the sight of the day

[fpb]

This morning I have gone running for the first time in twenty years. It has not, of course, been very easy. I had set myself a none-too-challenging route - one lap around the tiny park near my home - but I ended up walking for much of the way, with occasional spurts. However, the worst part of it was simply that I felt ridiculous, fat as I am, in a tracksuit and running shoes. I hope I have the nerve to do it again tomorrow... and the day after... and the day after that...

Comments

[jennilee.livejournal.com]

That's great! You may feel ridiculous at first, but the feeling you get after exercise makes up for it. You feel accomplished and strangely happy. I hope you keep it up. :)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Uh... well, I am thinking about it.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

Hey, well done! Keep at it, it gets easier every time. You'll be surprised how quick your fitness improves. If you're embarrassed about it, go running when it's dark - that's what I used to do. Not that I was ever fat-unfit, just sickly-skinny-puffed-out-after-five-metres unfit. The sight of my pointy elbows waving around must've been worth a few laughs. Hah, knowing my current level of activity - and my diet of soup and jelly - I'll be back to that state by the end of the week...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

PM, Jennilee, you are two sweet ladies, but perhaps you are a bit young. I am as old as you two put together, at an age when nerve and sinew start getting creaky. I am also large enough to make three of you. Now when I was your age I did go running - 10K every evening, at the best period - and I did get that sense of achievement Jennilee mentions; now, however, I do not know whether I have the elasticity and resilience any more. In fact, I have started on this partly out of a sense that it was now or never again.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

I have started on this partly out of a sense that it was now or never again.

All the more reason to keep at it. And don't think all is lost - my mum started excercising when she was about your age, and she'd never been particularly fit. Now, she puts me to shame - outruns me with embarrassing ease.

[chthonya]

I'm terrible at sticking to any sort of exercise regime, so I try to incorporate it into my life by cycling to work and walking up stairs (no choice in the latter, living as I do in a third-floor tenement flat).

My ex-neighbour, on the other hand, was considerably more disciplined than me and did a lot of running. And got a lot of abuse hurled at her (how dare a woman who isn't young and thin expose herself in such a way?) And it really pissed her off, but she kept at it and has run a couple of marathons - slowly, but she finished and felt fantastic for it (a few days later!)

There's no reason why exercise should be restricted to those who don't need it. :) Good luck with getting back into it - keep us posted with how it goes, won't you?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Is it only my impression that you keep peculiar hours? Not that I keep records, but I am pretty sure that this is at least the second or third response from you I got which came in at two o'clock in the morning or thereabouts. Just curious...

[chthonya]

You likewise, I think! :)

I do have a bad habit of staying up past my bedtime (though sometimes it's because I know I can sleep in the next day), but it's something I'm trying to regularise.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Me... just insomnia, from time to time.