Proper planning and preparation prevents p*ss poor performance........

.........how very true!!!

So the weather was already against us having our first training session with the snow putting a spanner in the works, there wasn't much we could do about that so we postponed it a week. The snow was still pretty bad but we weren't going to be put off this time. Unfortunately Darren and Paul couldn't join us so me and Denys decided to give it a go, after all, how hard could it be.........

.............25 minutes in, i'm already starting to ache and feel hungry, not a good sign! "How you getting on Den?", "yeah fine mate, you?", "Yeah of course!". Now although i may have lied, in my defense, these were pretty treacherous conditions, the Arctic tundra that was now Clent Hills wasn't an easy way to start! My only saving grace was the fact that i'd bought walking boots, whereas Denys on the other hand was like Bambi on ice with his trainers and homemade waterproofing system of carrier bags over his socks..

Now i can appreciate that in areas like this you get the odd "country smell", i can handle that. But every now and then there would be this god awful smell, like death mixed with garbage, there was nothing country about it at all! After hearing the odd laugh shortly after each smell hit my nose I soon realised it was in my health's best interest that i stay up wind of Denys for the rest of this journey.

It wasn't long before i wanted to delve into the bag of nutritious goodies i had bought from the shop, not only because i was hungry, but also to stop Denys from moaning about carrying the bag they were in! Being the pure athletes that we are, and knowing the importance of fueling our bodies in the correct way me and Denys proceeded to devour the roast beef monster munch and wash them down with out Nurishment chocolate milkshake.




The snow was really slowing us down, walking in the wrong direction several times didn't help matters either! The battery on my phone was dead and we were trying to work out the route on Deny's phone (the only phone of the modern era that can no longer get apps, which he still to this day blames me for!). We came to a clearing where it was just open fields and all we could see was a white blanket ahead of us, we took a minute and then made an executive decision to turn back.

We finally made it back to the car and were salivating at the thought of our next highly nutritious and recovery based meal, KFC. It appears this walk had made us rather hungry as between us, we proceeded to polish off 12 pieces of chicken, 4 fries, 2 medium popcorn chicken (because 12 pieces obviously wasn't enough!), 12 Turborg, 1 bottle of Pepsi, 2 big bags of crisps and a white chocolate and raspberry bar of chocolate. Warning - some women may wish to look away. Now i'm not one to count calories, but whilst writing this i was curious to find out. On average its fair to say we would've burned around 300 calories an hour, yet in the space of around two hours we managed to consume almost 8000 calories between us!

In summary, i thought training for this event would get me in good shape, however, I'm starting to realise that doing all this exercise could potentially be worse for me!! But never fear, this is all for charity and a very good cause, so if i have to eat all the KFC in the world i'm certainly willing to make that sacrifice!!  

If you've enjoyed what you read and would like to contribute to a very worthy cause please feel free to make a donation. Big or small, any amount helps!! http://www.justgiving.com/lee-chandler

Thank you for reading!

Trailwalker was originally started by the Queen's Gurkha    Signals Regiment over 30 years ago as a training exercise to test soldiers' stamina and teamwork skills. The challenge is to complete the 100km Trailwalker trail, across the South Downs, in under 30 hours in teams of four. Is it tough? Of course. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

£150,000 could support an Oxfam project in Liberia for a year and restore the livelihoods of over 700 farmers, whose farms and means of feeding their families were damaged by civil war. Five years ago, most of these farmers had to rely on food aid.

Click here to find out more about where your money goes - http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/the-impact-of-our-work

The Gurkha Welfare Trust

The GWT relieves poverty and distress amongst Gurkha ex-servicemen and their dependants. Money raised by Trailwalker UK in 2013 will be used to provide financial and medical aid to the most destitute Gurkhas who rely absolutely on the Trust for a dignified old age as well as community aid projects in Gurkha villages in Nepal.

Click here to find out more - http://www.gwt.org.uk/about-us/

..............4 blokes, 100 kilometres and a 30 hour time limit.