Day 4/28 – If you can’t do it for you, do it for someone else

Me, my best friend and Billy

I’ve been on/off diets since I was 15 years old. The first diet I went on was the British Heart Foundation diet and by the end of it, I hated beetroot with a passion.

I remember losing weight but I don’t think I kept it off for too long.

One of the big (if not the biggest) goals of this 28 days challenge is to get myself eating and exercising in a healthy, sustainable manner. What I’m doing isn’t just for 28 days, it’s hopefully for life.

As with all important life matters, I go to my best friend for advice. No one else knows how to put things better to me, AND to get me to stick to my goals.

Sitting at her dining table, she got me to explain in detail why I was doing this and why I wanted it.

When I was done talking, she followed up plaining how tough it really is to shed 4kgs in a month – the woman knows I underestimate most things! – and she should know, this is a woman who looks better and sexier 20 months after giving birth. RESPECT!

Walking me through the importance of portion control (and how challenging it can be), the need for daily exercise, she reminded me that I needed to understand and accept some sacrifice would be needed – not my greatest trait.

Countering my “But I’m too busy!” plea, she gave me an easy, no reason not to solution:

“For the next 7 days, go for a 20 minute run, do some bicep/tricep curls, and crunches, and I promise you you’ll see a change. And once you do you’ll be hooked!”

I felt like I was talking to my own personal trainer.

“I’m so proud of you for doing this and I really want you to succeed BUT I don’t want you to set yourself up for failure. Please do this for the next week for me okay? I really want this so badly for you!”

How could I say no? So when I wake up groggy and not in the mood to start my day with a run, I’ll remember her words and draw strength from it.

The dry run

If I had to do this mini-tri all over again I probably would do things a little differently.

For the most part – and this is totally my fault – I’ve been navigating through this like a blind person.

I am three days from this event and i have NO idea what to eat, how to carb load or even what in the world to wear on Saturday!

And in about 30 minutes time i am going to attempt to ride home from work on a racing/road bike…. never been on one before, wish me luck!

However, i did attempt to do a dry run on Sunday. I roped in my long suffering niece Sarah to run with me, while my vacationing buddy Simei came for the swim with me.

Shiny, happy (exhausted) people

I didn’t do the full distances but I now have a rough idea of how hard it is going to be on the day itself. My legs really felt like jello going from the swim to bike, and after run (and subsequent bike home) I was laid up on my couch feeling rather sorry for myself. But interestingly, while my body was tired, my mind was racing.

All this exercising has had quite a few advantages. I’m amazed at the changes I’ve seen happening with my fitness. At the start of the year I was barely able to make it pass 1km on the treadmill. Last week, I went for a 45 minute run two times after work with Lyn – see photo! – and even combined one run with a cycle home. Amazing.

Keeping a sense of humour is important!

While I will probably never be super duper fit… I love that I am fitter, and relieved that it didn’t take as long as I thought it would.

Now, I just need to cross that finish line within the three hour mark. Here’s hoping.

And if hope is not on my side, I’ve told everyone I know who will be there (and now you) to HURL ABUSE at me should they see me flagging or looking like i want to give up.

Trust me, it is the only way I’ll keep going!

So if you see me on Saturday – race number (S370) – please unleash your inner sailor and curse at me!

Running is the new black?

I have to say I’m amazed by the number of people who’ve sent me emails/text messages since this blog has gone up.

From what I can tell running seems to be the popular exercise of choice of many, and this includes a sizable number of reformed non-runners.

The other evening running from the The Fullerton to the Singapore Flyer – great way to see the The Flyer by the way – I was floored by the steady stream of people pounding the pavement. Short of sounding obsessed about running, because I’m not, it’s just that I could complete 1.5km at the start of the year. And as of last week, I ran my first 5km without stopping!

My lovely niece, possibly my biggest cheerleader, made sure I did not stop moving for the full 40-plus minutes.

Stretching out the pain

‘Keep bouncing, keep bouncing. Don’t stop. If you do, you’re going to regret it cause I’m going to tell everyone you stopped and walked. You’ll feel SO ashamed you’ll feel like you need to go out and run again.’

She’s one smart cookie… I kept running or ‘gummy-bear-ing’ [In reference to the bounce movement. Anyone remember ‘gummy bears bouncing here and everywhere’?] when I could not run. It looked pathetic but stopping was not an option.

I was exhausted – as you can tell from the photo – but it felt really good knowing I’ve done the full 5km.

Surprise, surprise less than 48 hours

My kick ass niece Sarah

later I repeated the ‘feat’ at the gym – treadmills make running so much easier! – 42.30mins and counting.

It’s not a great timing but who cares, all i want is to cross that finish line.