another year gone, another yearful of memories have flowed into the pool of life, and what a year it was!
in the 12 months since the 22nd anniversary of my 21st birthday there have been a number of massive achievements/changes.
“officially” younger and fitter
it was about a year ago that I did the body clock testing and recorded some decent results in terms of health and fitness. when the test results came back, they confirmed that I had indeed succeeded in knocking a few years off my real age.
the changes were visible, and even if they weren’t, they could be felt. more bounce in my step, better sleep, less illness, and quite simply enjoying life a heck of a lot more.
in many ways it is hard to recognise my life now, compared to where things were in January 2012, and all for the better.
actually finished something
as discussed previously, I’ve tended to drift through life, go with the easy options, and abandon an idea when the going gets a little uncomfortable.
that has changed, and though I have yet to tick off the main goal I set myself at the beginning (to run a marathon), I’ve already proved (most importantly, to myself) that I can indeed stick with things and push through when the going gets tough.
the fremantle fun run is/was the proof of that. having never completed the school cross-country run, I actually ran (very slowly) around an entire 5km circuit, twice.
indeed, the whole 16 months has been proof (if any more were needed). I’ve continued to train regularly, generally paid attention to my dietary intake, and also started to see the discipline, attitudes and approaches pay off in other areas of life too.
started to enjoy running (yeah, I know, like wtf?)
in the beginning, a marathon was selected because I loathed running (it all goes back to that damned cross-country), but something has changed. somehow along the way I’ve started to do weird stuff…
like enjoying a gentle 5km run, like getting annoyed when illness prevents me from doing a 29km run on a Sunday morning. like starting to look forward to the half marathon (this coming weekend) and the full marathon (4 weeks after that).
crazy, crazy shit.
and even crazier, I’m now signed up for the “Tough Mudder” event in October. That’s beyond crazy, but it gives me solid reasons for pushing the training further, and losing the next 20kgs.
and it’s dead, dead easy for anyone to replicate
I literally started with a 20 minute walk with the dog – if you can do that, then you can build up the same way to achieving so much more than you even imagine is possible.
it’s not like I’m particularly gifted with physical ability, far from it. it’s just a case of making a commitment and then doing it, persisting with it, and making progress little by little.
assuming you’re starting from a fairly average base, you should probably be capable of running a marathon yourself in 6 to 12 months. easily.
just start. see where it takes you!