True story: London marketer ditches cars, trains and planes
Could you forego cars, trains and planes throughout 2017 and still be effective in your job? London marketer Mieke Stones will. She’s already travelled through January and February entirely under her own steam, cycling, running and walking. As Marketing Communications Manager for London Sport, Mieke is used to business and marketing challenges, but her new adventure is an epic personal challenge. Now she’s looking for other Londoners to join her, in being entirely self-powered for a week in April. Could you?
Tell us about ‘Powered by Me’
“I’d been longing for a new fitness challenge. But I didn’t want to quit my job to cycle the world. And I didn’t want to save money I don’t have to climb a mountain. Instead, I set myself a different challenge which I’ve called ‘Powered by Me’. It’s a year-long adventure where I am only travelling powered by myself, wherever I need to go.
The rules are simple:
- To travel for a whole year using my body to bike, run or walk
- From 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017
- Blog, vlog and share my journey with anyone who cares
- Raise money for a different charity each month”
Why choose self-powered travel?
“I’m not getting any younger, I’m recently married and I’m saving to buy. I wanted to find something that was very challenging, but fitted into my current, daily life. Having been a cyclist in London for many years, I often found myself going 5, 6, 7 days without getting public transport. So I thought, could I do this for a whole year? It would be tough, but extremely rewarding. It would also mean I would explore things I enjoy, being outdoors, being active, fundraising and sharing my passion with others, either on, or offline. So Powered by Me was born and I started my journey on 1 January 2017.”
How’s it going?
“Tougher than I thought, but in ways I didn’t expect. The physical side hasn’t been too challenging (yet). The hardest part has been battling the elements. Being outdoors for a lot longer than I usually would, I have really struggled with the cold, wind and staying warm. It’s also been hard to active travel and blog, vlog, push donations and share on social media at the same time. But after having already done 2 months it is getting a bit easier each day. In theory, the winter months should be the hardest, so come Spring I hope to be more settled and enjoying being outdoors more. That said, I’ve only had 1 day of downpours, so know I have a lot more rain to come – it is Britain after all!”
What are the stats so far?
"As of 25 February, I have travelled 890.95 km Powered by Me, mostly cycling and walking but a bit of running too. During January I raised £697 for Hand in Hand for Syria and for February, I’ve raised £507.15 for City Harvest London."
Can other people get involved?
“Yes, there are so many ways. You can donate to the charity I’m fundraising for each month. You can comment, share words of encouragement and ideas. You could even take up the Powered by Me challenge yourself for one full week, starting 3 April. If you register your interest, you’ll get to hear how you can kick-start your own active travel challenge and fundraise for a cause you care about. The way I see it, getting out there and being more active can only be a good thing. Are you with me?”
Follow Mieke’s journey
You can learn more about Mieke’s epic adventure, support her charities or get in touch to commit to a week of being self-powered yourself. She’s made it easy to make contact with all these options: