Trying to catch the deluge

I wrote a big long rambly post yesterday, posted it up then deleted it an hour later. I was in a funny mood, please excuse me. I'm feeling much more positive and upbeat today, even though I'm at work (on a Sunday!!!) and its raining.

I am annoyed with myself. I've put on weight over Christmas and generally feel like a big fat lazy slob. In my last job I was always running about, going to see people, walking here and there to fetch prints, cups of tea or going to meetings. In the job I'm in now, I tend to be much more sedentary, mainly because everyone I need to see is no more than about 40 feet away. This, combined with Christmas, and my general inability to refuse a chocolate chip cookie (the food of the gods) means my jeans are a far tighter fit than I would like. The DH is suffering the same fate, so he has vowed to go swimming as well as his weekly gym session. New trunks have been purchased, and he should have gone this morning but we'll see.

However, I can't do the same. I can't swim. I drown very well, but swimming is not an option for me. When I get in water, I sink. Headfirst. This should be a physical impossibility (I do have mammary airbags to help as well) but I manage to achieve it. The KnottyArtisan, breaking the laws of physics for your amusement. All this means I had some terrifying experiences at school swimming class, and now cannot be dragged into water any more than knee-deep without the use of serious drugs and a team of wild horses.

The gym is also something of a no-go for me. Apart from the fact its usually full of burly 7 feet tall rowers hogging all the machines, sweaty posing weightlifters in muscle vests or impossibly gorgeous females in hotpants and sweatproof mascara, I'm incapable of using most of the equipment. The treadmill and cross-trainer make me go seriously dizzy, and my dodgy, made-on-a-Friday-afternoon shift knees, which seem to have been put on my legs wrong, mean that rowing, cycling and any weights involving legs are right out. If I want to walk the next day anyway.

One thing I can do to an extent, however, is walk. I love walking, but never seem to have enough time to go for a proper walk. My ex was very keen, but I could never keep up with his long legs, and his fitness level and stamina were unreal, but at least I did get out to some beautiful places (and not so beautiful - Kinder Scout in the fog anyone?) So, I'm thinking that 2008 should really be the year that I get my flabby ass into gear and make use of some of this expensive walking kit that I've built up over the years. To help my knees, I invested in some Nordic walking poles, and a class with Bourne Sports to learn how to use them properly. I'd like to develop this a bit with some more classes to develop my technique - there's a knack to using the poles correctly.

As I have enough walking gear to give Millet's a run for their money, and more OS maps than Waterstone's, it's about time I began to put them to some good use I think.

I'm off to pore over my maps...