Blog 8: Wet Hare

“Wet Hare”

Finally, a short blog!  This last week has been getting used to new commutes, new jobs and not really getting myself to that “next level” of moving even more with the goal of some weight coming off! 

Monday was a very welcome day off (apart from the escalator game) followed by 4 mornings of jogging, 2 of which were further that I had been before (not under race conditions!!).  As I said to someone, “I got all the way to Hammersmith Bridge and back” (with the odd stop here and there).  What I didn’t mention is where I started from?!!  I will own up though, that jog is just under the 3 mile / 5k mark so am actually going to stick with that distance for next few weeks but just try and improve my stamina / time.  As soon as I start thinking of going any further I can’t breath and my mind goes into overdrive and breakdown mode simultaneously!!    Did someone mention marathon last week???

So the escalator game – the game of “if I go as fast as I can, how many steps can I take to get to the top of the escalator?”   So far, the count has gone from 41 to 51 this week so still room for improvement there too…..however, this game is made a bit tougher due to the simple fact that this is not all about me,  I do in fact have to share the escalators with my fellow commuters (fc’s).   As for encouragement, I’m on my own on this one, my fc’s……wow do they give you some funny looks as you power pass them.  I didn’t think I was making any pained grunting noises or pulling  any gritted teeth expressions or had my tongue hanging out in concentration and sheer determination but maybe I’d better just double check that next week!! 

Saturday was Parkfit and it was boxing again….my heart sank remembering my first ever session (and first day of Moving More) as I nearly passed out the last time.  But it was OK.  It was wetter and colder than last time so maybe that helped.  Weather conditions stated, we all managed to get our corner under cover and all was great, until we had to do the boxing stomach crunches followed by a quick jump up to do some star jump squat type things at which stage my leggings decided to make an attempt at falling down….not totally but it is nigh on impossible to pull them back up with boxing gloves on….serious…you give it a go?!!!  It took me back to being a child and the birthday party favourite, the chocolate game.   You would throw the dice and if you got a 6 you had to scrabble to put a hat, gloves and scarf on, grab a knife and fork and try to cut a chunk of chocolate off the bar and eat it before the next person threw a 6……”6”…..quick, drop the chocolate, shed the hat, gloves, scarf, next person hat on over eyes, scarf too tight, gloves on wrong hands, can’t grip cutlery……”6”…..  You did on occasion get a decent sitting with the chocolate bar!  

You’ll be pleased to know everything remained covered during Parkfit on this occasion.

I did a lovely 5 ½ mile walk with the dog in the afternoon and now here I am on Sunday (afternoon).  Sitting in my pyjamas watching a cookery programme and surrounded by cookery books planning my Dine for Macmillan menu for 11^th May……well, it was too wet for cardio tennis and now I’ve immersed myself with thoughts of food, am struggling to make a plan for moving more today.  I take my hat off to all you swimmers out there as the thought of having to get changed in a cold tiled cavernous room followed by jumping into the water….and then having to change again after…..it just puts me off.  The actual swimming would be fine….hmmm, maybe I’d better not think and just go do….thinking is how we end up not doing anything.

Meanwhile, well done to everyone that is moving more, it’s not easy with the weather so gloomy but I do hope it gives you feel a real sense of achievement.  Stick with it…..I can’t say it gets easier but it does lift the spirits.

PS.  Just back from ½ hour swim….hence the “wet hare” picture J

Posted 29^th April

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Blog 7: The Escalator Game

Harrods does sports (a very chilled window display; if only that were true of my Move More journey!)

A very poor start to the week but it does improve so please stick with me on this one!  Monday was travelling back from France followed by Tuesday being a day of unpacking, washing, packing again and getting to London where my new base is during the week for my new job.  The speed at which I achieved the turn-around surely must count for something ?  And I did do a lovely walk in Richmond Park with mum in the afternoon with the dogs and had to lean into the winds and push ourselves hard to get forward momentum head on into the driving rain!

Wednesday:  This is it, new girl today so a bit nervous and also worried about my timings for a new routine.  Alarm goes off at 6am….SNOOZE….well, I can always lessen my run (note I haven’t got the mind frame of just running faster to cover the same distance yet!!).  However, I amazed myself, Bubbles and I wiggled through the streets, coming out onto the Thames Path and had a lovely jog but still no time to dawdle…..managed close to 3 miles and dodged the rain clouds…today is going to be a good day!

So I arrive at my new work (at a school) and unbeknown to me it was an “inset” day – nothing like being overdressed but amazingly, I had also put some socks on with no holes in them.  Why on earth should that matter I hear you say….well, after the initial staff meeting, it was everyone to the Assembly Hall for an hour’s dance lesson – the jive and the waltz.  It proved the fact that I have no co-ordination but at least I could take my heels off so I didn’t break my ankle too (breaking the shredder was enough for one day!!).

Thursday:  Up early again and the same jog, and again OK and again managed to dodge the rain clouds.  I even managed a lively leap onto the tube en route to work without having any body parts or clothes / bags the wrong side of the door to me?!  I am sure my commuting enthusiasm is just a passing phase! 

Friday:  A mind battlefield.  I just didn’t like jogging….but I still did it.  And then my commute to work.  I see a bit of a daily challenge unfolding in front of me…the escalator….!  Now I could just do it in two steps – one on, one off – however, I didn’t so now I can’t ever!  Well they say it only takes 24 hours to form a habit but a lifetime to break it?!   So, I have no idea how many steps I can do the escalator in as obviously the faster I go the more steps I do but is there a limit?!  46 is the current count (following a 30 and a 42) so I will need to keep putting this one to the test?!!  Oh and I am talking going UP the escalator, I am not counting the down…although still good, that would be cheating?!

Saturday:  A return to Parkfit which is great – it really gets me motivated which I need.  I arrived a bit early to walk Bubbles first and whilst waiting for everyone to arrive I got thinking…never a good thing!  I have found it tough the last few weeks but I think it’s partly a bit of boredom as it’s all getting too much of a routine but also, whilst I am achieving “moving more”, I am not achieving my second goal of losing weight.  If I wasn’t wanting to lose weight then I’d be giving myself a pat on the back right now, however I need to now take this to the next level, not only for me but also for you.  It is actually a lot tougher than I thought writing a blog for all to see and to hopefully motivate you into being more active – if I get bored then the blog gets boring and then it fizzles out all round.  So now I’m scared again….scared?   Nervous….no….apprehensive….yes…can I do it?  Can I get to the next level of pushing myself? 

No more time to think, everyone has arrived and an hour of full on sprinting, boxing, press-ups, rowing squats etc., etc..  And then my mouth gets going again….it really is a dangerous habit this talking malarkey…..I get chatting to a lovely lady who has been doing Parkfit for a while and it has been a real lifeline to her, getting her active and feeling generally great about herself.  She went from “couch to 5K” and is now aiming for a 10K in July and a half marathon next year…so I then hear myself saying (out loud) “Oh, that would be good, I might match your plan”…..and before I know it, she has my number and we are pal’ing up and going to get out there and do this…..WHY do I open my mouth?!!!  Seriously though, it will be great to have a buddy as I am proving that I am hopeless at exercising alone….it really is a mind game with me as physically, I am currently able to do it (although it does hurt sometimes)….so a pal means no giving up without good reason.

Sunday :  Cardio Tennis.  I love it and it definitely is a good workout.  I was a bit worried to begin with as only 3 of us so that would mean much faster running to get the ball the other end but then more arrived and we were 9 in total….phew.  Did I say phew? Wrong!  Not phew, it tough but it helps that I love the cardio tennis so I can handle it without too much fuss!

Off to London straight after tennis to support a friend doing the London Marathon and it certainly gets your blood racing and thoughts flowing…..should I do another one?!  Well, I vowed never again…..but isn’t the saying “never say never”?!  We’ll see, a year until the next one!  But I was so impressed by all the runners and supporters, an amazing atmosphere and so many charities represented, well done everyone.  Right, enough of me…I am revving up for a day off tomorrow – and then I’ll see what the week brings.  Keep moving everyone.  

Blog 6: Faire le jogging

Fishing on the River Dive, Moncontour, France

Tuesday:  I struggled a bit to begin with and my husband was running with me but he has so much more energy and just looks as if he can go so much faster which actually puts me off….so I sent him and the dog off and just plodded along on my own merry way……and the run that I thought was only 3k is actually 2.86 miles (work that one out if you can?!) and managed 32 minutes so I need to keep that as a goal and keep trying to improve so if I ever find myself at the start of a race line again, hopefully the sense of “an event” will see me beating my PB.

How do I know how far I have gone?  I have a thing on my phone that tracks it all for me, gives me a map of where I’ve been, how fast and how many calories burned.  The first time I used it I was amazed, I had gone 9.6 miles in 40 minutes and burnt 1689 calories…hmmm….I don’t suppose it counts if I forget to stop it and drive off with it still tracking my moves?!! 

Wednesday:  I set off first thinking this would be a good idea.  Firstly, Ludo always takes forever getting ready and I just get more and more fidgety waiting and secondly, so that I wouldn’t feel like I was holding him back – brilliant?  Not.  I kept looking behind me to see if he was catching me up and almost using it as an excuse to slow down but worse than that, it is a fairly rural part of France we are in so the paths are fairly untrodden, especially at 8.30am…..this means that the narrow paths through the woods were strewn with spider webs just waiting for me to run into them (and leave the path behind me clear for the next person!)…..I had one strand that I couldn’t not get off me so everything had a slight rainbow / sparkle to it which would have been fun had I not been so worried about the whereabouts of the spider whose home I’d just wrecked!  I made it home unscathed and alone – Ludo had overtaken me before I’d even got half way!

Thursday:  I was still unsure if the “Chasse” or the hunt was still happening and having nearly got myself and the dog shot last September, I now know full well not to go walking on Thursday’s and Sunday’s so until I found out from the locals if it was still the season, Davina it was.  She made it all the way over to France with me and then I go and have another issue with the DVD remote control but not just the batteries….no remote at all!  So a day off for me…but I had had good intentions!   Later on I find out the Chasse is over and fishing is here.

Friday was also a day off and Saturday was an OK jog, just the same loop as always and no spiders or other animals jumping out at me so fairly uneventful I am sorry to report.

Sunday and last day of holiday, we explored a bit further afield from our village and walked for almost 6 miles through the yellow rape fields that lead into tumbling down French villages with very little life about them except for the barks of the dogs and cockerels cockerelling and the occasional French word drifting past on the breeze – all in all a very relaxing week.

Next week I feel I have to make up for the week just gone but it will be a mixed bag again with travelling and then preparing for a new job and getting used to a totally new commute / routine with the dog as she can no longer come into the office with me….but I am sure I will manage to keep moving and will let you know how it’s going later in the week!

Posted 15^th April

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Blog 5: I did't finish last

Black Park 5k ParkRun, Saturday 7^th April, 2012

Time:  32.02 minutes

I can’t have been putting that much effort in as I still time to wave?!  Thank you to the photographer George Mardall who has let me use this picture (and well done to the lady next to me who completed a half marathon the week before in aid of charity and to the girl in front who had a stitch and to the other two ladies on completing their first ParkRun and for not being sick / legs giving way from that last bit of effort at the end?!!).  Back to that later, got to get through Friday first.

Friday:   ParkFit.  Easter Special.  Now I grew up believing that if something was “special” then it meant a treat or something nice.  WRONG!  It meant even more hard work at ParkFit and made worse by the appearance of an Easter Egg….how could it be worse I hear you cry?  Well, it was not a gorgeously enticing velvety chocolatey one….it was hard, cold, plastic and everytime it was put down on the ground in front of your team, stop what you are doing…and burpees (not burping!), which are meant to be a light footed jump down into a squat followed by an effortless leap into the air to a star jump.   I got myself into a sumo wrestler type squat followed by something that seemed to resemble one of those ghecko’s that live in the desert and on the wildlife documentaries you see them lifting their left front paw and back right at the same time to cool down followed by the alternate paws in a quick dance like succession.  I couldn’t even get that dance like bit right! 

Oh and then there’s the bit where you have to squat down whilst your partner swings their leg over your head and once you see the foot land on the floor, your turn to jump up and “leg over”.  I did tell my partner I would forgive him if he kicked me in the head as soon as I had regained consciousness  in the hope he would offer me the same grace….luckily we never put it to the test!

I wouldn’t say I found it easier than the first session but I do think I survived it better?!  I won’t get carried away and say that maybe I am actually getting a bit fitter, it’s probably a case of “must try harder”….andI thought when my school days were over I’d never hear those words again?!!

In the afternoon I went out for a leisurely walk with the dog but kept finding a new turn which was very exciting.  Some 6.46 miles later….home!

Saturday:  ParkRun.  My knees were trembling from nerves and legs like jelly as I walked to the start line – everyone had the right kit….looked like real pros, what on earth am I doing here….well, too late, I am here (pat on the back for that one) and hey, someone has to finish last…?!!  And I had Bubbles with me.  The main reason for bringing her was to ensure that if I did finish last then at least I wouldn’t be alone?!!  She was a complete star.

I can confirm that “races” are not very sociable events.  Why?  Well if you are me, and can’t run and talk at the same time without the chat bringing your brain back into engage mode, and therefore the truth of what you are actually doing kicks in, it is something like this:  I am running race, I have ages to go, do I hurt?  Can I breathe?  Do I need to stop?  But why do I need to stop, I don’t hurt, do I, can I breathe, I can when I don’t talk, am I breathing….am I there yet?  You get the idea, so silence is the most sensible option, however, I am obviously not sensible having entered into the race in the first place but also I really struggle to keep quiet for any length of time!  Apparently, one day when very young, I was so busy chatting away that when I fell off my chair I just continued chatting away from under the table?!

And I didn’t finish last.  In fact I got a bit carried away which is really stupid as this was the only run I could have taken easy as I had no personal best to beat, and now the pressure will be on for any future events to beat a fairly OK time!  That’s no excuse not to enter though.  I had never heard of ParkRun before but they take place all over the UK, they are run every Saturday by volunteers and are free to enter.  You get all ages, sizes, fitness levels (sprinters, runners, joggers, wagers, walkers!), with dogs, with prams…didn’t see a zimmer frame but I wouldn’t be surprised……if there is one near you, it really is a fun thing to do as a challenge to yourself…..tempted….?!   

Sunday:   A day off for travelling to France and wondering if exercise in France is any different than in the UK?! 

Monday:  Of course it’s no different, there just seem to be more flies to breath in whilst jogging?!  But there is still that feeling when you have got out there and achieved whatever it is that you set out to do….and that really is a lift to your confidence?  Self esteem?  Well, that seems to be different  every time depending on your mind frame but I think I am beginning to enjoy getting out there and doing things…..beginning being the key word here, it is still one step at a time.

I think the rest of the week will just hold jogging, table tennis and if the sun comes out, tennis……if I can make myself understood by the “keeper of the key” to let me onto the court?!  Vive la France!

Posted 9^th April

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Blog 4: Spotty Dogs

Avon Valley Footpath sign on Wednesday evening

A week on and I expected to see and feel a difference…hmmm patience was never my strong point.  I actually think I have put a few pounds on but that must be those rippling muscles that are now coming to the fore???  Oh, right, sorry….reality….

What a lovely day off Friday was and I relaxed into it so much that I broke my nothing but red wine “diet” and cracked open a bottle of fizz with a friend of mine in the evening, bliss and a great idea until Saturday morning came around.  At least I was away as ParkFit would have seen me off totally….so double lengths for me in the pool?  When it really came down to it, I couldn’t face it, I think I see swimming as a first thing in the morning activity. 

But I had to do something so out came the duster and Davina made it out of the DVD case and into the machine….now, I bought the machine recently and it’s one of those £10 DVD’s from the supermarket that on the actual machine you can only turn it on/off, play and eject….so I grabbed the controls and they wouldn’t work .  I could manually play the introduction but I couldn’t then highlight the workouts…oh dear, what a shame?!  But no, after I had listened to the intro 4 times, I actually went to the supermarket to buy some batteries for the remote control so that I could do the workout – it was OK, certainly built up a sweat, however, I was doing a totally different workout to Davina. 

The “spotty dogs” and “grapevines” are not things I thought were exercise moves. And as for moving your arms as well as doing something with your feet crossing over behind, in front, together, not together (yup, I’m lost again too), well, game over (and nearly fell over!).

Sunday:   Cardio tennis.  I really enjoyed this and the best part is that I am joining the tennis club and during cardio tennis, you are hitting balls on the run so some shots were a bit wild.  HOWEVER, my tennis without having to hit the ball on the run is pretty similar but so far, I have disguised this fact….hmmm, wonder how long I will be welcome as a new member?! 

Monday:  Mind over matter with my last 5am start as no more commute after this week, exhausted after work (just from a busy day, no other reason) and my “evening beach” no longer allows dogs on it…summer is here…?  Or was last week it?!  I get home, unpack my bags for the week and then manage to get changed into my wagging things (for those that have missed previous blogs, I do a mixture of walking and jogging so can only describe it as wagging!) and set off across the fields and was doing well….until I saw a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen for ages so walked with her…but I did get going again after which I think was a good effort.  Last week, doing what I have just described would have felt like failing but it didn’t feel like that this week.  Seeing all your comments on both my blog and Julia’s….you are all of course right and you need to listen to your body and only do what you can do.

Tuesday:  Problem….still knackered but put that down to having to get lots of “lists” sorted for leaving work, getting ready for a week or so in France, leaving my rented  house, etc., so will do the same jog as last night and in the nicest possible way, hope not to bump into anyone I know or just be strong and say…got to keep going?!!  Oh, just had to add that eaten biscuits galore today, no reason, just did because they were there.

Evening:  A break in the clouds, sunshine….close the door, start jogging, just get to that point of no return and wham….clouds really open, not just a little bit…fully.  On I go and in fact, found it easier in horrible weather as it took my mind off what I was actually doing.  However, trainers now look very well used and that they should belong to a seasoned jogger…..hmmm, maybe my wagging days are over and I need to try and take myself to the next level and jog?!  Friends – Phoebe…hmmm, maybe not?!

Last night was a fast long walk with the dog, followed by a quick hoover of the house, thorough clean of kitchen and bathroom, packing some bags and an even faster walk to the pub…well I needed wine by then!

Tonight will be driving, leaving Poole for the last time for a while but tomorrow, ParkFit has an Easter session so that will make up for my last few slightly more relaxed couple of days.   The weekend is then more driving and providing my computer is set up correctly then blogging from France next week….I am wondering how good Google translate is and if sitting relaxing in the garden translates as exercising loads…?!!  JOKING….my running things are out and ready to go as well as our tennis rackets and walking shoes.  A bientôt mes amis….and keep moving! xxx

Posted 5^th April

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Blog 3: 10 Heads, 38 Legs?

Blog 3:

I promise my blogs will get shorter but just whilst I discover all these activities I am afraid I feel the need to share!!  As for checking with doctors how little I can get away with, sadly (taken in the right context of course) I feel absolutely fine and no obvious symptoms so I have no excuses at all.  Was with the oncologist Thursday morning as more lumps appearing but is “to be expected” apparently, so back to carrying on “as normal”!  In October treatment did move from maybe never to within 3 years so things are happening in my body but none to stop me keeping going right now (or ever for that matter!!).

Monday night:  Jogging.  I survived.  Can I call it jogging?  Not really….what would be a jog/walk – jalking?  Wagging?   

Ouch?  Not really.  It was actually OK.  Well, it had morphed into a monster with 10 heads and 38 legs in my mind so it was never going to be that bad.  It was also the first time I had run with headphones on which definitely made it easier.  Not sure if that’s because I couldn’t hear myself think or I was just concentrating too hard on not singing out loud!  Now that would have been a treat for my fellow beach users.

How did it make me feel?  I actually felt quite proud of myself.  Not because of the activity itself, just the fact that I got out there and did it / achieved what I set out to do.  The Macmillan Move More diary does have a bit you are meant to fill in each day saying what activity you are going to do when and if something gets in your way you will………?  My first answer was:  Fall over it.  Not sure where I am going with this thought but there’s a point somewhere – I’ll leave that one to you.

Housework, gardening, ironing is just as strenuous if not more so that any jalk/wag, and god forbid the outcome if you blast up a bit of music whilst you work….Freddie Mercury and a hoover spring to mind?!!  It really is the doing rather than the what.

Talking of the doing, Tuesday’s wagging was OK and passed by fairly uneventfully, Wednesday was just a fast walk as I was VERY stiff and Thursday….now that was tough and I really struggled with it…but don’t know why….this is why I still do not like jogging….I am no good at keeping myself motivated when the going gets tough (well, ish!)…BUT I didn’t have my headphones so I think that didn’t help….I did have a big push at the end though after a talk to myself with an  “I can at least do it for everyone on Mac online”.  A bit disappointed with myself really.

A lesson is that I need to find other things that fit in with work and exercising the dog that is not just jogging.  Weekends are fine as I have the time….this weekend is swimming on Saturday and I have found a Cardio-Tennis group on Sunday’s so this is me on the road back into tennis which I am very excited about.  And when I start my new job I promise I’ll find yoga type activities or other things that might inspire some of you….I am not taking any suggestions..YET!!??!

I missed today…..Friday, a day off – if you can call it that, I still have the normal ½ hour walk in the morning, 20 mins at lunch and  1 hour after work with the dog.  May need to take a leaf out of Julia’s book and run up and down some stairs.  Week 1 down already…only 11 to go – not that I’m counting or anything.   Happy weekend’s to you all.

Posted 30^th March

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Blog 2: Don't sit on the cone

Is anyone out there tickle’ish?  Do you know that feeling when you are about to be tickled and you tense up and there is that fine line in thought between pleasure or pain….believe me, it’s pain!  That’s the feeling every time I move, try to stand up, sit down….just keep working through the pain someone said…?!!

Day 1:  After all the build-up, my alarm goes off on Saturday morning and I am ready and raring to go.  ParkFit (should become a regular Saturday blog fixture for you all from mid April!).  Boxing.  An hour.  A full hour, not one of those hours that fly by barely noticed.  Stand up and box.  Plank (press up without moving).  Stand up and box.  Plank.  Sit ups and box at same time.  Sit up and box.  Now the cones….the small ones very low to the ground, not the big ones found on a Sunday morning on top of a telephone box or in someone’s hedge; run to your cone, and legs stretched out, get your chest to the cone then run back to the middle…..then the fast order…..to your cone, chest, chest, bum, chest, middle.  Cone, bum, chest, right ear, bum, chest, middle…..and you need to be careful to make sure your legs don’t fail you when you have to do “bum” or squat…..would seriously slow you down running with a cone attached to your backside?!!   

Not quite “I came, I saw, I conquered” more “I am still here”.

Sense of achievement?  Not yet….too knackered for that…but a good knackered.  Night all!

Day 2:  Didn’t exactly spring out of bed……and anxious that my legs, arms, bum and tum wouldn’t work sufficiently enough to keep me from drowning in the pool but I was determined to go swimming so off I set…..and early as I was hoping everyone else would have forgotten about the clocks going forward and I’d have the pool to myself….which I nearly did to begin with.  Eyes a bit bleary, in I jumped and off I swam taking no notice of which lane I was in.   Before I knew it, more swimmers arrived and into MY lane….and trying to “swim me over”…trust me to have picked the fast lane….quick, under the rope to escape…phew, a close call!

It was harder work than I remember it ever being and certainly gets the heart rate thumping (and that’s before the threat of death by being run over by another swimmer).  I will certainly do again but I am not sure it will be my favorite activity..…I think I get bored by myself, I do prefer the team work.  Oh, and chlorine really is a persistent smell!

Day 3:  Monday morning, work day, 5am start to do my commute to Poole, I hit the beach by about 8am and it’s beautiful….but just a fast’ish walk with the dog before getting to the office….was contemplating making Monday’s my “days off”, however, Friday’s are winning that as a bit too tricky with the evening commute and can never get myself sorted in the mornings to spend any time exercising…..SO….jogging on the beach after work it is and it will be good for my stamina!?!  I  get butterflies (why are these not called flutter-by’s?) just thinking about it…..I don’t like jogging….but hey, I need to get out there with an open mind or change of mindset, I haven’t done any jogging for a long time (because I never used to like it – how’s that?  Better?!).

Posted 26^th March

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Blog 1: Did someone say cake?

OK…. I have known about “Move More” for a few weeks now….the initial email saying a cheery “Congratulations, you’ve been picked” received my panic, grumpy response of  “oh no, really”?!  Serves me right for volunteering!  In preparation I have got myself more and more apprehensive and drunk more wine and eaten more biscuits…..why?  Not sure….but I have never been good at sticking at something for any length of time and now “move more” is public … well, in for a penny in for a pound (oh, trying to shed some of those too!)

 “Try to make your blog interesting” was a “rule” to this… that means I have to do more than just my 1 ½ hours walking each day with the dog (I would try and vary where I walked for you, different scenery and all that)?   I may finally crack open the Wii Zumba that I’ve had in a draw for a year and the Davina DVD caked in dust….mmmm, cake, did someone say cake?   Mini trampoline….I have to concentrate on that as it is so mini that if I don’t jump straight, I WILL fall off! 

Swimming?  Beached whale…..tennis….now that I enjoy but I can already feel my arms hurting as I haven’t played for so many years…I used to be very good until I made a leap for a ball only to land on a a spare ball that was lying on the ground - snap went the collar bone – amazing no sprained or broken ankle…that was another time!  Cycling, jogging….oh the list goes on…..

Yoga…now there’s a goal…..low impact and great all round for body and mind so a lot of us can do yoga whether it is before, during or after treatment or de-stressing from looking after a friend or relative.  However, balancing on one leg?  First class I did a wobble and nearly took the rest of the class with me… the domino effect.

What a lot of waffle, all for moving more, with an aim to actually enjoy the extra exercise, get fit to give myself the best chance to fight the battles ahead, to lose some weight, to sleep better, to de-stress (?) and to generally feel good about myself and what a great buddy to be doing this alongside, JuliaF.  

So, Saturday 24th, off we go to the start line......ready, steady to go….. 

NEVER GIVE UP ON A GOAL BEACAUSE OF THE TIME IT TAKES BECAUSE THE TIME WILL PASS ANYWAY (I think I got that from a diet book…..maybe this time I can talk the talk AND walk the walk?!!).

Posted 24^th March

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Why More More for Macmillan?

The long (but short) story is that I was diagnosed with cancer in April 2011 (although an offending lymph node had been visible since November 2010).  t was then I joined the Macmillan online community.

I am on "watch and wait" with non-hodgkins follicular lymphoma. They do not want to start treatment too soon as this can trigger secondary cancers and for some, treatment may never be needed. I go for 4 monthly blood tests and scans and the latest was "treatment within 3 years". In the meantime I am happily living my life as normal.

However, whilst friends, family, work were and still are a tremendous support, almost a year on I really felt the need to talk to others going through similar things, emotions, questions etc., and i

A truly amazing place where you can "chat" to amazing people either with cancer, in remission, mid treatment, awaiting diagnosis, a friend, family member or carer of someone with cancer or some who have been bereaved etc., etc.. And everyone seems so brave and strong and most importantly, positive.  But it's OK to have a bad day and let everyone know about it and the support you get is just heartbreakingly warming.  

The site has made me cry, laugh but more importantly, it's kept me sane.  Cancer seems like such a big ominous word but it doesn't always mean doom and gloom - oh and it's OK to talk about it openly, no whispers behind anyone's back please, but also, that doesn't mean cancer needs to be the only topic of conversation - that's the hardest part for many to deal with.

Sorry, you are still none the wiser for my blog title. Macmillan were looking for two community member volunteers to "move more" for 12 weeks and write a blog about it with the hope that it may also motivate others to "move more".  I volunteered.  I got picked!!  My blog gets posted on the Macmillan website as and when I send one to them but so many fellow exercisers I have met along the way have shown an interest in my blog that I needed a place to send everyone to so here I am! Over the next few days (as I learn how this blogspot works!!) I will upload the story so far and then please feel free to continue the journey with me as it unfolds!

And if it encourages anyone (this is not cancer specific!), to get out there and be more active, and just enjoy the fresh air and the feeling that exercise gives us, be it walking or something more vigorous.....great! 

ClareC x