I have decided after my whinge about assemblies on my last post, that I will be using a power point, but it will only have a few pictures on it. However, it occurred to me yesterday, what exactly do you think about when swimming?
I mean it wouldn't usually bother me, but I am going to be swimming for a long time, will I be repeating the famous phrase from Finding Nemo 'Just keep swimming' or will I be imagining my coach/PE teacher being barbecued on a spit? I have no idea, I have not really swum for long enough for it to bother me, but now it is playing on my little mind.
I suppose I shall have to stop moaning now. I can't do a blog about moaning can I? Well, it's never stopped me in the past
March is so close! Too close!
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Word of Mouth unfortunately it's mine
It's been on my mind since the first assembly I did at my school about my Comic Relief challenge, however now it must become a reality. I have to start planning my next 3 assemblies to the 900 odd pupils I have to tell. Soon I'm going to be trying to get sponsorship, but even that is feeling like an impossibility.
The first assembly I did, didn't go to plan (as I wrote on an earlier post) I got great support from it but at the end I was shaking such a lot. It was terrible! How could I have been such a coward in front of my peers? What a disgrace. However, I must do my bit and tell the masses about my challenge...oh who am I kidding?
This has to work, I really need the support and soon I'll be needing sponsors, I'm thinking of doing £1 per length so people can choose which length(s) they want to sponsor.
I mean, it's not exactly like they're limited on choice!
I'm not sure if I should use a power point or not, my feedback says that it was more personal without, but filling 15 minutes with just me at the front is terrifying. What should I do? Anyone can comment, so please, tell me, what shall I do?
The first assembly I did, didn't go to plan (as I wrote on an earlier post) I got great support from it but at the end I was shaking such a lot. It was terrible! How could I have been such a coward in front of my peers? What a disgrace. However, I must do my bit and tell the masses about my challenge...oh who am I kidding?
This has to work, I really need the support and soon I'll be needing sponsors, I'm thinking of doing £1 per length so people can choose which length(s) they want to sponsor.
I mean, it's not exactly like they're limited on choice!
I'm not sure if I should use a power point or not, my feedback says that it was more personal without, but filling 15 minutes with just me at the front is terrifying. What should I do? Anyone can comment, so please, tell me, what shall I do?
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Jogging...oh dear
So I woke up this morning and decided "hey, I know what I'll do today, I'll jog to keep my fitness up for the challenge!" So I went and did just that, I mean how bad could it be?
I have heard many people say that jogging is fun and refreshing, was this really what they were talking about? It was hell. Seriously, I think I nearly died! I went down to some local woods to do the jog, I don't really like woods, there are far too many trees for people to hide behind but I thought it would be far more scenic then jogging alongside a main road. So as I jogged I listened to my ipod, and after a while, the tunes that had once kept me at a certain pace were almost mocking me, the lyrics to 'The Climb' became ironic and the lovely sounds of Adele became quite unbearable as she sang songs that sounded so familiar to each other they sounded like they never ended.
I met a few dog walkers along the way, some said a quick good morning and at the start, these cheery greetings were pleasant, but after the jog I was sweating like a pig, dragging my feet, almost killing the earphones that kept falling out, and after the 80th good morning I was very wound up. In fact I was so wound up I think I growled at the last person to say good morning (I know I should be a better neighbour but they were so cheerful and I was so tired...)
So the next time anyone says "you should try jogging" I am going to reply "I would rather eat my trainers then jog in them again"
I have heard many people say that jogging is fun and refreshing, was this really what they were talking about? It was hell. Seriously, I think I nearly died! I went down to some local woods to do the jog, I don't really like woods, there are far too many trees for people to hide behind but I thought it would be far more scenic then jogging alongside a main road. So as I jogged I listened to my ipod, and after a while, the tunes that had once kept me at a certain pace were almost mocking me, the lyrics to 'The Climb' became ironic and the lovely sounds of Adele became quite unbearable as she sang songs that sounded so familiar to each other they sounded like they never ended.
I met a few dog walkers along the way, some said a quick good morning and at the start, these cheery greetings were pleasant, but after the jog I was sweating like a pig, dragging my feet, almost killing the earphones that kept falling out, and after the 80th good morning I was very wound up. In fact I was so wound up I think I growled at the last person to say good morning (I know I should be a better neighbour but they were so cheerful and I was so tired...)
So the next time anyone says "you should try jogging" I am going to reply "I would rather eat my trainers then jog in them again"
Friday, 10 August 2012
A holiday of training
Ah, hello again world, I am back from my holiday! I know it's not a Tuesday, which is when I usually update this blog, sorry for the break in routine. This holiday was not much of a break in routine for me though.
The hotel was amazing, it had three different pools, I was usually in the main one. I trained mostly in the first week of the holiday, trying to pick up my stamina; it was basically endurance swimming. But the training that stretched me the most was in the sea believe it or not. You see, there was this rusty old boat anchored out in the sea, it was about 80 or so metres away from the shore so I decided it would be a good idea to go and swim to it. Bad idea. The wind had picked up a bit so the waves became quite tough to swim against, there was also an underlying current which kept trying to tug me back. All my friends that I had met on holiday (Daniel 14, Ellie 9, Ruth 11, Occan 13, Jonathon 16 and not-really-called-Derek 13) and my little brother swam to the boat too, most of them had a float or snorkeling fins to help them swim out, apart from me and not-really-called-Derek (he was Turkish and I couldn't say or spell his real name)
I was struggling, gasping for breath at the side of the boat that was rocking quite a bit at this point, it had no ladder as well so I had to try get onto the boat because, well, I was running out of energy and the sea was quite deep. Thankfully not-really-called-Derek swam over to me, I couldn't get into the boat so I was just clinging onto it desperately; Derek was amazing, he was 13 and just pulled himself onto the boat. Then along came Jonathon who Derek helped up because Jon was stronger then me and could help pull everyone up. So Jon reached down and picked me out of the water like I was a speck of dust, he wasn't out of breath much due to the float that had helped him get there (CHEAT)
We all ended up on the boat eventually though and lay there for quite a while in the sun. Then Derek realised he had cut himself while climbing onto the boat. It was like Casualty on sea. And because the boat was rusty, we were all worried the cut was going to get infected, so we did the only thing that seemed right, we washed the wound...with salt water. Poor Derek. The salt water made the cut hurt quite a lot, however Derek was brave, Jon however just sat there talking about tetanus which was not very helpful.
Probably the most stressful and exhausting training ever. So far anyway.
The hotel was amazing, it had three different pools, I was usually in the main one. I trained mostly in the first week of the holiday, trying to pick up my stamina; it was basically endurance swimming. But the training that stretched me the most was in the sea believe it or not. You see, there was this rusty old boat anchored out in the sea, it was about 80 or so metres away from the shore so I decided it would be a good idea to go and swim to it. Bad idea. The wind had picked up a bit so the waves became quite tough to swim against, there was also an underlying current which kept trying to tug me back. All my friends that I had met on holiday (Daniel 14, Ellie 9, Ruth 11, Occan 13, Jonathon 16 and not-really-called-Derek 13) and my little brother swam to the boat too, most of them had a float or snorkeling fins to help them swim out, apart from me and not-really-called-Derek (he was Turkish and I couldn't say or spell his real name)
I was struggling, gasping for breath at the side of the boat that was rocking quite a bit at this point, it had no ladder as well so I had to try get onto the boat because, well, I was running out of energy and the sea was quite deep. Thankfully not-really-called-Derek swam over to me, I couldn't get into the boat so I was just clinging onto it desperately; Derek was amazing, he was 13 and just pulled himself onto the boat. Then along came Jonathon who Derek helped up because Jon was stronger then me and could help pull everyone up. So Jon reached down and picked me out of the water like I was a speck of dust, he wasn't out of breath much due to the float that had helped him get there (CHEAT)
We all ended up on the boat eventually though and lay there for quite a while in the sun. Then Derek realised he had cut himself while climbing onto the boat. It was like Casualty on sea. And because the boat was rusty, we were all worried the cut was going to get infected, so we did the only thing that seemed right, we washed the wound...with salt water. Poor Derek. The salt water made the cut hurt quite a lot, however Derek was brave, Jon however just sat there talking about tetanus which was not very helpful.
Probably the most stressful and exhausting training ever. So far anyway.
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Difficult? That's an understatement
With all my exams, being part of Grease (for those that know Grease, I'm playing Eugene as a boy) and just generally revising, this swimming challenge is big to say the least. Just the other day I told another person about my challenge and they said "oh, that sounds difficult" "Difficult?!" I replied in utter disbelief "Difficult is not anything like this challenge!"
You see, as an individual I am not very sporty, the only sport I really did well in was archery. I gave that up after 3 years. I am ashamed to admit that currently in training I can do about 5 lengths before having to stop and take a breath; this statistic is disgraceful. I will never complete this challenge with such a poor statistic.
I will be going away soon, so you won't be updated for 2 weeks, however, there is a pool on holiday and you can rest assured I shall continue my training there, day in day out. It seems this challenge is going to follow me right until the final length in March 2013.
Any comments you can make would be appreciated as this challenge is a massive mountain and at the minute, it seems to be a great obstacle. Thank you again for bothering to read my blog, I shall update you in 2 weeks time
You see, as an individual I am not very sporty, the only sport I really did well in was archery. I gave that up after 3 years. I am ashamed to admit that currently in training I can do about 5 lengths before having to stop and take a breath; this statistic is disgraceful. I will never complete this challenge with such a poor statistic.
I will be going away soon, so you won't be updated for 2 weeks, however, there is a pool on holiday and you can rest assured I shall continue my training there, day in day out. It seems this challenge is going to follow me right until the final length in March 2013.
Any comments you can make would be appreciated as this challenge is a massive mountain and at the minute, it seems to be a great obstacle. Thank you again for bothering to read my blog, I shall update you in 2 weeks time
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Reply from my Hero!
Unfortunatly training wasn't on today however something far more exciting happened on Thursday last week!
About a month ago I sent a letter to David Walliams about my swimming challenge, and on Thursday I got a reply! It was so amazing to have him reply as he did a similar challenge a while ago, this is what he said:
'Wow! I am so glad I have inspired you, 22 miles is a very long way! Good luck love David x'
I know it's short but it was fabulous to get a reply, I've even saved the envelope. He really is an inspiration and I am overjoyed that he thought of me, even if it was just for a minute or two
Thank you everyone for your overwhelming support, and thank you David Walliams for giving me a boost!
About a month ago I sent a letter to David Walliams about my swimming challenge, and on Thursday I got a reply! It was so amazing to have him reply as he did a similar challenge a while ago, this is what he said:
'Wow! I am so glad I have inspired you, 22 miles is a very long way! Good luck love David x'
I know it's short but it was fabulous to get a reply, I've even saved the envelope. He really is an inspiration and I am overjoyed that he thought of me, even if it was just for a minute or two
Thank you everyone for your overwhelming support, and thank you David Walliams for giving me a boost!
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
That first step
My second blog. How time flies...Today was the day I did the first of four house assemblies in my school, it was in front of my own house, Gandhi, and I must admit, I was not looking forward to the experience.
It was destined to be a disaster as 24 hours before I was informed I could not use the presentation I had prepared as the projector was being used elsewhere; this sent me into a flat spin as I had to start from scratch. So I did.
With a few last minute notes scribbled down in maths (triangles were not a very interesting subject Mr.Farr!) I was a nervous wreck, but at least I had some notes now. When I began I was shaking, however as I told my story the people I was talking to quietened down, I was suprised as I was not booed off, no. instead I got a massive round of applause.
But perhaps the best thing about this was the immediate support I began to recieve. People respected what I was doing, and one person said they were inspired.
So despite my aching limbs, I am still smiling as now I have people to encourage me!
If you want to see the story that inspired me, click on the link below. Thank you all
http://www.comicrelief.com/how-we-help#/p1
It was destined to be a disaster as 24 hours before I was informed I could not use the presentation I had prepared as the projector was being used elsewhere; this sent me into a flat spin as I had to start from scratch. So I did.
With a few last minute notes scribbled down in maths (triangles were not a very interesting subject Mr.Farr!) I was a nervous wreck, but at least I had some notes now. When I began I was shaking, however as I told my story the people I was talking to quietened down, I was suprised as I was not booed off, no. instead I got a massive round of applause.
But perhaps the best thing about this was the immediate support I began to recieve. People respected what I was doing, and one person said they were inspired.
So despite my aching limbs, I am still smiling as now I have people to encourage me!
If you want to see the story that inspired me, click on the link below. Thank you all
http://www.comicrelief.com/how-we-help#/p1
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