Amazing Woman, Kathie! Slim, Healthy, Sexy!

I have a friend, Kathie, from England whom I met through her sister in Sarasota, FL. From time to time, Kathie crosses the “pond” for visits and over the years  I have gotten to know her. What a truly remarkable woman she is.

First of all she is knock-out beautiful and now single after raising two children she has her own successful business that she built from hard work and perseverance. Plus, she has one of those outgoing personalities that has never met a stranger. Meaning, she has no problem starting conversations with people in the cafes and pubs in Sarasota. I too have no problem striking up a conversation with a stranger so we have that in common and I immediately liked Kathie.

But Kathie is a force to be reckoned with. She is a size 2 (yeah, that part is where we are vastly different) and an exercise enthusiast. She has a pretty heavy work load at her business in England and you would think she would take the opportunity to kick back when her feet hit Sarasota sand, but nooooo!  She uses the warm weather as a good excuse to participate in keeping up her exercise routine; mainly biking.  It is nothing for her to ride her bike from Palmer Ranch to Venice and back, and then try to talk someone into biking with her to the beach in the heat of the day. We (her sister and I) usually hide from her in fear she may try to talk us into a run across the Ringling Bridge.

One night we were having a few cocktails at Mattison’s on Main when she informed me that she was going to Cuba in October (2013) to participate in a 400 kilometers (250 miles) bike ride with a group called Action For Charity (AFC). I almost fell off my bar stool and spilled my Mudslide.

What is AFC? (from the website)

Action for Charity and Dream Challenges have raised millions for UK charities with exciting challenge events in the UK and around the world. With many years experience in organizing events for charities we guarantee a life-changing experience for everyone that takes part.

We have an amazing calendar of events lined up for 2014/15. Why not take on one of our hugely popular team challenge events such as Race the Sun Lake District or join the next amazing Women V Cancer challenge Cycle Africa. Alternatively join us for a once in a lifetime trek to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro or track the famous mountain gorillas of Uganda on our exciting Trek Uganda challenge. The first Women V Cancer Ride the Night challenge will also be taking place in 2014. This event is fully booked but registration for 2015 will be open in June 2014.

Join the Women V Cancer team for a stunning 400km cycle challenge across the Caribbean island of Cuba.

It will be a journey full of fun, friendship and incredible support as women of all ages and from all walks of life challenge themselves for an amazing cause. This fantastic challenge is a great opportunity to get fit, lose weight and have an experience of a life time all whilst raising significant funds to help in the fight against breast, ovarian and cervical cancers.

Funds raised by Women V Cancer will be divided equally between three important charities: Breast Cancer Care, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and Ovarian Cancer Action and used to support their valuable work.

When I regained my composure, I asked Kathie where she came up with that crazy idea? Cuba in October…400km…yikes! She said she saw it in a fitness magazine.

Kathie said she was training for 18 months by biking whenever she could fit it in her busy schedule,  about 50 miles per week, and also taking a lot of spinning classes. Her weekly schedule looks like this: get up and drink a protein shake for breakfast, walk to work along the seashore in southern England (sounds pretty), eat protein bars for lunch and snacks, and go directly to the gym after work. Rinse and repeat Monday thru Friday.

I got her to confess that she does slack off on the weekends with a little telly (TV) and chips (potato chips). Aha! She is not perfect!

Fast forward to when we meet again in Sarasota after the Cuba trip. She admitted that the adulating hills that they said on the AFC website was more like steep mountains and it was unbearably hot.  The group of women (around 72), oldest 74 and youngest 24, stayed in remote motels along the way and got up at 6:00am every morning to ride for about 70 kilometers. There was a bus that traveled with them that you could ride in if you got tired, and she said a lot of women did when the heat got to be too much. But not Kathie even though she suffered with heat exhaustion and stomach upset; she pressed on. (The entire trip took 5 days.)

The upside was the amazing beauty of the landscape and seeing the small little towns along the way. And she was able to raise $3,000 for charity.The downside was the food was not that great and it was bloody hot!

Kathie said the camaraderie  was great and there were many women who were in the ride had either cancer or was a cancer survivor who she rode side by side with. She mentioned one woman in particular that had picked up a rare parasite in the Falklands that was slowly destroying her internal organs and she rode everyday. Her name was Jill and she had already lost a lung and a kidney to the disease and unfortunately broke her wrist on the trip. Kathie says she got her inspiration to push on from women like Jill.

So, what is Kathie’s next trip? Vietnam to Cambodia possibly, Nov. 2015. If anybody wants to go, check out this link. http://www.actionforcharity.co.uk/