Figure Of 8 Friday: Yay my new 5 mile lap! 💪🏼

Hi FitBlitz Family!!

Today’s training was trying my new figure of 8 trail (wow just like the Scalextric when i was a kid, lol) although i only sat down and pressed a trigger for that one and didn’t have to walk 500 miles! Maybe i’ll try a gaming charity challenge next time, lol! 🤣

I walked around my new trail and it was exactly 5 miles from (and to) my door step. The actual trail once in the woods (i measured it with segments on my apple watch) was 4.2 miles…I’ll be walking 2 or 3 of these laps each day from Monday!! 😨

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Diabetes UK – One Million Step Challenge Training: 4 days to go!

Hi FitBlitz Family!!

Today’s training was to try (for the final time) to add an extra loop to my trusted 2.5 mile trail. I told Sarah roughly where i’d be in case i fell down a hole, got ran over or simply just got lost. She said she’d check my location on ‘find my friends’ if i’m too long, lol! 🤣 So here i go…

I walked off my route and down to the furthest point of my walk and launched my iPhone maps app. I knew there was a road that went in the general direction of home but i didn’t know how i get there or if there was a pavement (sidewalk) next to the road…I also knew there’s a train line very close and i wouldn’t survive being run over by a train but i might survive being run over by a car though, lol. As i can’t see my phone i generally use ‘Siri’ so i asked for directions home so it would take me up this unknown route…But Siri didn’t work as no connection, fantastic! 😀

So using ‘Voiceover’ i managed to get the step by step audio directions going, and it wasn’t long before i was very tentatively walking up the road! I wasn’t doing my usual confident charge (as i do on my usual lap) but i was shuffling like a cross between a penguin and a duck, as i though at any time i’d either fall down a massive hole…Or worse twist and sprain an ankle, knee or neck! 🤣 After about half a mile i finally popped out on a road i recognised, and after another short walk i ended up back on the ‘triangle’ part of my normal trail lap! 💪🏼 😀 I stopped to close the app as (after 3 years of trying) i’d actually made an extra loop and put about an additional 1 mile to my trail lap…When i heard some clip clopping a little like the sound of the Monty Python cast hitting coconuts in the holy grail movie…I quickly moved to the edge of the path and waited for the noise to pass…🤔

Once i returned home and zoomed rightt in on the photos, i could see it wasn’t the cast of Monty Python but a couple of real horses! 🤣 Thankfully the horses weren’t hungry and didn’t chew my arms off, and as i slowly followed they didn’t leave a mountain of manure for me to wade through…Which i’m really glad about as i have 500 miles to do in 61 days on this trail starting Monday, lol! 🤣

Diabetes UK – One Million Step Challenge…

“Diabetes is relentless and simply never stops…But neither do I!” – Blind Steve 💪🏼

Type 1 diabetes never gives Sarah a rest, so I don’t want to have one either during my 61 day fundraising challenge!! 😨

Quick Link to my fundraising page: https://step.diabetes.org.uk/fundraising/steve270

Motivational Monday: My MS T-Shirt

Hi readers! Yay it’s “Motivational Monday”, and i hope you’ve smashed your health and fitness goals for last week? Now let’s get ready to take them to new heights this week?! 😀 

Motivational Quote…💪🏼

“Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated”

This is written on the back of my INOV8 T-Shirt! 🤣

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Yesterday my lovely wife Sarah came out on the trail with me, and she took some photos of me wearing the amazingly bright t-shirt the MS Society gave me to help promote their great charity during my trail marathon training! It was freezing cold and raining but that didn’t stop us…Until it proper chucked it down and we had to get home fast, lol! 💪🏼 😀

motivational quote…💪🏼

“You do not rise to the occasion, you simply fall back to your level of training.”

Motivational Monday: All Clear

Hi readers! Yay it’s “Motivational Monday”, and i hope you’ve smashed your health and fitness goals for last week? Now let’s get ready to take them to new heights this week?! 😀 

Motivational Quote…💪🏼

“Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated”

This is written on the back of my INOV8 T-Shirt! 🤣

After a another hard week of doing at least 1 lap each day, i managed to hit my health and fitness goals for last week. I try to hit a personal best once a week, and on the other days i try an do at least 1 lap to hit my 10,000 steps for a normal day. 😀 

Yesterday my lovely wife Sarah walked out with me to find out if the nasty tree was still covering the trail track? Once i’d limped all of the way to the location of the tree, lol…Sarah said it had been cut up and cleared from the track to the side, yay! Now i can attempt another personal best later this week! 💪🏼 😀

7-Workout Week…🙌 

Perfect week (all activity rings) 🙌

motivational quote…💪🏼

“You do not rise to the occasion, you simply fall back to your level of training.”

The Trail Marathon Challenge…😨    

I know I’ll be stretching myself past my limits for this challenge and so your encouragement and support would really help me to keep my training on track. Any donation you can spare would build my morale and endurance so I can smash this and reach my £1,000 goal to make my mum proud.

Together we can be a force for change and BEAT MS! 💪🏼 

Steve’s Blindman Trail Marathon

Fundraising for Multiple Sclerosis SocietyIn Memory of my mum Valerie.

Read all about my story and epic challenge HERE

‘Steve’s Blindman Trail Marathon’ in memory of my mum Valerie ❤️

Hi all, this is the official release for my fundraising towards my brobdingnagian challenge…It’s exactly 7 calendar months until my trail marathon! 💪🏼 

‘Steve’s Blindman Trail Marathon’ in memory of my mum Valerie ❤️

I’m planning to step off the sidelines again soon… this time in memory of my wonderful mum, Valerie who died after a 14 yr struggle with Multiple Sclerosis, in the same month that I was registered blind.
I’ve always wanted to do something positive to celebrate her life and as you may know, my lovely wife Sarah has just started work at the MS Society. I can think of no better time or charity to make my fundraising in memory wish come true and I can finally add my mums name to the MS Society fight to stop MS. 💪🏼

I know I’ll be stretching myself past my limits for this challenge and so your encouragement and support would really help me to keep my training on track. Any donation you can spare would build my morale and endurance so I can smash this and reach my £1,000 goal to make my mum proud.

Together we can be a force for change and BEAT MS

Steve’s Blindman Trail Marathon
Fundraising for Multiple Sclerosis SocietyIn Memory of my mum Valerie

Story…

Hi, I’ve chosen to raise funds for MS Society and I’d love everyone who kindly decides to support me and this amazing charity, to take a moment to remember my lovely Mum Valerie!

She spent so much of her too short life giving to me and my siblings before MS took her independence and eventually her life. This is why I’ve decided to give something positive back. I want her name and face to join the fight so that she can live on through the tireless work the MS Society is doing to find treatments that will stop MS for good. 💪🏼

My beautiful mum passed away from progressive MS, after a courageous and tiring 14 year battle, in July 2000.

As you may know I’ve been registered blind since I was 25. My sight loss happened in the same month my mum finally lost her life and missing her added misery to my own struggle to come to terms with the isolation and insecurities of managing my new life as a blind man.

And so…….

My Challenge…Sunday 24th April 2022

I originally planned to take part in an MS officially organised event but quickly realised that with my sight loss walking an unknown route amongst so many people would create too much external stimuli on my senses and be too confusing for me to manage without serious injury.

I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do the challenge at all but I’ve finally found a safe(ish) trail about 2.5 miles long, in the woods and past a lake near my home. I am hoping this will work well as my walking route, (I’ve now learned it enough to be able to follow it without guided help). I think this trail will work really well for me to do my trail marathon challenge … if I can manage to make my way safely around this uneven, hilly, rough terrain about 11 times! 😰

I’ve begun to realise, as I write about this challenge during the start of my training, that I’ve only managed 2 laps each time so far, after which I collapse, needing water and food, lol! I have no idea how I’m going to continue for 11 laps non-stop but I’ve got seven more months to build up my strength and endurance… I hope. 🙏

It’s slowly dawning on me that this challenge is going to include around 8 hours non-stop blind walking… Ouch that’s going to hurt and take a lot of concentration, mental effort, strength, energy and discipline. And so before I get time to change my mind, I’ve decided to create a JustGiving fundraising page and I’ve notified the MS Society…so no backing out now 🤣.

Please help me complete what feels like an impossible challenge in memory of my wonderful mum… because Together we are strong enough to beat MS. 💪🏼

You can follow my training over the next 7 months on my Fitblitz blog and I will use my apple watch to count the steps, miles and elevation etc of the challenge, uploading the screenshots to let you know of my adventures and celebrate with me if I finish, lol! 🙌  

About Multiple Sclerosis Society

Over 130,000 of us in the UK have MS. It’s unpredictable and different for everyone. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We’re the MS Society. We understand what life’s like with MS. We’re here for you through the highs, lows and everything in between. Together, we are strong enough to stop MS.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Click HERE for my JustGiving page.

QR Code for my JustGiving page: 

Join Us To Eat Well & Move More! 💪🏼 😀

Hi friends…💪🏼 😀 

Are you making yourself attractive to Cancer? 🤔  

Sarah and I have just signed up for the “Activ8 Plan” with World Cancer Research Fund as part of Cancer Prevention Awareness Week. So for once I’m not fundraising and bombarding you with donation asks, just sharing information to raise awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle lol! 🤣 

You may not be aware (like me) of all the lifestyle choices we make that can affect our cancer risk. 😲  

Info taken from the World Cancer Research Fund website… 

What is Cancer Prevention Awareness Week?

 Cancer Prevention Awareness Week is an annual event where we draw awareness to cancer and cancer prevention. Currently, 40% of people diagnosed are diagnosed with a cancer that could have been prevented.

Knowing what you need to do and making small, consistent changes to the lives of you and your loved ones can help you avoid preventable cancers. …..

Activ8: Eat Well, Move More…
We’ve also launched a healthy living programme to support people who want to eat better and move more.

By signing up, you’ll get 8 weeks’ worth of motivational emails, which will include links to specific nutrition and physical activity resources such as tip-sheets and videos, as well as live support from our experts.

Make preventing cancer part of your everyday life. By following our Cancer Prevention Recommendations you’re giving yourself the best chance of reducing the risk of at least 12 types of cancer. Take action today!

 I can’t thank you guys enough for all of the support you’ve given Sarah & me over the years!! I encourage you to join us on this challenge so that you too can protect yourselves against cancer and lead happier, healthier lives….  Thank you and God Bless. 💪🏼 😀