It’s been a busy week full of a variety of fun and sweaty activities! Zumba classes, a 20 mile walk in the rain, pilates, some serious cycling, Dynamic Body Work classes and some saucy moves on the dance floor!

Lucy has been inspiring us all with the amount of classes she has attended over the last two weeks and is Loving every minute! Liz and Rosemary have been walking around campus virtually every lunch time – smoke is literally billowing from their pedometers!!!

 Ellie who cycles over 14km to work and back come rain or shine (and we all know there hasn’t been much shine recently!) is currently nursing an ankle injury, so she cannot run at the moment. However, she is keeping her fingers well and truly dipped in the fitness pie by volunteering at the Hove Park run on Saturday. It’s a fantastic initiative - it’s a free, timed 5km run in Hove park which starts at 9.00am from the basketball courts every Saturday. If anyone’s interested check out:  http://is.gd/4JCNjd

Pip has been training VERY hard for her EPIC 56 mile city to coast ride (for a very worthy cause!) on Saturday! And here’s what she has to say:

I have been training hard and have regularly cycled from Hassocks, where I live, to Falmer over Ditchling Beacon. I’m really looking forward to cycling tomorrow, especially as this is a route once frequented by my grandparents before the war. They met in a cycling club and regularly cycled from London, where they lived, to Brighton. My granddad later sold their tandem to buy my granma an engagement ring. I’ll dig out a photo of them to update the blog next week, and hopefully have some snaps of me coming through the finish line!

I’ve raised £340 so far. As an example of what CARE can do with this money; £335 could provide a simple rope water pump and maintenance training for a community, to reduce time spent collecting water.

If you would like to sponsor me and help to fight poverty and injustice worldwide, It’s quick and easy via my Justgiving web page:

http://is.gd/HAvtYL

As I sat on the train (will start the cycling to work next week!) in Brighton station this morning I looked up and to my delight I saw Janet in full training once again! As the conductor blew his departing whistle Janet ran faster than the speed of sound and slipped through the closing doors right in the nick of time! Some people go to classes, but I think Janet likes to fit her exercise into the daily routine.

Several of the team were looking forward to jumping on the trampoline this lunch time, but unfortunately the coach wasn’t available. So Karen from Sports kindly set up a table-tennis table and part of the hall for some basketball action.

None of us had played either for several years. In fact, the last time I saw ping-pong it was quite an eye-opening experience in Thailand!

However, the years of no practice certainly didn’t show for Michael, who donned the paddle as if it were an extension of his own arm and skilfully smashed the ball like something out of the film The Matrix!!! We were all very impressed as he was crowned the undefeated champion of the world (… well lunch time).

Dave, Lucy and I took it in turn to shoot hoops and with each bounce and swish remembered how much we enjoyed it. We realised that even if Dave got on my shoulders and Lucy on his, we would still be a long way off a slam dunk!

It felt great to do some exercise and have so much fun at lunch; we all felt invigorated and are very keen for more of the same! I for one am looking to beat the undefeated champion..

Here is a video we took of Michael in action, we had to dub the face to maintain his anonymity: http://is.gd/RzgUyQ

Within moments of establishing the courageous team in the Admissions department, Liz who is due for retirement this year powered up the pedometer. The entire office stood in simultaneous shock and an underlying sense of pride to realise it took no less than 64 steps to get to the printer!

In the true spirit of the challenge, Janet Wilson has kindly offered to lend me a bike so I can ride to work to give me that extra fitness boost, save almost £100 a month and for a lovely ride each day before and after work.

On the way to collect the bike on the first evening we both noticed the train roll into Falmer station; being the wrong side and well out of range, we looked into each other’s eyes and saw the determination and strength of 10 hungry Bears! Faster than a Cheetah wearing go faster trainers driving a Ferrari, we ran through the station, over the bridge and rolled into the train as the door shut behind us like an elaborate James Bond scene!

The second day of the challenge and it seems as if the team are already looking slim, buff, lean and lovely! However, I did forget my glasses today!?

Inspired by the challenge and seeing a rare break in the rain clouds, Dave reports of a long bike ride he did yesterday evening. He enjoyed the peddle but was slightly traumatised by the 5! dead badgers he saw stuck to the road, but he said he won’t let that or any kind of saddle sore put him off this month!

Three of the team valiantly stepped up for the Boundary fun run/walk. Despite wearing my Dad’s 80’s shell suit for the event I opted for the stroll rather than the sweaty sprint. We were all very pleased we did! The scenery is absolutely beautiful around campus, we are so lucky to be nestled into the South Downs National Park! As well as that, we were lucky enough to hear the fascinated facts about the local wildlife and fauna along the way.

It’s been a fun and positive start to the challenge, there’s a buzz in the office and we’re raring to go!!!