With just under a month to go till the South Coast Challenge we caught up with Alexia to hear how her training is going.
For those that don’t know remind us of the challenge….
I’m walking alongside my best friend to raise money for East Kent SANDS – the stillbirth and neonatal death charity. We’re tackling the South Coast Challenge, a 50km walk, or 33.5 miles in a day from Eastbourne to Brighton. Which means it includes the Seven Sisters Park – It’s going to be a hilly one!
What has the training been like?
We’re just getting into the really long walk phase, so up until now we’ve been doing a lot of walks over the week with the longest being circa 10 miles or so over the weekend. We’ve just got into what we call “mega” walk territory! The kind of walks no one else wants to join us on – 17 miles last weekend and a 26 miler coming up before we tackle the real thing – 33.5 miles August Bank Holiday weekend.
What’s been the highlight so far?
The walks have been lovely, I’m lucky to be living in Kent and so close to Sussex, there is so much to see, lots of different territory and some beautiful views. Also helps that we have some particularly nice pubs to rest in afterwards! How can you complain when your views are like this….
What have you learnt?
I’ve discovered so much about what works for me when walking, I’ve got my little list of essentials in my bag – water, wet weather coat, sun hat, map/phone, lip balm, change of socks, flapjacks, strawberry bon bons, tissues. Things are being added to this list all the time. We learnt pretty early that drinking the night before a walk is not an option!
Mentally I’ve learnt that you can keep going, that on the longer walks you are going to have dark times and feel like you’ve had enough but you do get out the other side of that and its all worth it in the end.
With less than a month to go how are you feeling about the walk?
I’m a little nervous, but mainly excited. It feels like a big challenge, it’s a bit daunting to be honest but I know I’ve done all the training and I am prepared.
How is fundraising going?
Really well, we had a fun day/cake sale, which raised an amazing £1,300 bringing our total, so far, up to just over £3,000, which is just amazing. There is still time to help support us, every penny is really helping motivate us through training and I know on the day its going to help push us on. We’re raising money for East Kent SANDS, who have helped support so many families, including Laura – check out our fundraising page here