Crazy Hats 9th Annual Charity Walk!

On Sunday morning, we got up very early (with protest I may add!) after a manic few days, to drive down to Wicksteed Park in Kettering for the Crazy Hats 9th Annual Charity Walk!

This is the second year that I have attended. Last year, I was a mere 5 weeks post partum, and bearing in mind the state I was in, I was very proud to have completed two of the five miles, carrying Louie in a pouch sling. Everyone cooed at him whilst he slept most of the way!

Crazy Hats Walk 2010

March 2010, 5 weeks old!

This year, I am proud to have taken part, we marched around the park and completed the 5 miles at 12:00. It is my first charity walk in which I have used my Ergo, which was kindly donated from the Ergo folk in Germany. We plan to do more fundraising events throughout the year.

I am pleased to say that I carried Louie (weighing approx 22lbs) extremely comfortably, and as you can see, he was comfortable enough to have dozed off!

I adorned my crazy statue of liberty hat which I have had for about 15 years, which my Mom bought for me to grow into which is still too big :P Unfortunately I didn't have a silly hat for Louie, but I have one in the pipeline for the future so I will keep you posted! We managed to hit the £100 mark this year too!

Anyway, here are the pictures and proof I did it! 

Marching on ahead!

To prove my 5 miles!

Louie and I with Glennis, the founder of Crazy Hats

With my medal and certificate!

Louie wearing a silly hat with Nana!

You can find out more about the charity here at Crazy Hats Breast Cancer Appeal

Ergo

Thankyou so so so much to the lovely chaps at Ergo for sending my Ergo Performance Carrier!
When I wrote to them for advice, I never dreamed they would offer a carrier to me, and now, here I am with my very own ergo. I know they are such a highly respected name in the carrier business which is why I wanted one of their carriers. They suggested the performance carrier as it is designed for active wear and has certain features which would be preferable to someone undergoing my feat!

This means that I can now start my training for the mission that I will be trying to achieve, be it Snowdon or the Leicestershire Round. I am hoping to get out twice a week to train, starting with tomorrow (if something else doesn't crop up). I will start out small and work up my lengths of the walk and the difficulty. I think the outwoods is a good place to start as it is a 1.8m walk over varied inclines. Then I will do Beacon Hill, then Bradgate and so on and so on. I really cant wait!

Here are some photos of our first try

For Charity

For a while now I have been thinking about doing something for my Mom's good friend Glennis. She is the founder of a charity called Crazy Hats, raising money for breast reconstruction. We went to visit her when Louie was 17 days old and she asked me to do a sky dive... a SKY DIVE! I told her she must be crazy! Before I had Louie I wouldn't have thought twice about jumping out of a plane, but now I have too much to lose 'just incase' something went wrong.
In June, Mom climbed Ben Nevis. We went with her but I would love to actually DO something. Next year she wants to climb Snowdon. So I asked if I could join her.
I don't think anyone thinks I am being serious about this. I want to do it carrying Louie.
I have absolutely NO experience and my fitness is atrocious so it probably is a little bit of a high estimation of myself. But I really do want to do something to raise some money for the ward that my Mom works on.

My sling stash only consists of a close carrier and a WAHM Mei Tai, both which I love dearly and enjoy wearing every time. However, I don't think they would be up to the task.
So I decided to email Ergo for some advice. I know they make decent carriers and was just enquiring what would be up to the job.
I was ASTONISHED when they replied offering to send me the carrier of my choice, free of charge by way of sponsorship. I got the dispatch email this afternoon!

The only problem is that  I don't know if I am going to make Snowdon. I did think that I could walk the Leicestershire Round, a 100 mile walk. I could do it over a week and I think it would be a feasible charitable event.

So now, my blog will lay host to my training exploits leading up to whatever I decide to do!

Wish me luck!