100k for Kate to Coppafeel!

On May 18th this year, I am going to attempt to run 100km at the Ultra Trail Australia event in the Blue Mountains - a course with 5000m of elevation, multiple staircases with 1000 steps and somewhere around 20 hours of non-stop joy.

This isn't something that I ever thought I'd catch myself doing - I hate running (unless chasing a ball), and since completing a marathon over 10 years ago, I have preceded to run no further than 8km in one go since.

But similar to me doing this, life throws up unexpected surprises every now and then. The video is me surprising my sister, Kate. I flew back from Sydney to London to see her, 4 months after she told us she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Since then she has been or is going through multiple exhausting rounds of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which with any luck will finish up in April, 9 months after it all started.

Kate is one of the lucky ones. She found hers early (Stage 1) meaning that the lump could be removed quickly without having spread and although her treatment has been significantly more intense than was initially anticipated, her outlook is really good and the months of chemo should work to ensure that a recurrence is unlikely.

Kate found her lump early; others are much, much less fortunate which is why next year, Kate will be raising money for a charity called Coppafeel! which was set up to promote awareness around early detection of breast cancer. Just 6 months after finishing an intensive chemotherapy & radiotherapy course, Kate will be trekking c.100k through the Himalayas in honour of this cause and I too would like to put my efforts towards supporting this. You can see more details about Coppafeel! here

Throughout this whole process, Kate's attitude and outlook on life has been remarkable and inspiring and she is sure that through the pain, exhaustion and all the other shit that comes with having cancer and going through subsequent treatment, she has actually been lucky enough to have it feed her purpose. She has stayed active throughout, hauling herself onto her Peloton and into Crossfit classes even when she hasn't really felt like it. She is convinced this has helped her through the process.

So, let's call this a joint fundraising effort. I didn't enter this challenge for this. I did it because life is all too comfortable a lot of the time and it's not that way for everyone. Kate has had a rough few months, many others have had a much rougher few months, many many others haven't made it that long. So, even though this could never compare, it's what I can do to attempt to make myself uncomfortable, and if I can raise some money for a fantastic cause in the process, brilliant.

Kate - you my hero.