I've had a look at my challenges and updated the page, which shows that I completed 33/40 challenges. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to Paddle board and Roller skate the 7 miles from Hengistbury Head to Sandbanks, due to the cold weather and sand on the prom. This was totally my fault, so these challenges will be completed at a later date. It turns out that I am too chatty to be silent for 40 hours (and it was very impractical too), and I am too scared to sell the artwork I have created, but I've popped a picture of some of my attempts at being creative below.
Although I have not included learning how to do a French Plait as being completed, I have photographic evidence of a plait in Chloe's hair that I did! Unfortunately, I am still struggling to pull her hair tight enough for it to stay in for any length of time. I have been practicing on a hairdressers dummy who has beautifully straight hair, but as soon as I transfer my limited skills to Chloe with her thick curly hair, it all goes horribly wrong. Anyway, here is the evidence.
I went on the wall at the same time as Jake after nearly bottling out completely! The instructor harnessed me up and pointed me to the green section. They set a 3 minute limit to scale the wall, but the grips were so small that I had barely managed half way when the time was up. Luckily the other side had wider grips but by now my nerves were shot. The first part of the wall was relatively easy, but I stupidly looked down which caused my mouth to go very dry and my legs to start shaking. I could hear Rik shouting 'you're nearly there', but it looked like an impossible task. Somehow, I managed to have a stern word with myself and scramble up the last couple of metres to hit the button at the top of the 8.7m incline. I guess I'm just not destined to be a rock climber! Again, here is the photographic proof!
Close behind on 9/10, were the interesting mix of The Imitation Game (moving true story), Trash (gritty real drama), Mr & Mrs Smith (fiery love story), The Kings Speech (emotional, gripping, true) and Flight (frustratingly good story). Next in line with 8 1/2 points were Unstoppable (thrilling action adventure), Bridesmaids (funny, cheesy, predictable), Gone Girl (book was better), Layer Cake (action, suspense, gripping), Just go with it (funny, entertaining, heartwarming) and Amy (tear-jerking life story).
There were lots of films around the 7 1/2 to 8 category and a few that I wasted precious hours watching! These include RIPD 5/10 (Lacks any originality), The Watch 5 1/2 (typical American comedy), Gravity 5 1/2 (unrealistic, disappointing ending) and Mr Morgan's Last love 6 (slow, boring, predictable). I didn't rise to the hype of Saving Private Ryan giving it a 7 1/2, but was pleasantly surprised by Good Will Hunting 8.
When I look back on everything that I have achieved and completed this past year, I am filled with a massive sense of gratitude for everyone who has supported me! Whether it has been joining me on a challenge, offering me words of encouragement or making a donation to my page, I really appreciate it! Special thanks goes to Rik who has; put up with me constantly going on about my challenges; been a blog widow at least once a week whilst I try and get my creative juices flowing; taxied me to and from events at some ridiculous times of day and night; and encouraged me to keep going at times when I had completely lost the will to live.
On the subject of highs and lows, lots of people have asked me about my memorable moments, so here is a brief (because most people would have stopped reading by now) synopsis of my year.
Lows/hard points= Struggling along the Jurassic Coast with a hamstring pull, getting beyond cold in the bog of doom at Hellrunner Down South and in the skip full of ice at Tough Mudder, witnessing friends get injured whilst training/competing with me, hitting the wall on a number of occasions-notably during a 20 mile training run when I sent Rik a text whilst crying, realising that it is quite hard to just go out and complete a 60 mile bike ride after only riding my new bike 6 times, swimming with jellyfish and not completing all of my challenges.
There were a ridiculous amount of highs to name, but some of the notable ones were, finishing the London Marathon and being a World Record Holder as a result, laughing so much for many random reasons during Tough Mudder with a great bunch of friends, being able to make it to the platform, let alone step off of it at the Spinnaker Tower, raising a few eyebrows and getting some interesting looks whilst running in my wedding dress and as part of the conga at parkrun, seeing my children's faces every time they witnessed me complete a challenge, successfully appealing my London Triathlon time to scrape under 3 hours, and realising that if you really put your mind to something, it is amazing what you can achieve.
Although I got a sewing machine for my birthday, there is officially no chance of me giving up on doing crazy challenges........here's to 50 by 50.......only kidding!