Not Because They Are Easy...

It used to be easy. 

I was an athlete once. As kids we didn't have computer games, or you-tube or even the internet. So all we did was play. Didn't matter the sport or the venue or the location. We played anything, anywhere, against anyone. A street full of competitive and talented kids who pushed each other to be better. For fun.

That continued well into my teens and twenties. I wasn't ultra talented, but was super fit and super competitive. I had a number of friends that I introduced to a fitness or sporting lifestyle. Unfortunately I also drove many of them away. 
See, I believed that for them to enjoy being fit, like I was, that they had to push themselves, like I did. I shudder now to think of the physical, and worse, emotional harm I did to people I thought I was trying to help.

Karma is alive and well in my life. After a sustained dark period, I put on a total of 50 kg in 6 years. Proving that God has a sense of humour I was about to find out first hand how hard it is to get fit, when you are big.
Like most people I wanted to lose the weight and feel good again. I tried removing junk food, clean eating, even a year on shakes where I lost 30kg... then put it all back on again in the space of 6 months.

Humility is a great teacher. The guy in the mirror looks like someone who ate the younger me. (He almost did!) I'm now forced to walk slowly, breathlessly and painfully up hills I used to sprint numerous times. Cramps don't come after hours of running anymore. They come from laying still and sleeping. When I talk to my kids about the 'good ol' days', they can't picture me being fit and I have to produce old sports team photo's as proof of my active youth.

Each year I have set goals such as completing a triathlon, a marathon, a half ironman (Because the ego isn't too clever). Each year as the targeted events roll around, I'd admonish myself for lack of preparation then re-set the goal for 'next year'.

This year, I have decided that enough is enough.

At 50kg overweight, and having not run seriously for about 5 years, the checklist has been initiated again. The first goal is to complete a half marathon at the end of April. Yup. The end of April. 

Now, before you say...



... I have been in negotiations with my ego, and we have agreed that this is not about achieving a specific time. This event is about getting my carcass across the finish line AND getting the 2016 health and fitness event list underway. If I walk half of, or most, or probably 90% of the course, then that's just how we have to get this done.
I still have an extremely competitive nature. My body might not respond the way it used to (it sure doesn't LOOK the way it used to). The training already hurts, and I'm only walking! This is about me against me. BUT if along the way, I can provide some encouragement for someone to try to achieve something they've always wanted to do, and maybe some encouragement for someone to take better care of themselves. Well...

I know this is going to be hard. But we don't do these things because they're easy. Bring it on.