What have I let myself in for?
I am one of these crazy journalists taking part in the Acer 'Three Peaks in Three Days' challenge
Today I received a press release from Acer informing me that it had launched its 'Three Peaks in Three Days' charity challenge.
Taking part in July, a group of 24 Acer peeps and UK journalists (gulp) will be scaling the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales to raise money for Mountain Rescue services in each region.
For a split second I found myself thinking they must all be mad, until my brain kicked in and I remembered that I am actually one of the journalists taking part. God what have I done?
So in 72 hours, I (hopefully) will have climed Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowden - equating to a total climb of 3,047 metres and travelling 470 miles between the different peaks.
I am currently visiting my local gym as often as I can (often at 6 in the morning) and going out jogging every Sunday - so far I'm up to four miles - I might push the boat out and go for six miles this weekend. So I am definitely in training.
We are being given Acer smartphones to record our misery (I mean, adventure) and encourage as many people to sponsor us as possible - Justgiving link to come later - and SIM cards have been provided by BT Business to keep us all connected.
I made the mistake of looking at each of the mountains the other day - maybe I shouldn't have done that!
Acer's Linda Hassall, marketing director at the vendor, said: "Acer and its products are all about performance and exploration which is why we have all teamed up to conquer the highest mountains on mainland UK - and raise valuable funds for the Mountain Rescue teams."
And to explain why funds are so vitally necessary, over to Mike France, national fundraising chairman of Mountain Rescue England and Wales: "We're possibly the only national, truly voluntary organisation in the country," he said.
"We have 3,500 highly trained volunteers on call and able to respond immediately 24 hours a days, 365 days a year - whatever the weather. Mountain Rescue services are provided free of charge for both the ‘rescued' and any organisation requesting our assistance. We do rely on charitable fundraising and donations and are delighted that Acer and its journalist team have selected us as the charity they are fundraising for. We hope everyone will support the team with donations."
Wish me luck!