Iron Nikki : Adventures and Endurance: An introduction to suffering.

Suffering
The state of undergoing pain, distress or hardship.

In case you don't already know me, I'm Nikki. I'm 26, and work as a doctor in Sheffield. In simple terms I am a climber and a triathlete, or maybe a triathlete and a climber (I used to eat, sleep, climb until I lost my leading head so started doing triathlon to fill in the gaps! Thankfully I'm increasingly getting back into climbing.)

As you may know, I'm no stranger of suffering, having done my first ironman last year. I think it would be fair to say I like a bit of suffering (type 2 fun and all that). It's good for the soul!

So why a year of suffering? And what will that entail?

Last year my Dad had an aggressive type of testicular cancer which had spread to his lymph nodes (retroperitoneal for any medics reading this). Thankfully, after surgery and a tough few months of chemotherapy, Dad was given the all clear. What a relief!!

Male cancer (testicular, penile & prostate) has a really low profile compared to female cancers such as breast cancer. I think it would be fair to say women are good at checking their boobs regularly. Campaigns such as www.coppafeel.org and all the high profile work done by breast cancer research means this is never far from our minds. But how often do you hear about male cancer??

Orchid (http://www.orchid-cancer.org.uk/) is a British charity which funds research into the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of testicular, penile and prostate cancers and promotes awareness about the disease. If caught early testicular cancer has a very good prognosis; often just an orchidectomy (removal of testicle) is curative. I'm fundraising for Orchid to help other men who might find themselves in a similar position to my Dad.

I'm not too sure how the year of suffering came about. It started with me signing up to run another ironman triathlon (sorry Tom; I know I promised not to...). Of maybe it started with me climbing Mount Kenya in January. Although Kenya didn't involve too much suffering, except for the 35 kilo bags we carried up the mountain... Anyway, my Dad got his all clear in late January, and I decided I wanted to do something for Orchid. Unfortunately what started as an ironman has become a serious of progressively more ridiculous challenges.

What I've signed up to:

1) The Island Race; 1st March 2015; DONE
2) Paris Marathon; 12th April; DONE
3) Slateman Triathlon; 17th April; DONE
4) Climb the Old Man of Hoy; May bank holiday (a.k.a stack fest)
5) Bike Land's End to John O Groats; early June
6) Cotswold 226 Ironman triathlon; July 12th
7) Climb the Matterhorn; late July
8) Inch by Inch swim run race; Sept 5th
9) long distance swim; date TBC; autumn
10) Everesting Froggatt hill climb; date TBC; possible late June, or in August.

Normally I hate asking people for money. I suffer for my own good after all! But this seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I'm hoping to raise £2000 for Orchid. If you can afford to, I would be so grateful of any sponsorship, however little (or large!).

You can sponsor me online at www.virginmoneygiving.com/nikkisommers
THANK YOU!!

I'll be posting updates as the year goes on, including retrospective reports from my first 3 challenges when I get round to it.

Until then, I'll finish with a few pictures to inspire you!