Motivation

The last few days have given me all the motivation I require to start getting fit:

Thursday

At the last cricket nets of the season I was given the ominous task of batting first. When I was at University and my self confidence was still relatively low, this would have been great as I just wanted to get it out of the way. However something has changed in the last couple of years, my mental attitude has change dramatically and I've become something of a perfectionist (Yes believe me I was as surprised as anyone). So needless to say I was somewhat disappointed with the way I played the first few deliveries. Because I hadn't bowled beforehand, I was far too stiff and struggled to get my feet moving. More than anything else I was finding it difficult to get my weight behind the shot (something I have plenty of). On the plus side, this warning has come just in time so I'll make sure when the season starts next Tuesday that I limber up in my pads.
There was a time when the best aspect of my game was my fielding but in my current physical state, I'd say it's my worst.

Friday

The wife and I decided to pop around to the in-laws after I finished work. Unfortunately we didn't get to stay long as I had another bout of hypoglycemia (sugar low) and I wasn't even in a state to drive the car home (via a takeaway to pick up stodge, the one-stop cure for hypoglycemia). The frequency of my spells of hypoglycemia is the highest it has ever been, if I don't take action soon I'll be a diabetic.

Saturday

I had a nice invigorating walk to my new team's cricket ground to help patch up the wicket for the start of the season. The council had put drainage wholes all over the pitch but hadn't bothered to stop at the wicket - to be honest with you I can't blame them, I couldn't spot it from the rest of the field. I'm still aching now from being knelt down for 2 hours putting clay and grass seed into index finger size holes. I did point out to one of the younger lads that it would be useful practice for him later in his adolesence.
The wife and I then went to Exeter to have a night out with friends of ours who live there. I have to say the atmosphere is a bit more relaxed compared to the 'beer factories' of Plymouth - I wasn't called a cunt once! Later in the evening the inevitable happened and I took to the dancefloor. However I was out of breath far too easily. Normally I can jump through '500 Miles' by 'The Proclaimers' and still have energy to spare for the next song but I was breathing for dear life this time.

Sunday

Noticing how skinny my friends were as they crawled around the house made me realise how bad I was. I watched the highlights of the marathon too, there was a time when I could have run it as fast as James Cracknall did (A little over 3 hours - 6.5 minutes per mile). Sadly those days are a distant memory but I got myself from flab to fit once before so I don't see why I can't do it again. Admittedly I don't have the motivation of joining the Marines as I'm now too old but I'm sure I can think of something else to drive me on.

Monday

There was a bit of a misunderstanding at work where I thought someone made fun of my size by saying I was the fattest person in our centre. It turned out that they were making the joke about someone else (who wasn't fat and so that was the joke). Nevertheless it made me feel like I was back in school again. By the time I'd got home I'd already decided that I was going to walk into work on Wednesday (It's three miles - I'm certain this is the most unfit I have ever been so if I tried to run it, it might kill me) but watching 'Run for Glory' on BBC1 was the icing on the cake. If they can do it then so can I.

So this is it, I want to run next years London Marathon. Don't know if I'll be able to as I can imagine it is always over-subscribed but I'm going to start training for it regardless. There's another marathon at Tresco (Scilly Isles) on the same day so if I can't get into the London one then I'll do that instead. Whatsmore I have a cream suit in my wardrobe that I haven't fitted into in years - at the moment I can't even fit into my bloater clothes, my jeans were tight around my waste today. I want to be able to wear that suit to work and maybe take my wife out to a nice restaurant in it.

As I've said above I've gone from flab to fab before. This time the mission is more like Johnny Vegas to Johnny Depp. I have at least four stone to loose, possibly more. It's not really about the weight though, it's about not being able to put my arms down flat because of the excess fat around my chest. It's about struggling to find a pair of jeans in my size because clothes retailers assume that all tall people are skinny.

I'm going to work on the exercise first and then on the diet, as you can feel the benefits of exercise much earlier on so you're more likely to stick with it. Naturally I'll have to stop going to the chippy over the road though. I'll keep you posted.