challenge blog

As always I hugely underestimated this challenge. Even as I entered the water I thought ‘I think this might be a bit of a cop-out’, and ‘maybe I haven’t made this hard enough?!’ This thought was definitely due to the persistent feeling of it all still not being quite...

I was very fortunate to be able to speak to officer cadets from Cambridge and East Midlands university on Tuesday night. This was something I had wanted to do right from the beginning but hadn’t yet managed to achieve. Part of that was due to the timing of the...

I wish I could write while I run. I don’t know about you but I always have so many reflective thoughts and think ‘ooo that’s a good one - you’re just so insightful Jen!’ and yet afterwards I can barely remember… I do think it’s amazing that for 11.5 hours a day I...

I saw a quote from a friend of a friend recently that I really liked. “A nice car and a big house are old status symbols. The ultimate flex is freedom” Whether that’s location, financial or time, I’m totally onboard with this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very easy to...

Embracing my inner Britishness I’m just going to start with ‘holy crap that was HOT!’ Definitely the highest temperatures I’ve dealt with on any of my challenges (30 degrees Celsius +) and it added another level of discomfort for sure. The swim went really well and I...

Mountaineering is an extremely inclusive and wholesome activity. Providing you can walk, and even if you can’t (as many have proved), you CAN conquer a mountain. As I was hiking up Kilimanjaro last week I felt like I finally understood why so many people use mountains...

Challenge 6 for the Veterans' Foundation complete! That was one insane and brutal summit hike! We started at about 2300 on Monday and trekked for 8 hours up steep, rocky terrain at an agonisingly slow pace. Temperature was well below -20 and the altitude took no...

Day 5 and kindly hotspotting again! We are at nearly 4000 meters and today was a gentle acclimatisation hike that consisted of a fair amount of scrambling. Some fantastic views today and most of the team are feeling strong as their bodies adapt. Even still, it doesn’t...

Hello from the beautiful slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro! Day 3 and currently sitting at 125000ft having just returned from an acclimatisation hike to 13200ft (roughly 4000 metres). Some of us were definitely feeling the effects of altitude today with higher resting heart...