Houston, the eagle has landed

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Well we are here! After a 21 hour day of travelling we have finally arrived in South America. Our journey began at 4am on Saturday morning as, blurry eyed, we made our way to Heathrow airport where we loaded full rucksacks on to our backs for the first time. Two steps later and Georgie was on the floor, tripping over a shoelace and struggling to find her balance with the weight she was now carrying. I guess you were right Mum, people do trip on shoelaces. Luckily she was okay and we were soon aboard our first flight to Madrid, where, after a quick bite to eat and a stock up of snacks and drinks we were off to Rio.

Now I'm not what you may call the most confident of flyers, I dislike take off and landing and every so often I become a bit over awed by just how high up we are when in the air. So when some bright spark decide to go in to the toilet on our flight and light up a cigarette, setting off the on-board fire alarm and sending our air stewards in to a frenzy, I have to admit I almost soiled myself. Only the knowledge that the one place I could clean myself up and find solace should my bowls inextricably open was currently engulfed in smoke and at the centre of such a scene helped me keep my composure.

"You're loving the drama of this aren't you?!" Georgia said, turning towards me as I watched.

"...Yeah..." I stammered whilst wondering if we were all about to burst in to flames at 38,000 feet in the air. In the end calm was restored and I went back to my movie.

After a few hours we landed in Rio! After finding our way to our apartment for the next two weeks we passed out with exhaustion.

Day 2 was spent on the Copacabana beach before we headed to the Sambadrome to watch the carnival procession. We're currently battling our technology to figure a way to get pictures on here and I will struggle to do justice to how good the event was, but it was incredible. The floats and costumes were SO extravagant. My only regret is that, still struggling with jetlag and exhaustion, we couldn't stay and party until the end. I guess we have an excuse to come back another year there though!

We've just got back from spending another day at the beach and I can hear the drumming of carnival through the window. Who knows what tonight will bring.

To loved ones

We are safe. We are well fed and are looking after each other. We have a good Wi-Fi connection at our apartment so shall write again soon (and hopefully figure a way to put some pictures up!)

1 more sleep to go!

Bags packed, jabs jabbed & work done!
Next stop Rio.


We'll see you on the other side.

(Let's hope it's as nice as the pictures)

Our Route

Our Route: Brazil > Bolivia > Peru > Ecuador > Galapagos Island > Mexico

Bonjourno!

I haven't sat and written in this little box for a while. Mostly because we've been super busy and mostly because I'm not the writer (/journalist..) - Josh is! 

But also, we have a reason to share some information about our little lives. Our next adventure is a trip to South America! For the past year (or since graduating) we have started jobs and begun the grown up lifestyle, but this quickly changed when we started talking about travelling about and seeing sites outside the UK. This soon turned into plans and now we are about a month away to leaving and we couldn't be more excited.. 

What next?

What next I hear you say? Well, to be honest after by better half's story (see below) we haven't been running as much as we should since the half-marathon. I think we are enjoying running just for the enjoyment as of now instead of having the idea of it being 'training'. It also means we are open to doing some other fun things like swimming or heading to the gym and mixing it up a little.

Me and Josh are hugee dreamers and go-getters and have zillions of to-do lists and things we want to tick off in the next coming months - some relating to running/marathons, mostly not.

At the moment its all a lot of scribbles on a lot of papers, but soon it all be happening and we cannot wait!

Exciting times ahead... Watch this little (blog) space!

Action Shots

Some of the professional photos taken at the half marathon...

http://www.justgiving.com/JoshuaGeorgie

£630

Thank you SO SO much to everyone who sponsored us, we smashed our target of £500 and raised £630 for NACC at the Fleet Half Marathon. I know it's been a while so I guess it's time for an update...
Well we did it! 13.1 miles covered in 2 hours 50 minutes (ish)! But that alone tells little of the whole story...
First off - it was a HORRIBLE day! The rain was coming down as we walked up to the starting line - a nice, brisk mile walk from my house which acted as a nice warm up, or it would have had it not also been so darn cold! The scent of petrichor was in the air.  We got to the starting line a little before the race was due to begin and as few people were about, took up a spot in a nice little area with my Father (who finished in 1:36 - unbelievable!). As time went by things got more and more crowded and after a look around we realised we were stood under a sign which said something along the lines of "stand here if you're aiming to finish in around 1:30", we quickly said goodbye to Dad and made our way backwards, waaaay backwards.
We took up our position near the 2 hour banner and bumped into a few friends we knew who were also running. The butterflies started to kick in and the tension built, all around us people were stretching and jumping around, some just to keep warm, some out of nervous anxiety to just get going. We soon started to see runners at the front moving forwards, then we were off!
I haven't run a great deal of races, but one thing I'd been told a lot was to not get carried away by the crowds and set off too quickly, just run your own race I was told. I knew my pace and had my game plan but was astounded to realise just how many people were passing us - already! Still, we were dead on 10 minute mile-ing and soon (about 30 minutes actually), the first 3 miles were down, this is where our problems started.
As you all know we were running for NACC (the National Association for Chrohn's and Colitis UK) as I have colitis and Georgie has Chron's. Sadly, after 3 miles, Georgie started getting stomach pains. At first she thought it was a stitch and tried to run through it, but after a while it was obvious that this was more than that. When Georgie first fell ill a doctor tried to explain the pain she was experiencing to her family by likening the stomach cramps to those experienced when you get food poisoning. If you've had food poisoning before then I hope you'll appreciate what she was going through. 
We started jogging for a while and then walking for a while. I soon realised that our aim of finishing with a decent time had changed to simply finishing and as if to help matters, the rain just kept coming down. Georgie was struggling but she pushed herself so much to keep going and I was overwhelmed with pride to see just how much this cause meant to her, stewards offered her help, she denied. It was abundantly clear that Georgie planned on finishing this race. She wasn't going to let her illness get the better of her and I believe the courage and determination shown in that is hugely admirable. Every single step that was being taken took a big effort and I was hugely worried for her, but this meant so much to her that I wasn't about to tell her to stop! Besides, I think the knowledge that she can overcome her illness could be a hugely powerful thing for her. That girl can do anything she puts her mind to and I wondered if maybe this could help her realise that.
I could feel her anxiety growing. As she battled against herself it was easy to see how badly she wanted to run the entirety of the race but it seemed her body was against her. We'd covered most of the distance when we ran in training - I guess in all sport it comes down to how you feel on the day, but she kept going. She kept soldiering on.
A HUGE thanks has to be mentioned at this point to the chaps who were running for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham, they were such a great support along the way and some of the genuinely nicest guys. Thank you so much. One of them, who I regret to inform you I did not catch the name of, was running with a (full) barrel of beer on his back. He told us of how last year he had run to Poland for charity and had done so using a method called six-sixes. It's pretty simple, you only count on your left leg and you count every time your left foot hits the floor, count six walking, then six running.
"1.....2.....3....4....5....6....1....2....3....4....5...6".
 I couldn't tell you how many times I uttered those numbers over the next few miles, urging Georgie on. She was so fantastic.
We made it to 10 miles pretty much doing just this, a few times we had to walk a bit more and a few times Georgie made us do twelve-sixes, but by sheer willpower we got to ten miles, by which time the tank was all but empty (sadly, by this I mean the metaphorical tank and not the one that was full of beer and being carried by our newly acquainted friend!). We walked almost all of the rest of the race. Unable to accept the Mars bars stewards offered along the way for fear they'd make her sick, we had little choice but to walk, I believe this is what they call "running on empty". As we left the countryside and came back towards the crowds we were pushed to run by spectators, 
"Go on! You're nearly there! RUN!" one young chap said, rattling the tip of his umbrella on the floor during a momentary respite from the rain, but it didn't bother us. One lady cheered us particularly loudly,
"My niece has Chrohn's disease! Keep going!" 
It resonated. Stirred by the reminder of why she was doing this, strength was mustered to run the last few hundred metres - the most admirable and courageous sprint finish I think I've ever seen. With just one corner left to turn before the finish line was in sight we saw Georgie's Mother, Sheela, standing by the side of the road cheering us both on. The time it had taken us to get around the course had clearly worried her and she soon figured something was up. Unable to deny her maternal instincts, she made her way towards us. A quick embrace between mother and daughter was duly halted,
"I've got to finish, I've GOT to finish!"
I'm so proud to say she did.