My employer ( Alfresco ) is sponsoring 20 of us to walk up and down Mount Toubkal in aid of charity and team-building.
The walking starts at 5700 feet, and a day and a half later we'll be at the top - 13761 feet. There's no actual climbing involved, but it ain't going to be a walk in the park.

So I've got to get fit enough not to die, to get fit enough not to need to be carried on the Donkey of Shame up the last bits and to get fit enough to be at least semi-conscious a day and a half after the summit so I don't need to spend a day in Marrakech with my legs in a hot bath.

Training is tough.... I'm lucky enough to live in the Chilterns at the moment and though they are similar to the Atlas Mts in the same way that my ukelele playing is similar to George Formby's at his peak, there are a lot of hills around here. I'm not one for going to the gym, so the training so far has consisted of using the excuse of going to get some milk to walk or cycle up and down and up and down the hills around Chesham, trying to go for vertical distance travelled rather than just horizontal distance. I'm conscious of the fact that so far I've only racked up a vertical distance of ~400 feet in a single go. I feel like that character in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum who's been told to run round the seven hills of Rome.... going round in circles to catch another hill around Chesham :-)

Anyway - it's all in a good cause....
The group of 20 is split into three teams, and each team is trying to raise money for a different charity. Our team (the wonderfully named "Dutch Mullets") is raising for Cauldwell Children .

Please sponsor me.
It doesn't matter how little or how much, but please sponsor me.
You can either pledge a flat-price, or come up with a metric that will cause me pain and anguish - such as:
- X pence per mile walked in training before we leave for Morocco or on the mountain itself
- X pence per mile cycled
- X pence per ten feet vertical walked/cycled
- X pence * (100 - (number of cigarettes smoked before we leave))
- X pence per number of times cycled to work (this should be quite a cheap one - it's 20 miles, so not going to be a regular occurrence)
- X pence per number of times I play Dumpy's "Just For Kicks" on the ukelele before we go (or even, as we walk! although I think my team-mates won't be overjoyed with that)
etc. etc. etc.

You can set a limit if you like - well, you know me - if you come up with an obscure metric, I will do my damndest to milk it at the detriment to my own sanity/health/physical well-being....

I'll provide docuemntary evidence as much as possible - if you really want 50 different versions of my ukelele playing on YouTube, then so be it - but I know you'll trust me on any more obscure metrics :-)

Runkeeper  is currently documenting the pitiful amount I've done so far, and will give you an idea of the sort of distances and times I'm racking up. I shall also be getting myself photographed in my Bitter Ruin t-shirt at the top, in a blatant attempt to (a) appear hip and cool and down with the kids, and (b) to try and get them to re-tweet this.

You can sponsor me by here, or by commenting on liveJournal , Facebook, Twitter , Cix,   LinkedIn, post, email , or you can send me money direct or... or... or...... anything....

Once I've worked out how to do it, this page will be linked with my team's page as well, so you can see the whole effort...

 

Thank you for listening, wish me luck!

Andy