And so triathlon training starts

It was a lovely autumn day yesterday and I got off my bum and went for a run.

I ran for more than 5 minutes which, to be honest, I was impressed with in my current state of unfitness. It was 23 minutes running in total (with some breaks in which I stopped my watch) and a bit more time walking, covering about 2.2 miles.

Then on the way home I did something I have NEVER done before...I bought fruit to make fruit salad for breakfasts this week!!! Yeah, not so shocking but hopefully yummy. I don't think I've actually bought a melon before though - it's a brave new world people.

Anyway this was obviously far too much excitement for one morning so I went home and drunk about 3 cups of tea. After which some of my extended family turned up at my flat (including a nine year old who could "definitely" build a hula hoop tower taller than Big Ben but for engineering reasons he had to eat all the wonky hula hoops because they weren't structurally secure).

Once the family had disappeared home a friend came round a bought me a pretty candle they'd made.

And so triathlon training starts...

I'm actually going to start writing again

You may shake your head in disbelief but it's going to happen.

And here's why...I SIGNED UP FOR A TRIATHLON TODAY!

Why?! Why have I done such a thing?!

Well, I returned from South America last week (it was incredible, thanks for asking) and during a four day trek along the Inca trail to Machu picchu I remembered that I like this exercise stuff.

I really like it.

I like the feeling of leaning into the "burn" instead of resisting it, the feeling of accepting that you are out of breath and pushing harder. The feeling that your body can DO THINGS. And it can do them WELL. Grrrrr.

But I'm not going to lie, I also hate exercise. I hate the stupid burn, I hate feeling out of breath, I hate pushing harder. I can't do anything well, eurgh.

So why do I do these things to myself? I guess eventually the like of exercise wins over the hatred, and of course being able to prove the point, over and over, (mainly to myself) that I am not the fat kid any more and I am now in fact an awesome exercising machine is a huge added bonus.

Also peer pressure. Peer pressure is why I started running in the first place (I got asked to do a 10k with a friend) and is why I've just signed up to a triathlon (I got an email yesterday from a friend suggesting it).

And for the first time I'm not actually scared of training with the four friends who are doing this. I did a lot of swimming as a child, some competitively, so I feel relatively confident, even good about my abilities in the pool (stroke-wise, if not speed-wise) and the rest will take some hard work but I'll get there.

All in all, some exciting training lies ahead. And I plan to blog it all here...

Back once again with the renegade master

I've decided to start blogging again.

Why?
1. I'm 216lbs light now (oops)

2. I'm about to start the "Insanity" workout programme (scary) to achieve some of no. 3...

3. I've got an amazing South America trip and some weddings coming up and I wanna look hot hot hot

4. I'm not grabbing life by the horns (or whatever cheesy phrase you prefer) at the moment, I am mostly sitting round and moping (sometime about boys, i.e. the worst form of moping) or eating loads of chocolate icecream*

5. I have a, not fully decided, life goal of getting a working holiday visa for a year in Australia before I'm 31 and I think part of living the Australian dream is being a hot beach babe (stereotype much? I blame Home and Away and my new Australian housemate)
 
*the ice cream was worth it

So there we have it. The final reason is that it's nice to do some writing now and again that isn't science related, since my job is a 24/7 science writing extravaganza (more like 7.5 hours a day, but whatevs).