Operation hike in the dark

I am sure if you are following me  on any form of social media you won't have missed me rabbiting on about an upcoming hike Im going on. I haven't been posting about it non stop out of a pressing desire to let everyone know how active I am because if that was the reason all my previous hikes would have garnered similar social media coverage. This however is not an ordinary hike.

So the hike this coming Saturday is in Glendalough but that's not what makes it different. It will finish in the dark which I'm sure will be magical but that's not why I'm telling everyone about it. It's a hike for charity,  in aid of the Irish Heart Foundation. They have organised the guides, sent out the fundraising packs and ensured that everyone attending the event has paid their €30 to register. Then it's up to all of us taking part to fundraise at least €120 for the charity. Which is fair because obviously they organise events like this in order to raise some much needed funds and sure that's not even that much when you think about it.

This would be around when I discovered that I have a weakness I wasn't even aware of. I think the last time I participated in an event that required me to fundraise I was probably still in school and just pressured my relatives to give something my way.
Because of my lack of experience in this area,  I was not given the opportunity to realise that I am in fact deeply uncomfortable asking people for money and it didn't seem to matter that I wasn't in fact asking them to give me a few euros to fund a mini break but to give to a really good cause.

I started by bringing my sponsorship card to work and awkwardly showing it to my colleagues and then showing them where I would leave it and shuffling away .This would have been a wonderful strategy if I worked somewhere with more employees but I don't so this merely got the ball rolling. So then I set up a just giving page linked to the charity and shared it on all my social media which garnered one or two donations and the panic set in. I needed to make the minimum to attend the walk and honestly if I'd been in a position to financially,  I'd have donated the rest myself rather than contact people directly.

So that was the next step,  off I went to trawl through my social media accounts and send a load of individual messages to friends, family,  colleagues and acquaintances telling them what I was up to, including a link and then telling them no pressure if they couldn't because I didn't want to be too cheeky.

And oh the relief, it worked.  I not only hit my target but went a bit over it and I could finally relax and worry about other aspects of the walk like did I have enough snacks and layers. So yesterday I headed into town with a vague shopping list and a strong desire to clear out the Regatta store. Sadly my bank account told me to cop on to myself. So I got a torch, some thermal layers and a new hat and plenty of 'emergency' snacks so all that's left now is to get some rest and look forward to the walk.

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