Georgie Akin-Smith is an aspiring adventurer, endurance athlete and blogger living and working full time in London. When she's not at her desk you're pretty much guaranteed to find her involved in some kind of exercise and now she's on a mission to complete 12 endurance challenges in 12 months...
2017 has begun which means this is the year I'm aiming to complete 12 challenges in 12 months. I’ve never done anything like this before; it’s all very new to me and is actually only something I decided to do a few months ago.
So how did I end up with 12 challenges? At the end of 2016 I decided I wanted something to train and focus on that would push me out of my comfort zone. It was important that whatever I chose fitted around my work, so rather than one big adventure I wanted something that was achievable over weekends throughout the year.
I started researching and speaking to friends and family about the sort of challenges that I might be able to do. Before long I had opened up a whole world of sport, adventure and endurance that I barely knew existed. I was hooked on the idea of having a proper focus, something to aim for that was more than my desk job, something that would help me grow, learn new skills and meet new people.
So, here's the line up so far...
1) The Windsor Duathlon, I'm doing the 'standard' distance, which is a 10k run, then a 40k cycle followed by another 5k run
2) The Engadin Cross-country Ski Marathon in Switzerland. This is actually a really big event, 13,000 people take part each year. I've been roller skiing in Hyde Park to try and get the technique right, it's not easy!
3) The London Marathon. I've got lots of training to do for the marathon; I've never run anywhere near as far before!
4) The Mallorca 312, is a one day, non-stop 312km bike ride around Mallorca, it should take me about 14 hours. There are lots of hills to train for! This event also happens to be 6 days after I've run the London Marathon so I think it's fair to say I'll have a pair of very sore legs at the end of April!
5) The 3 Peaks challenge, this is quite a well known UK challenge that involves climbing up the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales, all in 24 hours.
6) London to Paris in 24 hours. Does what it says on the tin! It's a cycle from London, to Paris!
7) 'Man vs. Lakes' is an obstacle marathon trail run in the Lake District. It's been dubbed the most adventurous marathon; I hear it has some quite tricky obstacles...
8) J70 World Championships, a J70 is the type of sailing boat I race. This is the only challenge I have any experience in as I've been sailing since I was 10 years old. I race in a team of four; there'll be around 70 other boats in this weeklong event.
9) Kayak – I’m hoping to Kayak either around the circumference of Lake Windermere or along a section of the south coast of England from Swanage to Weymouth.
10) Tough Mudder, I'm sure most people have heard of Tough Mudder, it's essentially a muddy obstacle course run. I'm actually doing this one with my parents, which should be fun!
11) I actually haven't decided on my 11th challenge yet. I'm leaving it open for now to see what comes my way.
12) To finish my 12 challenges off with a bang I’d like my final challenge to be something everyone can get involved with, including you! I haven't revealed what it's going to be yet but it'll be something over a weekend that everyone can take part in with me in some way. Subscribe to my blog (link below) to stay tuned.
That makes twelve! As you can see I have quite a bit on! I wanted a real variety of events and sports that would challenge me in lots of different ways.
If I'm completely honest, it's recently dawned on me just how much I've signed myself up for and how much training I need to do. Hopefully with some support and a bit of positive thinking I'll make it through and out the other side of 2017 having accomplished everything I set out to.
Along the way, I’m also really keen to hopefully encourage you to do the same. To get out of your comfort zone and push past the barriers of what you think you can achieve. I honestly think that if I can do it, so can you.
Please follow my journey through 2017 by subscribing to my blog at www.GWhoDares.com and following me on Instagram and Facebook @GWhoDares
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