Tuesday 24 March 2009

The start of the new life!

Hi blog readers, well I don't know where to start. I didn't do too well at the beginning of this week (I know its only Tuesday), I had a free day yesterday, a free day where I could have jogged or rode my bike or anything physically exhausting but I didn't, I put my hands up and say I became a couch potato again, but today, I did go jogging. Only because nagging sister was here with her usually bright and breezy smile, (Does she put more makeup on just to annoy me?!)

Its a sunny day, but so so chilly, I wasn't looking forward to this mornings jog. I put my joggers on, and my hoody, and then decided to turn on the computer, just in case I see nagging sisters name on there, she may just have a reason to not come this morning, but as soon as the darn thing booted up there she was at the door, made up, smiling, pert backside, in 'painted on' 3/4 length Lycra, figure hugging joggers! 'Come on, get your trainers on' she says and then promptly heads up the stairs to coo and huggle our little stubborn one, and she may even remember to say hi to his mum. 'Mmm, maybe she will huggle the little stubborn one so much she won't have time to take me for a jog' my sad little mind is telling me, but no such luck, 'See you later babe' she calls out to my daughter, one last squeeze of the little stubborn one and then next thing we are standing outside in the cold, me with my trusty (surely inaccurate) stopwatch.

All the way to turn around lamppost I am thinking, 'Why, why why is it so hard to keep fit when its so easy to just veg out' and 'Why, why, why can nagging sister talk so co-herently while I struggle now to even grunt or attempt to grunt an answer back to her' I really don't remember it being this hard last year. Note to self, when I reach goal fitness level DON'T STOP THE JOGGING I am wondering if nagging sisters recall is much better than mine while we jog along, because when I jogged to turn around lamppost I am on the side of the path where all the dogs seem to "drop" things, but on the way back, they still appear to be in my line of jogging. Does Nagging sister remember to very cleverly change sides with me so that I'm hurdling as well as jogging along while she just breezes along a nice clear path?!! We finally reach turnaround lamppost and I am willing it to acutually run to me, oh turnaround lamppost why do you mock me so much!. Touch down! holding on tight now, not daring to let go, try to stretch as nagging sister does but I know I just look as if I am about to collapse. 'Does she need a lift home?' I hear from a concerned looking driver as she stops by turnaround lamppost, 'No don't tempt her' calls back nagging sister, all I could do was stare and try talking to the kindly lady driver through telepathy to come back and take me to hospital for some oxygen, but alas she drives off with a chuckle. Ok 15 seconds rest, and nagging sister starts her relentless nagging to LET GO OF THE LAMPPOST NOW! and we head off homeward bound.

We get home, feet clear of dogs doings but with me looking and sounding like a complete mess, and nagging sister looking....hang about.......I'm not so sure........is that a slight heaving of the chest, maybe just slightly out of breath,.....mmmmm It could well be, mind you she is a great Auntie now! Ha ha ha I am sorry, did you want to know what the time was........well it was 17:29.31 seconds

Friday 20 March 2009

A New Life.

A very apt title for this weeks blog, even if i say so myself. You see when I explain to you why I didn't write last week then you will understand. It has two meanings, today's title, as I'm sure you will agree.

On Monday 9th March, this old girls daughter was busing herself making way for her baby to be born. All day Monday this old girls little baby was having a baby of her own!! Daughters little tiny one however, was quite happy to stay exactly where he was, no matter how much mother nature was telling him come out! Still the next day, Tuesday, he was still refusing to come out, causing his poor mum to resort to having pain killing drugs going form gas and aire, to pethidine right down to an epidural, the very thing that my little poppet didn't want to have. Still he refused to budge from his nice safe place, still he just snuggled up to his mum, from the inside, and refused to come out. In the end the doctors decided the only way this little fella was coming out was to literally pull him out, so an emergency Cesarean was planned, and out he come, still causing the nurses to say, as they struggled to get him out, 'He's a stubborn one!'

Well as you can imagine, that week was just full of hospital visits, catching up on sleep (I did stay at the hospital with my daughter on Monday night) and making sure everything was ready for when they both came home from the hospital.

Well that was one new life, a most precious thing in the whole world, and an absolute privilege to be a part of, now, for the second 'new life'. I have a beautiful grandson now, and I want to be around running after him, and being able to catch him for a long long time. With this in mind I decided to really try and put my heart and sole back into my fitness regime. So much so, that I even rang nagging sister to check that she will come and bully.......ooops.......encourage me to jog to the infernal turnaround lamppost and back. Yes, I, the old girl, rang nagging sister to remind her to come jogging.

Once again with the trackie b's (its a cool way of saying tracksuit bottoms, I'm getting down with this kids speak!) and set off on the jog. Its a pleasant day, sunshine, chatting away to nagging sister, until I get to the path. Wow, turnaround lamppost seems to be a long way off all of a sudden, maybe, I wasn't quite recovered from the lack of sleep and extra worry from the previous week, but I pushed my self because I thought of our dear little stubborn one, and I just know, later on he won't be slowing down to wait for his nanny! I pushed my self harder all the time, listening now to nagging sister, rather than trying to have a conversation, and looking forward to putting turnaround lamppost at my back and not in front of me. The new stopwatch I have quickly ticking away my precious seconds, I'm wondering it this thing is calibrated properly, it seems to be going so fast! Turnaround lamppost At last! Rest here for a few minutes, catch breath, and listen to nagging sister say, 'come on, you didn't take this long last time.' Can I muster up a glare..............no......... just a pathetic, 'Help me' look, which was quickly dismissed by nagging sister with a 'Come on old girl, you did so much better last week'

I look at the stopwatch and through my breathlessness, I had to agree, because it said so on those numbers, shining back up at me, taunting me, mocking me, ooooo I hate that stopwatch. I press the button to start of the timing again and to my horror I realised that I pressed the reset button instead!!! Oh no, how will I know if I beat my time from the previous time. No wait, hang about, this could work to my advantage (Only in my mind!) I am useless at maths, and by adding up the two times, I could quite easily come up with a number that is significantly less than last time! With this ludicrous thought on my mind, I head of homeward bound.

Of course I was slower that last week, (drat nagging sisters ability to add) but I feel better for jogging today, which is just as well, because that is all I did this week, I didn't even get to my Rosemery Conley session this week, I expect people will stop visiting soon, and midwives will stop turning up whenever, and milk in my fridge will be there for next time I want a cup of tea!

But next week is another week, the little stubborn one, surely must urge me on to get fitter, if not for myself then for him! Right?!!

Monday 9 March 2009

Almost there.

Hello blog readers!

I am so pleased to tell you that I actually got of my (increasing) backside last week (Tuesday 3rd March) and actually did some form or exercise!

Its all down to nagging sister of course, it was her phone call Tuesday morning saying 'Hope you got your jogger bottoms on, because I shall be there shortly' I just could not think of an excuse quickly enough to deter nagging sister, I stumbled, and stammered and hum and arrghh-ed but nothing, no excuses, not reasons, no bones could I break, (even though I thought that was a little too extreme)

So upstairs, (why don't I get a Stanna in this house) looking for my jogging bottoms, all the time muttering under my breath all the excuses now that came flooding in to my head. Why can you never think of these things when you want them.


Nagging sister knocking on the door, it seems in double quick time, surely she must have broke the speed limit to get here. There she is, oh yes.....looking lovely as ever, the mascara, the eyeshadow, the blush and the lippy, How? Why? Does she not sweat this ........person standing in front of me 'Have you warmed up today'
'NO!' I says at her,'I wasn't even planning of doing jogging, the only thing I had planned to day is what I do after jogging,.....sitting down!'

Outside in the brisk air, thank goodness the sun is shining, at least it puts me in the right frame of mind, and we start off gently, ever so gently up to turn around lamppost. I had already told nagging sister that I probably couldn't even dream of doing the two mile jog straight off, not after all the time in the space ship.....ok....acting as couch potato for the family, Apparently every family has one and it was my turn on the couch! Actually, this is too bad, nagging sister and I are conversing, the sun is shining, I don't know what the fuss was all about, but still, turn around lamppost and back again, just to break us in again.

The path to our goal post is still littered with unscrupulous dog owners dogs doing, yes I still blame those pesky dog owners for not cleaning up after their beloved pets, after all where would the dogs keep the poop bags?!! A question I don't suppose many of you have asked your selves. Nagging sister still chatting away, I on the other hand have decided that I would listen, as listening was so much easier that talking and jogging, with an occasional grunt in the right place. Turn around lamppost in sight, and no pain as yet. I thinking we did pretty good for the split time, but when I checked my stopwatch we were two minuets more than I expected!!! Maybe I could make up for it on the way back. A ten second break and then hit the poop covered path for the jog back home, and that wonderful, cool, inviting couch at my house.

When we were half way back home the pain kicked in, the sweat poured out and my breath was some way back towards turn around lamppost. 'Come on don't walk now, we're nearly home' says nagging sister, looking like ......ggrrrr..... you all know the drill by now, I can't even write it anymore, 'Come on you can do this, you did last year' Oh how I remember last year, yes I did it, yes I could jog along for two miles, BUT I HAD TRAINED FOR MONTHS TO DO THAT, NAGGING SISTER! The thought of sprinting along the last ten feet was filling me with dread, let along for the last two hundred feet. But nagging sister I know would insist that is what is going to happen.

Here is torture point, at last my couch is just a minute away, deep breath, head down 'Oh you're jogging again' I hear those sweet sweet words cutting through my thoughts' 'Yes, yes I am' I say to my mother in law, as she tends to her garden what was really going in my head was 'Yes, yes I can stop and have a rest' Just a quick stop, a few more sentences and the pain, which I was trying to ignore, subsides and I say a grateful cheerio and look to hit the torture point with renewed vigour.

Head down, deep breaths, now run, run run run, in front of nagging sister now, maybe she didn't think I could do it, ha, run run run, still in front of nagging sister, my house looking ever so lovely, filling up my view, then nagging sister comes past, 'Come on old girl, all the way to the end' whizzing past me heading for MY house, MY lovely cool inviting couch. No!! I start to dwindle now, looking only at nagging sister, leaning up against my door, oh no, not in an exhausting, going to collapse any second type of leaning, but a oh my goodness look at the pitiful site heading towards me, type of leaning. In through the back door, I don't have enough energy to lift up my key to ope the front door and head straight for for sofa. 17 mins 49 seconds, That is only just fast than the very first time I reached turnaround lamppost this time last year!!! All that hard work, where did it all go.

But that was not the only day that I did excise's, oh no, I'm thinking I'm on a roll here and Thursday evening, up at my local church, along with the DVD or Rosemery Conly and her gang I was there with my gang, Ok, again this week it was just the two of us, but we were there, we were keeping up with Rosemery and we even chatted, just for a while. Again the sweat was coming out of the top of my head, into my eyes, at least then I couldn't see Roses, smiley, perfect makeup, nagging sister type face staring at me through the screen. But half an hour or the fat burning workout, and the GI toning section does seem to create a lot of moisture to pour down my face, could this really be doing me good.

The incentive to do well that evening was some rather big delicious looking strawberries that were waiting for us in the kitchen, mmmm, I suppose its so much better that reaching for the biscuits.

So Blog readers, its now Monday and instead of jogging today I wrote this, but at least you can all see that I have started again, and you never know, nagging sister will drag me out of my house again tomorrow morning.