Tuesday, 13 August 2013

‘Get out of the way tourist, I want to go home and eat chocolate!’

As James has pointed out in his latest blog post, a little motto goes a long way in the running world. Well, the title of this article is certainly the (slightly angry) saying that is currently keeping me going in life and jogging at present. I am mainly running around a clothes shop at the moment, but that’s another story  that I’ll keep for another time. Hopefully it goes some distance (har-har) in explaining my recent silence, however.

Another thing that James points out in his latest instalment, rather briefly but totally wonderfully, is that it can be reeeeeally difficult to jump back on the running wagon after you’ve fallen off of it for a few days. I recent had a lovely time in London with my family, where I mainly ate cake and drank tea and helped myself to another biscuit, but I came home to Pembrokeshire in an almost sedate state, needing some bright lights to revive me. Pembrokeshire doesn’t have any of those unfortunately, and I knew that the only way to feel a little less sluggy would be to get the blood pumping again. So, I popped my joggers onto the end of my bed…and subsequently stared at them for a good few days.

Eventually, I kicked the joggers off my bed and forgot about them until my sister found them a week later. She is an ultra-sporty lifeguard, by the way, who likes to refer to a 3-mile swim as ‘light exercise’.  Anyway, She passed them to me with a sympathetic smile on her face, reminding me not to worry and reassuring me that she’d ‘text me with some motivation’. A day later, she sent me this message:

‘Been for a run yet?!?! Saw you snaffling the final 5 Maltesers last night. Get a move on! xxxxx’

Subtle, as always.

Anyway, her text sort of worked, although it did make me think a little too much about Maltesers. So, I left a chocolate for myself-a posh one from London -close to the back door, ready for my return. The quicker I ran, the quicker I knew I’d be able to eat it. This is what I need, I thought! This is motivation!

All wrapped in a pretty pink box as well. 

Note to self though-don’t go running on a busy beach path in August, especially if you want it ‘just be a quick little stint’. You will only get held up by dogs and couples and be forced to do a ‘fake jog’ behind them; i.e essentially run on the spot while they enjoy themselves. Even putting on melodramatic heavy breathing will not make a tourist move.

Eventually, however, I  did manage to get home and eat my little treat (works for dogs, clearly works for humans too). And the great thing about it was that I didn’t even have to feel guilty!


Anyway- the next ‘bribe’-sorry, I mean step-is to get myself a new pair of running shoes. I have come to the conclusion that still using the same ones that I did in Year 9 Games lessons is a little bit tragic. So, if any of you have suggestions of wear to get a pair of comfy, practical, and ideally fashionable trainers, then let me know. :)

Hope xx

A Motto to Live By




I've got a motto in life: "Oooooh, just one more won't hurt." Usually I'm talking about Percy Pigs, dark chocolate digestives, or just calories in general. (Seriously, if I treated people the same way as I treat food: there'd be none of you left, or I'd be on a list, or both!) 

It's hard to know where this philosophy has come from, maybe it's built into everyone, maybe it's just me. One thing's for certain,  most activities in my day to day life come to a premature end. I eat too quickly, I walk too fast, I go to bed too early. Whilst my premature endings may stop things feeling anti-climactic, they sure as hell leave me feeling cold when I look back on what I've missed. So perhaps I've created this motto in an attempt to stop the emptiness. It's just a shame that the things in life I've chosen to apply it to, aren't particularly healthy!

ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I know, "Come on James, what's all this got to do with the project?!"

WELL, the more I've started regularly jogging, the once negative motto- "Oooooh, just one more won't hurt."- has started to become all the more positive. "Ooooh, I'll just run to the next street", "Ooooh, just do one more lap", "Ooooh, don't stop".

The philosophy which once used to highlight my lack of will power and cause undue concern to my biscuit barrel, has started to spurn a fire inside of me (maybe a stitch) which doesn't want me just to cave in and stop, but carry on the planned route, go further, go faster. 

I understand that this could cause problems, last week's run saw me almost vomit in a nature reserve, but it's better than wanting to give up? Wanting to go home? Isn't it? It seems that as soon as I start, (and it is hard to start) I want to keep going until I physically can't move any more.

It just means that when I get back to my room I collapse into a heap, look in the mirror and think "what on earth am I doing this for?"
 
Excuse the nipple.

But, seriously "What on earth am I doing this for?", it's safe to say I'm only doing it because Hope  and Emily approached me, and partly carrying on purely to get the monies worth out of my new shoes. If those factors weren't present, would my motto really keep me going?

I suppose that's an answer we'll have to find out.