I walked 100km (that's 62 miles) in 23 hours, without sleep!  It was all in aid of a cause which means an awful lot to me. The Retreat Animal Rescue is the registered charity partner to South East Dog Rescue (SEDR).  The recent addition to our mini-zoo - Bella - was from SEDR, who helped save her from an otherwise miserable and probably short lived existence on the streets of Romania.

There is more about SEDR at the bottom, but here is a bit about my 100k experience:

I started my 100k walk at Putney at 9.15am on Saturday 14th September.  There were over 2,300 people taking part, raising money for all different charities.  Some were walking 25k or 50k and around 1100 of us were doing the full 100k.

It was a grey and murky morning. It started raining, then got heavier, and soon enough I was in full waterproofs.  Although there were lots of other walkers around I was walking alone and listening to Lord of The Rings on my iPod which passed the time.  

By 13.25 I had completed 25k, and thankfully the rain stopped shortly after that.  At 18.30 I was at the 50k mark.  Having completed 1/2 the challenge in just over 9 hours I was feeling pleased and set off again after a short break for dinner.

At around 21.00 at 60k I started to hit a wall and things got tough.  After a slightly teary call to hubby at the 63k rest stop I ploughed ahead, but I was slowing down.  I stopped listening to my iPod.  It was a bit scary in the dark and I had to concentrate more in the foggy darkness so as not to fall into the Thames. At 23.30 I had completed 70k.  

It was pitch black, foggy and lonely, with other walkers becoming few and far between.  I talked aloud to keep myself going, and thought of the doglets and my amazing supporters which pepped me up. I managed to pick up the pace a bit and got to the 77k rest stop at around 1.15am on Sunday.  This was after having to walk through a foggy graveyard, alone - talk about spooky.

At the 77k rest stop I wasn't feeling great.  That much activity, into the night, does weird things to your body.  My stomach needed  constant fuel but cold drinks were painful and when I tried to eat I felt sick.  I visited the first aid tent to get my feet seen to which had felt fine up to then but started to hurt when I stopped at that point. 

Talking to the British Red Cross I suddenly felt very sick and dizzy and they got me to the ground just as I passed out.  It was all very brief and as soon as they got my feet up I felt much better.  Apparently all the blood had rushed to my stomach to try to digest the small amount of food I ate and that caused the dizziness.  They asked me lots of questions, made me drink tea, checked my blood oxygen levels and kept an eye on me for a while.  

I refused to stop - there was no way I wasn't going to finish.  They refused to let me continue unless I buddied up with someone else.  Thankfully they found me the most wonderful group of people called The Sore Paws, as they are all dog owners - clearly it was meant to be.  We got going again at around 3.15am.  

It had really set me back and I was disappointed to let my family down who had been getting my updates and thinking I would have finished by then. The most important thing though was finishing, and although that last 23k was extremely tough, painful and at times emotional, I did it.  

On what was a beautiful morning in Henley I crossed the finish line at 8.21am on 15th September, 23 hours and 6 minutes after I had started.  

Your support pushed me through this challenge and I can't thank you enough.  

 

Why I did this Crazy Thing....

I could go on and on, and on, about rescuing dogs, and SEDR, but the best way to inspire you to give generously to this wonderful cause is to tell you the story in the words of Kymm White, who founded and runs SEDR:

SEDR is dedicated to Flossie – my first ever ‘pound dog’. Flossie gave me the inspiration to start a rescue to help all the thousands of dogs that end up in the pounds each year, with sadly around 7,000 of those dogs being put to sleep as they have not been claimed.

Flossie was found as a stray and taken to the pound, to serve her 7 days, in the hope that she would be claimed by her owners. But days turned into weeks, and still no-one claimed her. She was so stressed in the kennel environment, she chewed large holes in her paws, and chewed off the end of her tail. Flossie literally had just days to live before we collected her, as she was due to be put to sleep, to make way for the ever increasing new dogs being brought into the pound.

Flossie came home with me, and very quickly became a part of the family!! She was fantastic with my little girl, my Alaskan Malamute…in fact she was fantastic in every way!!! Despite being unloved and unwanted for so long, she was full of love and a truly affectionate girl. All the dogs lives that we manage to save from here on in, are a tribute to Flossie.

Thankfully, we were able to save Flossie from certain death, but so many other dogs are not so lucky. So this rescue is for all the other ‘Flossies’ out there that need someone to give them the chance they deserve.

 

Thank you so much from all the doggies for anything you can donate for SEDR x

 

Find out more about SEDR: http://www.sedogrescue.co.uk/ or https://www.facebook.com/SE.Dog.Rescue?fref=ts

Find out more about the Thames Path Challenge: http://www.thamespathchallenge.com/