Inspired by my friend Jodie and encouraged by our PT Travis, I am joining Jodie on a challenge to walk one million steps in 3 months.

The challenge starts on 1st July 2021, ending on 30th September 2021.

Why this? Well as most of you know I have just finished treatment for Breast Cancer. I want to challenge myself and show that even having such a diagnosis and going through some tough treatment, that you can come out the other side stronger both mentally & physically. Also, with September being the month I was diagnosed last year, I thought it would be good to mark the occasion one year on with this!

During my diagnosis and post treatment, I’ve reached out to the Cancer Wellness Centre (and this is where the donations will go, direct to them) for some support and wanted to give something back to them, so they can continue their vital services to patients and families affected by Cancer.

This challenge may seem easy for some, but I know it will be tough for me. This time last year I was extremely overweight and unfit. I embarked on a ‘transformation’ of my own, making some changes to my lifestyle and starting to change my sedentary lifestyle habits, starting on creating a habit to move more, ie take more steps per day. Last year I was averaging 3-4K steps per day. A few months into my weight loss and fitness journey I found my lump and received my diagnosis. I genuinely believe losing the initial weight saved my life. If I hadn’t of lost weight when I did, I would not have found the lump so early as I was having no other symptoms. I would not have had such a good prognosis, as my specific cancer (TNBC - Triple Negative Breast Cancer) can be aggressive and fast growing. 

Having seen the positive impact fitness was having on my life, I continued to walk during treatment and exercise when I could. This helped my mental well-being too and gave me a focus. 

Fast forward to now, 8 weeks post treatment, I’m building up my step goal as my strength returns. I’m pleased to say I’ve achieved my daily step goal every day since 9th January.  

My weight loss has continued also, I’ve just hit my 5 stone weight loss. I will be continuing this alongside the challenge, as well as my gym sessions to carry on working on my strength & fitness.

This challenge will see me needing to achieve just under 11k steps per day, every day for 3 months. This will be during a time as I return to work after being off since October. It will also be during the 6 weeks school summer holiday, with my 10yr old off school, he’ll have to get used to our daily walks again! Lastly, the summer could also bring further problems for me as my skin is super sensitive to the sun following chemotherapy, so I need to plan my walks around this, but who doesn’t love a good challenge? 

I will keep the page updated with my progress  & my social media.

Thank you for reading & your donations.

If you want to join me for a walk, please give me a shout!

Rachael.