the gym and realised I haven't had much time to do anything with the blog for a few days so, before bed, here's an update for you. In no particular order: -

a) Big business launch next Tuesday at the Yorkshire Mafia Conference in Leeds so this weekend will be ensuring I have all the things necessary to display, hand-out and discuss. Huge thanks to JB for offering to man the Stand

b) Speaking of JB he helped crystalise some thoughts I was having about the Involve ethos so 2011 will mark a significant change in the profile of Involve. The North Pole Trek is just the start, not an end.

c) I changed my training regime tonight insofar as I'm going for strength on the cross-trainer, not speed and distance. After two circuits in the circuit room I tried 20 minutes on the x-trainer on maximum resistance (or incline) and on Level 25 I did 0.6km in the 20 minutes which is 0.372 miles.

Using my cunning maths skills that makes circa a mile an hour and I have to complete 9.375 miles per day on average. Given we're supposed to be ski-trekking for 8 hours, I need to speed up so that's now a KPI for my monthly performance monitoring so watch this space.

d) Still waiting for Zinc (in Manchester) and the SnoZone at Castleford to get back to me about their involvement, and the radio station. Yorkshire Evening Post have re-scheduled their photographer for THIS Saturday and next weekend I get to have a weekend off .... I think. Well, half the weekend anyway.

e) Denise and Rachel at Heart Research UK both came up trumps individually this week so let's see where that gets me (and them) and Sara from Musc Dyst is clearly working like a trojan on PR. Oh and if you're reading this Nikki from Yorkshire Cancer Research then yes I did get (and have just sent you) a photo taken of me training with one of your t-shirts on. Well ...... not one of YOURS obviously; that would just make me a little weird if I was wearing a woman's t-shirt but you know what I mean.

f) All the Yorkshire-based charities, I am SOOOOOO looking forward to us all meeting next Wednesday morning to put together a co-ordinated programme of PR. I'll try to stay quiet and not get too animated at all your fantastic suggestions : )

g) My thanks to YBNUK for showing an interest this week, to Sam at a Yorkshire business magazine for showing an interest (but no I'm not paying-out any more money than I've already committed to cover advertising the Trek), and to Paul Amourdedieu and Radha for trying to get in touch; we will speak.

h) And finally my thanks for his encouragement goes to the 'Don' Geoff Shepherd, my admiration goes out to Emma Cooper for all her training and enthusiasm in getting ready for the London Marathon to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease (you are my fitness heroine but don't ever tell anyone I said that), my lovely cousin Mandy who has committed to the Jane Tomlinson Run For All 10k in July and to Hazel Kurz who is evidently training to do the Trek THIS April. She follows me on Twitter (why don't you lot follow me ... yes you, reading this blog. Get following @northpoletrek this instant).

Wow, is that the time?? Night zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Just a quickie ....

Huge thanks to Rullion Computer Personnel Ltd for their £500 donation to the 'National Charities' pot; so I wonder how many other recruitment agencies don't want to be left behind now that Rullion (National) and iSource Group (Yorkshire) have donated?

Think I'll have to start to target this sector in a bit of a bragging-rights competition : )

Training checkpoint results

Entry on blog from Friday 21st January said "Three miles in 90 minutes doesn't sound great but it is what it is; settings were level 4, maintaining 115-145 spm (ski's per minute)".

Well the entry tonight (Tuesday 1st March) says "3.45 miles in 90 minutes; setting was level 6 and really don't care what the spm reading was" so some clear improvement which, added to the 25% increase in the weights I'm lifting shows the old body is responding, but it's a little slower than I'd hoped for. Hmm.

I need to start to add weight to the cross-training soon as the average day in the Arctic will be almost 10 miles (allowing for some ice drift), in 8 hours therefore my next milestone check will be early April 2011 and I'm hoping for another 15% in weights and to do 4 miles in 3 hours, probably on level 8. Twice in a week.

Gulp!

Great meetings today, especially with the radio station who are interested in the 'OMG' factor of "some weirdo pulling a car tyre round in broad daylight" to get fit, and yes I am quoting but it was all in good fun.

Thanks also to Jamie (MacMillan) and Mark (Yorkshire Air Ambulance) for their enthusiasm and desire today; it's what makes me want to do what I'm going to do in April 2012; be a weirdo pulling a sled rather than a tyre, in sub-zero temperatures rather than mild weather in England

Double and triple 'gulp' !!