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Mark Ellis

The Big Marsden Trek

Help me reach my goal of £1,000

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I'm taking part in The Big Marsden Trek

I’m supporting The Royal Marsden, a world-leading cancer centre. By donating to my page, their nurses, doctors, and research teams can provide the very best care and develop life-saving treatments. Together, we can save the lives of cancer patients everywhere. Please support me today.

Please Help Me
Reach My Goal

Raised

£1,355 + £276.25 GiftAid

My Goal

£1,000

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My Achievements

Received First Donation

Added Blog Post

Has Created Team Page

Self Donated

Reached Fitness Target

Uploaded Profile Pic

Has Shared Fundraising Page

Received 10 Donations

Received 5 Donations

Reached 50% of Fundraising Target

Reached Goal

My Updates

Mission accomplished

Tuesday 15th Sep

Signing up to do the Marsden Trek was an unusual thing for me to do. Until recently I have never put much effort into my fitness, and I’m not normally a fan of team efforts. This experience has changed me.

 

Prioritising a good night’s sleep, we were told when we arrived that out of 850 we were the last to start the walk. This just motivated us more to catch up with the people in front of us.

 

By the time we got to the base of Boxhill we were surrounded by other walkers, and the first checkpoint at the top was crowded.

 

I was incredibly fortunate to have Jo volunteer to do the walk with me. This made it immeasurably more pleasurable, to have someone to chat to, share my aches and pains with, and celebrate getting to the top of a hill and admiring the views with. From lunch onwards we were joined by the delightful Sheila, who works for the Marsden in Kingston.

 

We arrived at the Hospital as it was getting dark, eleven and a half hours later. Walking time was nine and a half of that. We ascended for 3000 feet and descended about the same amount.

 

The last quarter of a mile was on the street, and I suddenly realised my husband was walking along beside me and then my sister appeared in his place. We arrived to more friends and family, glasses of champagne, and much hugging.

 

My donations put me at number 45 on the leader board; perhaps the biggest achievement of all. Before I started publicising my fundraiser, I consulted my friend and first cousin once removed Amanda Jones, who is a long time campaigner and fundraiser for Breast Cancer Now. ‘Just use every network you are part of, contact everyone you know, and bring it up at every opportunity,’ was her advice. I had to overcome a lot of resistance within to do that. But I did it and I (or rather The Marsden!) have reaped the rewards !

One day more

Saturday 12th Sep
I am supposed to be feeling ready after all that physical preparation and a few days of quiet contemplation of the task ahead, but actually I feel pretty exhausted after spending most of yesterday cleaning a flat. I used up 3700 calories hoovering, cleaning windows, and climbing up a ladder to paint tiny dabs of white over where the previous tenants had left nail holes. Given that a day which includes an hour long F45 class uses up 3000 calories I am a little concerned that I haven’t had the best preparation for this walk tomorrow.

Jo pointed out that the workout housework represents was the reason why women traditionally lived longer than men, but Chatty Pete seems to think that women have this capacity in spite of the burden of housework. This allows men to sit about smoking a lot and therefore killing  themselves off earlier. 

Although I won’t be smoking, I intend to do as little as I possibly can today, which will mainly consist of lying on the sofa and binge watching Colin from Accounts, while gently sorting Holland and Barrett’s finest variations of trail mix (I’ve got four) into little plastic boxes I bought for this purpose.  I am particularly looking forward to Dark and Orangey … 

Our walk in the rain the other week will have stood us in good stead for the weather tomorrow which is forecast to be almost exactly the same. Sunshine and showers. And we know what that means. The occasional ray won’t compensate for being drenched. 

Tonight I’ll be staying at Jo’s, and Tom, her son, will drive us at 6am tomorrow morning to the start point. And then I’ll find out if I  was ready. Or not. 

A week to go

Saturday 5th Sep
A week to go and fortunately my 'vitals' as measured on my Fitbit seem to be going the right way, so my resting heart rate is down to its base line of 58, and my heart rate variability is up to 32, which is a great result after a very fine half a bottle of Negoamaro with steak and chips last night (alcohol can mess with these measures - but that's the last alcohol before the trek). Just got to keep these ticking over. This morning I did an hour long F45 hybrid class, pushing my heart rate to 178 without keeling over, so after a full English I am now full of protein - and endorphins - and getting ready to do a 5 mile stroll through Bushy Park to 'flush out the legs' as my AI coach says. Next week I'll be tapering off exercise as I get nearer the weekend. 

I had a really interesting conversation with the locksmith on Well Street in Hackney who told me he had cut keys for the guy who helped develop the immunotherapy which was being used to treat his lung cancer. What a coincidence ! We shared stories of treatment and hospital care and I told him I was doing the Trek. 'Send me the link to the fundraiser' he said, and this was what made me think I should do another round of publicising it. 

So I've pushed the goal up by £250 and will be sending the link to the page out to everyone who I haven't contacted before. 

Looking forward to meeting all the other trekkers next Sunday!

One month out ...

Thursday 13th Aug
First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has donated. I've reached my second target, and am now considering adding another £150 to the target. It's great to have such support. But not only have I received donations: one friend has said she will join me on the walk and is fund raising herself, which is absolutely brilliant !

In terms of preparation, I'm prioritising strength/hybrid classes at F45 (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) and trying to do at least 10 miles of zone two walking a week.  Zone two exercise is exercise which raises your heartbeat slightly but leaves you with the ability to talk normally. Doing this regularly raises your aerobic capacity, so that you can do more with less energy. Yesterday I walked 8 miles in Richmond Park at just under four miles an hour while occasionally reciting the Lord's Prayer to check I was keeping within the limits. I did occasionally get a bit breathy around the trespasses, so I probably was pushing it a bit. 

I've done two walks of 18 miles at this pace, along disused railway lines, so I'm fairly sure I can do 26 at a normal pace, but I do have to keep this training schedule up. Holidays and Friday night drinking can skew things quite badly ... 

Please share my fundraising page if you haven't already, and we'll see if we can't reach that new target ....

Launch

Sunday 12th Jul
One and a half years ago I finished my treatment at the Royal Marsden, Sutton, and my 6th three monthly check up a couple of weeks ago showed I'm still NED: No Evidence of Disease, or 'in remission' as they used to call it. Every day for five weeks apart from weekends I travelled the half an hour journey with Radio 3 Unwind to be met by the most consistently kind and caring team of people in any part of the NHS I've ever met. I am deeply indebted to them.
I'm also considerably grateful to F45 for a) making me fit enough to face the treatment without too much trouble beforehand and b) getting me fit again afterwards. Combined with my AI coach (courtesy of Googlefit) who regularly tells me how amazing I am (this is obviously what I am paying it for), I feel I'm up for the challenge of this walk. As the walk ends at the very hospital that treated me, it seems appropriate.
My cancer came out of nowhere, I had always been quietly confident that it won't happen to me, and I was exceptionally lucky to have a type of cancer which has a treatment with a routine 80% success rate. Not everyone is so lucky. It's particularly for those people that I want to be able to contribute to the work that the Marsden do.

Thank you to my Sponsors

£119

Fi & Nick

Go for it Mark, what you are doing is amazing! xx

£75

Seamus

£55

Marcio Barcala

Love you x

£50

Paul Earnshaw

Remember it’s a marathon not a sprint. Good luck

£50

Laurence

£50

Lee Goddard(empire Security)

£50

Bruno Silva And Brighton Implant Clinic

Go Mark, good luck with the Trek

£50

Trish & Chris

£50

Mark F45

Bravo Sir 👏

£50

Márcio Barcala

£35

Jaz Read

£35

Fiona (f45)

Great challenge, great cause, well done Mark!

£35

Hilary Cross

Good luck Mark!

£35

Mary Guthrie

£30

Jane Read

£26

Emma Sangster

Good luck Mark!!

£25

Jane Read

Keep going - you’ve got this!! Hope you’re not too sweaty - it’s really muggy today!

£25

David & Stu

£20

Eo

Good luck Mark!!

£20

Ana Reis Mackinnon

£20

Jim Melsom

Cracking work mate 🫡💪💪

£20

Ann Kinsman

Go for it Mark! Xx

£20

Annette Hayton

Good luck Mark

£20

Mark Ellis

£20

Anonymous

Well done, Mark!

£20

Anonymous

£20

Glau Minei

❤️

£20

Gill Higgins

All the best with your Trek Mark, such a great charity.

£20

Carey Mackenzie

Good luck Mark x

£20

Geraldine Griffiths

What a great thing to be doing! Wishing you all the best, it's such a great cause. xxx love, Geraldine

£20

Tony Baker

All the best on your Trek.

£20

Nasir Gilani

Dear Mark, wishing you all the best for this amazing cause. I pray for your continued strength, health and full recovery.

£20

Elle Zacharegka-laughland

All the best, Mark! You will smash it! xx

£20

Jenni

All the best, I have every faith you can do it!

£20

Wendy Piercy

All the best Mark. You’ve put the hard working in, so enjoy it.

£20

Guy Shennan

Go, Mark!

£15

Lisa

Well done Mark... Hope you have a nice glass of something chilled waiting for you at the end!

£15

Holly Ellis

£15

Justine Wright

You have got this Mark!!

£10

Karen Orempüller

Congratulations 🎉 I am so happy to hear all is well with you. Well done Royal Marsden 🙌🏻

£10

Colette West

£10

Trixie Ellis

£10

Justine Marcham

Good luck Mark!

£10

Ruth Chiva

A very worthy cause. Congratulations on all your efforts in training for, and in running a marathon. Not enough people show their gratitude for a wonderful NHS.

£10

Andrew Pearce

£10

David Oates

£10

Rory Sheridan

£10

Kat Thomas

Good luck! Kat and Tom (number 15)

£5

Savanha Asfeha

£5

H

£5

Alison Baker

Well done Mark for setting yourself such an adventurous challenge in aid of the hospital. Take it steady and have a lot of fun! :-) xx