Aysha

Inspiration

March 5, 2014June 17, 2014Aysha4 Comments

We have been nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! I like this award. Who doesn’t want to be very inspiring? Although, if I got to choose a personal attribute, first choice would be very wise, or funny, or can move at the speed of light or as strong as an elephant – I realize I’m drifting into super powers. For your adventure what super power would you like to have?

(I know that Emma also writes on this blog and so ought to be accepting the award too but, to make up for it, I will ask her to do a post on inspiration when she’s back).

Anyway back to the award. I like it. I like the idea that the blog is inspiring. And I am delighted that the award is for being “very” inspiring and not, “a little bit” inspiring.

Thank you for the award, Dear Kitty. Some Blog – who writes about anything and everything. If you are into news, especially interesting news that doesn’t make it into the mainstream, but don’t have much time for sifting through it all, this is the blog for you.

Keeping with the theme of inspiration, I have here 3 quotes, 2 films, 1 story and 1 change in attitude that enable me to do the things that make me happy. Maybe you will like them too:

1. Quote

Emma is inspiring because she does it and, whatever it is, she does with determination and a brilliant sense of humour. Perhaps, that’s what Dear Kitty was thinking as well.

2. Quote

Just Fucking Do It!

(Pam Warhurst of Incredible Edible Todmorden Unlimited)

I love this statement. If you ever have a chance to go and listen to Pam Warhurst, definitely go. Funny and full of energy. But, basically, stop with the committees, thinking you need this or that and even sometimes asking permission and just do it. I’ll do as much preparation as I can, but ultimately we’re going and we’re going in August.

3. Quote

“The wonderful things in life are the things you do, not the things you have.” Reinhold Messner

(although I frequently think, a warm house in winter, is a wonderful thing.)

4. Film

It’s not just that they scaled El Capitan without all the limbs that most people have but, that they failed the first time and had to go back to do it again. It’s the sheer determination that makes me love this short film (8 minutes).

5. Film

Wide Boyz. Another climbing movie. Sorry. We’ll make a movie about Emma and in years to come I’ll use that for inspiration. This is a 2 minute clip, but its much better if you can watch the Reel Rock 10 minute version. Then you get a feel for the two years of dedicated training that Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker do before their amazing climb. It reminds me everything takes hard work. Keep going.

6. Story (sort of)

Jennifer Steinman made a film about ultra-marathon runners (Desert Runners, its fantastic). Ultra Runner Girl interviewed her. The runners taught Jennifer. Jennifer taught me:

“The biggest thing I learned out there was that the difference between who makes it and who doesn’t has nothing to do with fitness. I saw people out there who you wouldn’t think in a million years could run a 5k race actually finish a 250k race. And those were the people that always knew they would finish. They never entertained doubt. They didn’t even allow it to enter their consciousness.

I would ask them “what does it mean for you if you don’t make it?” And they would reply, “I’ll make it.” They weren’t even willing to have that conversation. They were focused on what they needed to do next and how they could move forward. That was it. It was about the kind of mental commitment and determination that didn’t leave you any option other than to finish.”

(Here’s the link to the full article: http://ultrarunnergirl.com/2013/12/18/desertrunners/)

Occasionally, people say to Emma and I,

“If you go to Africa …”

and we interrupt with

“No, we’re going. There’s no if.”

There’s no other option. We’ll find a way. It makes everything a lot simpler.

7. Change of Attitude

Lastly, I used to think, “I can’t” a lot. It was ingrained and I didn’t even know those two words where in my head. But, when I catch them, I silence them and allow the thought “I can” and see what happens. So here goes: I can organize Emma’s run across Africa and we can raise £100,000 in sponsorship for the charities – though I’ll admit that second one makes me feel slightly queasy.

******

Now, I get to tag a bunch of bloggers I find inspirational (there are meant to be 7). I nominate and recommend:

Ultra Runner Girl

Under African Skies

Fungai Neni

Mozambique

Tips for the Support Team

February 18, 2014February 18, 2014Aysha2 Comments

That’s my shortened version, the longer version came from Colin Hill:

“They [the support team] should never ask how you [the athlete] are feeling, because then you start to think about the things that hurt. They should only ask what you need next.”

I met Colin Hill at Kendal Mountain Film Festival. Colin Hill, goes swimming in sub-zero temperatures and enjoys it. He looks happy and sounds happy and tries to persuade the rest of us that it is fun! (Not likely, I’m the opposite of a troll, I turn to stone and can’t move in the cold.) I digress. He swam the English Channel in 10 hours 30. He knows what he is talking about. Here’s his second tip:

(All photos were taken from Bored Panda’s website but I don’t know where they came from before that. There’s more where these came from if you follow the link. If I get done for photo stealing I shall ask Emma and Mike to reenact the shots. They probably would, you know.)

4×4 for Dummies: Introduction

February 11, 2014February 11, 2014AyshaLeave a comment

Whilst Emma has been running about in the hills, I have been to meet a 4×4 specialist.

I loved it. I love the smell of garages and learning new stuff. Our conversation largely went like this:

“You’ll be needing a ground anchor”
“A what?”
“A ground anchor.”

…

“You’ll need a CV joint.”
“What’s a CV joint?”

You get the gist. Happily, Graham, although initially confused by my lack of knowledge, managed to work out where to start: with warnings about what will kill; an equipment list and; a quick look at his medal cabinet. No point in having medals if you don’t get to show them to anyone, that’s my belief.

Things that will kill us and other advice

We will need a winch. But, after we have attached a wire winch to the car, we should take the wire cable off and replace it with a rope. If the rope snaps and hits you, it will hurt. If the wire cable snaps, it could kill you! If there is a knot in the wire cable, stop using it. That is where it will snap.

Don’t use the army technique for doing something I’ve gone and forgotten, as it’s too easy to get it wrong. But as I don’t want to do it, I think forgetting it, is simply being organizationally tidy in my head.

Don’t tie on to the back of another car with a kinetic rope at any point that might break off and ping back at you. The energy in the rope will whip it extra fast, possibly into your face (okay, he didn’t say that exactly but, he told a story where it narrowly missed someone’s face). In fact, to be on the safe side, don’t take a kinetic rope.

Keep your ropes free of mud and thorns.

And I learned how to wind a rope on a winch – I feel strangely chuffed about this knowledge. I have a practical and useful skill.

Kit list:

A CV joint
A recovery rope – bought from an off road place to make sure its strong enough
Lifting straps – (2 metre and 4/5 metre)
Winch Rope
Gloves (and don’t grip the winch rope, pinch it, else you could lose your hand or finger– is it just me or is there a theme emerging?)
Snatch block
Winch bumper with cow bar
GPS

*****

After this, I got to look at photos of cars vertical on a slope, with one wheel on the ground and various other crazy positions. Graham, himself, was brilliant – friendly, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, patient and seemed pretty excited by the trip. What more could you want in a teacher?

If you know about 4x4s feel free to get in touch and give more advice.

The adventure travel show weekend

January 28, 2014January 28, 2014AyshaLeave a comment

This is the first time I’ve really hung out with Emma and its great to discover she is one of the nicest people you can meet and she has as daft a sense of humour as me.

En route with enough stuff to last us 3 months

On Friday, we fitted in an 8 mile run round Richmond park in the dark.

It was peaceful and companionable. When the deer start to run across the road in front of us, we decided if a stag attacked us, we’d use the bicycle as a shield and hoped it wouldn’t wander off with the bike hooked on its antlers.

********

The adventure travel show, on Saturday and Sunday, was loads of fun. We met lots of experts in their field, passionate about their countries and jobs and technological developments. It’s a travel geek’s heaven. I’ll go into detail in later posts but inspired by the VBA I decided to give out awards:

Most supportive people award goes to Travel Africa. One of my favourite memories was walking up to the Travel Africa stall and the lady on the stall totally jumping on the story, wanting Emma to write an article and maybe some updates, and then they were incredibly helpful with advice and encouragement.

The most helpful person: frustratingly, we missed Doug McDonald’s presentation on Zimbabwe as the room was packed, so we went back the next day to speak to him. Doug, who runs a safari business, talked us through everything: which roads would be driveable; where we could camp; who we need to get permission from; and where wildlife will be a danger – in areas where elephants are hunted and shot, the elephants become fearful and will either run away or charge and kill us. When Doug said he would liaise with officials to get permission to go through certain areas, I nearly hugged him. And he had advice on how we might work with schools along the way.

Most eco-friendly product: Incognito – developed by a biochemist. It has every eco award going and it is clinically proven to be effective at deterring mosquitoes. We shall test it against midges in the summer before we go.

Most useful local titbit: goes to Drive Botswana for knowing that a particular side road in Zimbabwe is very rocky, we will get at least two punctures and its almost impossible to rescue a car if it needs towing out.

Most interesting stall that had nothing to do with us: Pangaea Exploration. These guys work in marine conservation, documenting levels of plastic in the ocean. They take volunteers if you are interested.

Most freaky piece of information: came from Charlie McGrath, from Objective Travel Safety, who told us to watch out when we pack up our tents in the morning, as snakes will slide under the ground sheet to curl up beside you for your body warmth. I’ll be honest, I didn’t believe him, but my aunt tells me that my grandfather (or somebody like that) woke up to find a cobra wrapped round his feet. I can’t imagine the fear that will shoot through me if I wake up to find a snake cuddled up with me and really hope I don’t find out.

Most encouraging talk: Leon McCarron, for a talk that was honest about the mistakes they made, which made me feel a lot better about the mistakes I will make and have made. It’s all part of the adventure. I liked his comment, “once you relinquish control, that’s where it gets really exciting.”

At the Globetrotters Club who have already asked Emma for a talk on her return - now that's belief in us. — At the Globetrotters Club, which has already asked Emma for a talk on her return – now that’s belief in us!

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Then Monday morning we were up and off to Hills Balfour for a meeting with their PR team and Namibia experts. They were great. Providing us with advice and information and offering to put us in contact with the relevant people. Most of all though, it gave me the idea that I would love to make a little computer game of Emma running across africa, jumping over crocodiles and heading down dead ends. If anyone knows how to do this that would be amazing.

Afterwards, we popped into the Zimbabwe tourist board but they had gone to lunch so happily it was time to go home:

A special thank you has to go to my lovely sister-in-law for letting us dump our stuff and shower after the run, Black and Blue waterloo for delicious free food, wine and cocktails (definitely recommend them), Emma and Ross for having us to stay in their living room and cooking us a delicious roast dinner, and my nieces and nephew for hugs and love.

Total cost: including train tickets, bus and tube travel, food, show entry and accommodation (free), approximately £120 each!

Adventure Travel Show & Potential Sponsor here we come!

January 24, 2014January 28, 2014AyshaLeave a comment

Train tickets booked, show tickets bought, 10 mile run in London for Emma planned, adventure travel show programme studied and talks put in the itinerary, (yes, clearly, I’m the geek. Happily, that is my role). Potential sponsor/partner researched. They are amazing. We’re meeting them Monday morning. … so excited.

Front Page News!!

January 16, 2014AyshaLeave a comment

WHOOP! WHOOP!

An interlude from the trip: We have received a blogging award!

January 13, 2014January 13, 2014Aysha2 Comments

The fabulous Psyren has nominated the blog for the Versatile Bloggers Award. Thank you. I’m particularly chuffed, as Psyren is one of the few blogs I read, when I should be doing something else. She draws brilliant comedy sketches, which I would rip off and put in here if I had any artistic skill. The VBA is essentially a big star from someone who likes your blog. It’s particularly encouraging to get it from someone who lives on the other side of the world who we have never met. (I have great difficulty believing my friends when they say they like the blog. I think it shows what nice, encouraging people they are.) The rules of the VBA are that you should thank your nominee, include a link to their site (tick, tick) and detail 7 things about yourself. As the blog is now by Emma and me, here is some info about each of us, (I think its pretty easy to guess which is whose):

In 2012 I took up pole dancing. It’s an incredible sport where you can have a good old proper laugh with lovely people and it’s incredibly good for you, I actually gained a six-pack when training regularly. I even managed to come second in the Miss Pole Dance UK amateur competition.

My favourite colour is yellow. It’s so warming and happiness promoting. I love anything yellow!

I believe if you work hard at anything you can achieve it. But you have to work really hard. I’m not an intelligent person but if I want to be good at something or understand something then I’ll work as hard as I can to get it. Anybody can!

I like to be silly, and I like people that are comfortable being silly too. It’s great!

My ideal saturday morning is playing touch rugby in the sun: sprinting, catching, dodging round people, scoring tries, working as a team, laughing at moments of complete ineptitude and coming home covered in mud.

I like to do yoga. My body feels happier afterwards.

My favourite animal is a hippo. Hippos are fantastic, they are loyal (I saw a documentary where the hippos fought off hyenas from a dead hippo), vegan, not to be messed with and mostly sit around in the mud making harrumphing noises.

And then we are meant to nominate 15 other bloggers. 15! There are lots of intelligent, funny, informative blogs that I could spend my life reading so having attempted to reach 15 and decide who should be in and who shouldn’t and who doesn’t already have a VBA. I have chosen only a few who spring to mind immediately.

Blogs that …

Make me laugh:

I am going to nominate Psyren, I’m not sure if I can tag back but her blog is funny and I love it.

Then there is, Hacker. Ninja. Hooker. Spy, I am uncertain if Aussa Lorens is for real but frankly nobody could make up her stories so I think they must be true.

Motivate me:

Built for Comfort, Not for Speed – Its pure motivation. He has some great motivational quotes to get you going.

Teach me about Mozambique:

Africa Far and Wide: An informative blog with beautiful photographs about Mozambique

Peter J. Earle: is a gentle well-written blog about Mozambique in the 1970s

Travel in Africa

Batterc2cpoint: Great photos and info on travelling through Africa. They’re raising money for rhinos.

South of Zanzibar: Useful stories and tips as they travel through Africa to Capetown.

Photography:

Jonas Journeys: an intelligent photography blog of places rarely visited by tourists.

Geoff Shoots the World: Beautiful photos

Running:

ThomasBarefoot: Barefoot or nearly barefoot in Greenland! A joyful informative running blog

Interviewing attempt no 1

December 19, 2013December 20, 2013Aysha4 Comments

Arrgh! My attempt to interview Emma is a disaster, well not a disaster, but its not good. Being interviewer and camera person when you’re an absolute beginner is a bad idea.

The lovely Zoe lent us a proper camera and I was pleased with myself for switching it on and clipping it onto the tripod, ready for when Emma arrived. The battery going dead is only a minor hitch, as there is a spare one. More importantly, after we do a practice interview, I can’t figure out how to download it to my computer. We ditch the camera and try an ipad and then an iphone. None of them are mine. I don’t know how to use them.

The next day, I did figure out how to download the first film. There are lots of basic errors, which I would tell you about, but I can’t imagine anyone trying to do this who is as ignorant as me. Now, I have the interview on 3 different formats. After many hours of trying to stitch this together, my test audience suggests, tactfully, that we redo it. But, as I promised some of you an introduction to Emma, here is a mini clip and a couple of special effects to show off my new skills. I am particularly pleased with the ridiculously dramatic music (although it is completely off message and not the look we are going for).

Entry into the ‘spot the mistakes’ competition is open to everyone and the person who points out the most mistakes, wins a prize. Double points for any I haven’t already noticed.

The Running Show

December 16, 2013AyshaLeave a comment

The Running Show is full of clothes, shoes, nutritional supplements, physiotherapists, sports therapists, compression tights, future marathon events and runners (there’s a 10k on the morning I go.) It’s a little overwhelming. Happily, clothes, shoes and training are Emma’s area of expertise.

There are freebies, mostly nutritional supplements. (This is lucky for me as the only dairy free food I can find, at the venue, are average tasting chips).

For a bargain £15, I sign up for 6 months of Runner’s World and get a free camelbak. I don’t need a camelback, I only run for 20 minutes at a time. But it seems too good a deal to miss. And you never know.

file8781302548832 — I’m seeing how I feel

Amidst all the clothing, I find some techy stuff. There’s an awesome machine, Ithlete, that can tell you whether it’s a good day to train or not. I’m tempted by it, although it would ruin my standard excuse for laziness: “I think I’m coming down with something”. Then again, it would be hugely motivating to be told that today is a perfect day for training. Emma, to my surprise, is interested in the product too.

I am also delighted to find Lessbounce. If you’re a woman and into sports you must know about this shop. I first discovered Lessbounce just over ten years ago and it changed my life. Specifically, Panache Sports Bra, changed my life. Since then, sports bras have improved a lot, and now, there are many different effective brands in many different sizes. If you’re not comfy, seriously, get to Lessbounce.

“If it’s a faff, you won’t bother”. It’s another snippet of advice that I pick up from ultra runner, Andy Mouncey. This advice is for people who are racing. I’m not sure it’s so relevant to a journey of 120 days. We will have more opportunity for faffing. But I like it as a general concept. Make things simple: keep them simple.

Finally, I have nice long chat with Run247.com who are interested in a press release. (Another skill to learn.)

On the whole, I thought the running show was pretty good, especially for its first year.

Next stop: the Adventure Travel Show in January @ Olympia– anyone else going? £10 entry.

Snakes and Anti-Venom

December 3, 2013Aysha4 Comments

For the benefit of my snake phobic friends of my family — For the benefit of my snake phobic friends and family

Snakes are a bit of a risk in Sub-Saharan Africa. They’re a risk in most countries except sleepy UK. Not a total risk, there are still lots of people alive in Africa so I think our chances are good, but about 1.5 million people a year are bitten by snakes in the region, and that’s enough for me to consider and investigate what to do, as we won’t normally be near a hospital.

I’ve come across snakes a few times in my life. I wouldn’t want to be placed in a pit of them but, in my experience, they are harmless. Back many years ago, walking in the Kenyan bush, the person in front of me stepped off the path and almost onto a snake. Startled, the black spitting cobra fled in my direction, its head reared up ready to attack. To be fair to the cobra, it was fleeing from a fat foot landing on it during its afternoon nap. Luckily, as I was dawdling a few metres back, I had time to leap out the way and the cobra carried on gliding past and dived into the undergrowth as swiftly as possible. This is my understanding of snakes, leave them alone when they are sleeping, get out their way when they’re scared, make lots of noise so they hear you coming and they’ll not bother you.

However, Emma almost sat on a puff adder in South Africa. Puff adders are well camouflaged, apparently like to lie on roads and paths for warmth and, unlike most snakes, don’t move when they hear you coming. This ‘can’t be arsed to move but don’t step on me or you die’ attitude, makes them a hazard for Emma and whoever is cycling with her at the time. I realise I am anthropomorphising and that adders possibly stay still because it would ruin their camouflage. But then, I suggest, if you’re really good at blending into the background you shouldn’t get angry when someone steps on you. Take it as a compliment. They and black mambas have a bad reputation. I consider anti-venom for each of them.

Searching for information on anti-venom on the Internet, I discover that humans can have a fatal reaction to it. I guess it has to be powerful stuff to counteract the snake’s poison. I also learn that snakes often bite without adding poison. It’d be tragic, if the snake didn’t put enough poison in, only for the anti-venom to cause anaphylactic shock. It seems anti-venom is not stuff for a first aider to administer.

Happily, I also read that most people survive snake bites as long as you stay calm and keep your pulse rate slow, http://www.thesafariguide.net/safari-guide/snakes. Keeping your pulse rate slow will give you longer to get to the hospital. If you’re scared of snakes practice keeping calm. Which means rock or indoor climbing is not only a source of fun, it’s training for controlling our fear. I might learn to meditate too.

In the unlikely event of being snacked on by a python, we should keep a bottle of alcohol with us. Apparently, they don’t like it in their eyes or up their nose. I think a nice strong spirit, like, say, tequila (gold).

And finally, here are a couple of cute photos of snakes, I don’t know if they’re deadly, but they are pretty: