Am I Mad?

As some of you reading this will already know, I am part of an expedition with the aim of setting the world record for the highest ever (altitude wise) game of team sport!

We leave in April 09 for Mount Everest, trek to near base camp where there is a cricket pitch sized plateau where the game will be held. All of the details can be found at www.theeveresttest.com

So to the title of this post - Am I Mad? In summary, I think we all are, 55 people climbing to an altitude more than double the highest altitude that FIFA allow football matches to be played; where the air is so thin it is like "breathing through a straw"; where the temperature is approximately absolute zero; and where my mum tells me that there are spiders the size of cats that jump 6 feet in the air, and can swallow your head whole (I think she made this up).

So from now until we go - approximately 6 months - we all have to become very fit people, and if i'm honest, I have a lot of work to do which starts properly tomorrow! I've set myself the target of running the bath half marathon a couple of weeks before we go, i reckon if I can do that, I can play cricket on Everest.

Obviously we're not doing this for fun, I don't think it will be fun at all until we get back to Blighty and we can tell the stories of our trip! We're raising money for Sport/Comic Relief and the Himalayan Trust with a target of £250,000 in all. If you would like to sponsor me I would greatly appreciate it and you can do this by visiting http://www.mysportrelief.com/jwoodseverest?SID=55067

I'll keep you all posted from time to time on how the fitnees training is going and of any interesting developments on the expedition.

See you soon!