Challenge Completed

For the last 30 days, I've been doing a BBC Get Inspired challenge. Even though I'm not as active as I'd like to be, I do like to push myself and engage in sporting activities. Plus, I want to inspire other people with disabilities to be active and to achieve things they thought they couldn't. So the challenge I've been doing is the Take a Hike challenge. Here are the goals...

Aim - walk/roll every day

I haven't walked every single day but I have walked (or rolled) most days. I've just added up how far I have 'hiked' during the challenge and it's between 28 and 30 km. That is just amazing! What I have loved about this challenge, is that there were many evenings when I would have just sat and watched the telly but being an ambassador put a bit of pressure on me to get out for a walk first. So the challenge has really made me change my lifestyle, albeit in a small way.

Benefits

I don't know about stronger legs but my arms and shoulders have definitely got stronger. At the beginning, I was tired and achy after a kilometre but now I can propel over 3 km before feeling really achy. Even though I've done the 30 days, I really want to keep this up because I'm feeling more confident because of being stronger in my upper body. I feel less vulnerable about getting stuck somewhere and being unable to get myself home or back to the car.

Goal

My original goal was to get to 5 km. I haven't achieved this but I made it to 4 km and that is just fantastic! I haven't given up on the 5 km but time is the biggest issue... and the summer. Once the heat and the wasps have all finished (hopefully October-ish) I'm going to resurrect this challenge and try to get to 5 km at least once a week, with slightly shorter runs in between. However, I have increased my time and distance, something that I will continue to work on.

Next step

My major heartbreak of this challenge was the death of my freewheel. I've contacted the company that I bought it from and they are trying to sort it out with the suppliers but so far, I've been unimpressed with freewheel's response. They are saying it's wear and tear but I only bought it in November and 8 months for such an expensive piece of equipment, doesn't sound very good to me. Because I have no freewheel at the moment, hiking anywhere off-road is... well... off. Plus it really is now above my threshold temperature for being outdoors and the wasps are beginning to bother me. So, I have a plan...

I had an adaptive skiing lesson a while ago over in Manchester. I loved it but it's too far to travel regularly. However, I've just found out that Castleford have resumed adaptive skiing and that's just down the road. So for the summer, I'm going to aim to become an independent skier. I had ruled out monoskiing because of my awful balance but I'm now thinking I might give it a go. If not, then biskiing looks manageable, if a little less independent.