4 February 2014

Last night we took that C25K and went right out of the park.  Now I don't know about you, but I was scared enough when I was running in the park, in the dark, where no one could see me.  When the trainers told us yesterday that we were leaving the park to run on the streets I kinda freaked a little.  People were out there, possibly people I know.  They might see me!!

But I pulled my big girl pants up and decided to go for it.

Me and my running friend were at the back of the pack, as usual, its where we like to be, and we were taking it easy.  We ran the first part of it in the park, then we came to the gates...it was time to GO OUTSIDE.  But we just did it, we continued chatting, then one of the trainers caught up with us and chatted for a while.  The trainers are so super encouraging, getting us to run a little further, or try a little harder.  We were going along nicely when we came to a hill.  It was a steep enough hill that I used to struggle walking it.  But I jogged it.  Right up it.  And I wasn't even wrecked when I got to the top.  The trainer had walked up it with my running buddy and when they got to the top they were all "Well look at you who ran up the hill".  I was buzzing!!!

We ran on and caught up with a friend who completed the C25K programme last time round.  She had heard, I still don't know how, that I had ran up the hill and was so excited for me.

Its great having support.  The people who are training us, and the people who went through the programme last time round are so encouraging, it just makes things a little easier.

If you are thinking about running, my advice is JUST DO IT. 

Yes it can be hard, yes you will be in pain, but take it at your own pace.

Don't go too hard, too fast or too much.

You can do it.

Cos I can do it.

And believe me, if you saw me you would appreciate that statement a whole lot more.

I am not the fittest person in the world, I am not the slimmestt person in the world.

But I try my hardest, I work at it, and I am getting there.

This isn't a race to be won quickly, its not a sprint.

This is an endurance challenge. 

I am changing my whole life.

I am becoming fitter every day.

I am running three times per week.

I will get there.

PS me and my running buddy are thinking of doing our first 5k race on 15th February.  EEEEKKKKK 

27 August 2013

I was at the gym yesterday, so what I hear you cry, sure I go frequently...well I got weighed and measured and have lost another 5lb.  I have now lost 3st and 4lbs since I joined up in January.  This is purely through going to the gym.  I haven't really changed my food habits (or my drinking) but I do work pretty hard at the gym.

Now, I am not dumb enough to think this is good enough.  I know I have a way to go.  But I wanted to enciurage any of you on a weightloss journey that slow steady steps are still steps in the right direction.

I started the gym back in January with the knowledge that the most exercise I had done since leaving school was walking from the coach to the fridge (not quite true, but not far off it).  The first time I attempted the cross trainer I did 2 minutes and thought I was going to die.  The step machine wasn't much better.  The treadmill was okay, but that was walking, slow walking!!

Now I can do an easy half hour on the treadmill at a fairly steady fast walk, on steep incline.  I haven't really been doing the stepper or the cross trainer, but I imagine I can do more than 2 minutes now.

I lift weights, I do crunches (although I still hate them) and I do spinning class.

I love spinning class.

It is hell.

It feels like my legs have turned to jelly, then that they are rock hard, then jelly again.

But it has changed my fitness level.

The first time I attempted spin I lasted 15 minutes, this was after 3 months at the gym.  And it was hard work.  But now I regularly do 3 or 4 half hour spin classes and have started doing a weekly one hour endurance spin class. 

I am going to do a 14 mile hack in the mourne mountains in September for charity.  I never could have done that before.

I still have a way to go but I am moving in the right direction.  I can do it.

And if you want to, you could as well.

Start small, but keep going!!