Tuesday 18 March 2008

A push my self harder day!

I really do want to push myself harder today, especially after nagging sister jogging the whole entire mile with out any walking. I must do better, I must do better. The voice in my head is encouraging me to do better, push harder.

With no little fella still to take to nursery me and young girl can ride our bikes to her school. Young girl does find it difficult to get up that hill and complains and creates all the way to the top! But I push her, verbally of course, well I have had training on how to encourage people to do their best, (thinking of sister, mutter, grumble, grinding teeth) and we make it to the school where I dutifully wave her off to her class and I can go back home. The way back home is easy as its all down hill! I like going down hill.

Sister arrives at my house for our jog down that stretch of path ten minutes after I get back from the school run. ‘Why you not in your joggers and stuff, come on’ she says in the nag nag nag voice of hers. ‘Yes I am coming’ I tell her, ‘I just needed to find my other glove as my hands were cold from the bike ride this morning’

The old boy was still here, and he was encouraging me to push myself harder too. So not only did I have the voice in my head, I had nagging sister and encouraging old boy telling me to push myself ‘Just think, in three months time you’ll have that down to under ten minutes’ he says, encouragingly (I’m sure??) Earlier in the morning I had said to him that I can’t wait for the 1st June to arrive the I can stop all this training malarkey. The old boy said, ‘No, you can’t stop there you got to keep it going, there is always next years one!. Next year!. I can’t think that far a head.

Nagging sister and I are in the kitchen doing our warm ups, and its funny how all those video tapes, CD’s or even the classes you used to do back in the old days, pop up in your mind. ‘I used to do this stretch to Rosemary Conley’s tape’ I said to nagging sister, ‘Oh yes I used to do this with the personal trainer’ says nagging sister, ‘He used to push me real hard’ How comes she got a personal trainer and I got a Video tape that I could switch off if Rosemary nagged to much, and I bet her personal trainer had a fit body, and was pleasant to look at, mutter, grumble, moan.

The warm ups done, we head for the door, with my stopwatch at the ready, (I must get a proper one soon), ‘Ok’ says nagging sister, ‘We are going to jog the whole way, just a slow jog, not a sprint, but we are going to do it, ok’ she says to me. I’m sure she is daring me. ‘Yeah ok’ I says, trying not to sound as if I am about to climb Everest in a pair of hot pants vest top, and only a piece of string for safety. The pace wasn’t as bad as I thought, it was a nice pace, I could talk to nagging sister, about how pleasant the weather is today, ‘There is no need to sprint up to turn around lamppost’ she says, knowingly. (It must have been that personal trainer that said things like that to her) ‘Just a nice steady plod along, as long as the heart rate is going that’s good. Up to that stretch of path, still jogging, still chatting to nagging sister. On the path two wet big dogs make a bee line for me and nagging sister. Tails wagging, wet noses at the ready, (you and I know where dogs put their wet noses, Eh, eh? say no more) The are wanting to be petted. I slow down, in fact I walk passed dogs, (any excuses to walk really) well, you can never tell with dogs just which way they will go. ‘Morning’ I say to the dog owners, quickly glancing to see if they had a ‘poop bag’ with them. Those dogs were not the ones who left the huge soft smelly hurdle of a few days ago.

I jogged further than I have jogged before, but I look at the time, ‘My way is quicker’ I tell nagging sister, ‘Yes but you walk some of the way, and your heart rate slows down, this way it stays constant and so its better’ Who told her that, is that true, I have no idea. I have never been fit ever in my life,’ were the thoughts going through my mind. As you probably can guess, by now, we are well passed half way to turn around lamppost, I am feeling it. We pass some work men and I feel that I need to jog pass the guys and try to look as if I am enjoying my self ’Morning’ I say to them, in almost a non puffed out voice, and I even give them a thumbs up. As soon as we pass them I jog on just until the next lamppost and I walk, glad that I passed the men jogging. I am out of breath and my legs feel heavy and nagging sister doesn’t even look as she has broke into a sweat yet! I’m sure I remember the old boy saying there is no need to kill yourself, just do your own thing, so I feel justified in walking,… briskly…..staring at the back of nagging sisters head! How comes she is the skinny one! Mutter, grumble.

‘Just a quick rest at turn around lamppost then we’re off again’ She says. Was she breathing heavily, even ever so slightly heavily, I can’t tell. I am waving my stopwatch at her and saying ‘My way I would have been here sooner!’ But still she is unfazed by that, she says that the heart rate thing is what is good for you. Hmm.

‘Bye bye turn around lamppost, see you Thursday.’ the voice in my head says, as we headed off on the homeward jog. Nagging sister, pushing me all the time, whose bloomin idea to invite her here with me, oh how I hate…….being nice. ‘Look’ says nagging sister, ‘there’s those men we passed on the way up, I want you to pass them on the way back’ What is this woman, is she some sort of sadistic thorn in my side, (I say that because now I have got a stitch, I know I wouldn’t have had that had I did my own thing) ‘Come on, you can do it, get those arms up it does help’ If I could get my hands up I would strangle…..but she’s is right, darn it. Those men look so far away, I’m sure they are almost at the end of that stretch of path. I feel sure there is no way on earth that I will catch up to them, they are two tiny dots of yellow on the horizon. ‘I can’t do’ I cry out in pain ‘Yes you can, come on keep jogging, I’ll go a bit slower for you’ she says patronisingly. But I did as the dutiful fat, wanna be fit sister does, and I jog on, I almost cry out when we get to the two men, ‘Ok’ says nagging sister lightly to the men, and even manages a broad smile, me on the other hand, just look at them helplessly, and grunt something their way and almost raise a thumb, but didn’t quite manage it. I jog on to the next lamppost with the sound of the men shouting encouraging words, (Well I hope that is what they are doing) as I reach the road. ‘We’ll walk up to the corner and then a fast sprint to your gate’ says nagging sister,
' A fast what!’ is what I thought I said to her, but it came out as ‘aaah blur blubbb ohee haaa’ But I think I did nod my agreement which pleased nagging sister. All too soon the corner of the road came, and before I knew it, I heard ‘Ok go!’ Sprinting down the road, looking at my house, which seems to move further away from me rather than get nearer, ‘Are you sprinting, keep it going, come on, you can do it’ And I virtually did two yards from my door I did slow down, but I’m pleased that I did it. I look at my stopwatch, it must be some sort of Olympic record now, 16:16:27!!! Is that it, is that it?, I slump on the sofa, almost melting into leather, I could have cried. Oh how I hate…………stop watches.

No comments: