I'm far from what they call a 'fitness fanatic', more a borderline couch potato, so it was not the obvious choice to add jogging to my list. However, I realise that any form of exercise takes a backseat during the summer months and that is most definitely not good for my health. I knew that if there was anyway to make me get off my lazy bum and exercise, this blog was it!
Last night, I went out for a meal with friends to celebrate one of their birthdays (we're are all finally 17, ha!) and we ate a big slab of chocolate cakes and lots more sweets and chocolate. In fact, the last 4 weeks has involved me cramming in as much sugary food as I can handle without doing a lot else. So to say that I could do with some exercise was a bit of an understatement.
This morning was cloudy, windy and rainy; the perfect combination of bad weather for my jog. Okay, for many this would be a deal breaker, but the bad weather meant that the park was highly likely to be completely empty. There would be no dogs to be frightened of; no ball games getting in the way; far more less likely to bump into somebody I know (god forbid!) and, most importantly, there would be no spectators. I mean there is nothing strange about jogging in the park, but when your run has been described on a number of occasions as 'a demented penguin run', you generally try to avoid any form of exercise in front of people.
Mum decided to tag along and keep me company (bless) but, to my horror, the weather started to improve. Higher risks of people in the park was not something I was too thrilled about but I decided to just go anyway. As luck would have it, there was a softball match on so most of the park was pretty bare. We decided to run lengths of Churchill Avenue at the bottom of Cambridge park as not many people use it (surprisingly, it's beautiful) and we could easily count how many lengths we ran.
We got off to a strong start. No-one was around and I was jogging far better than I remember doing so at school. I began wondering why I hated it so much whilst at high school. But coming to the end of my first lap, the memories of pain came rushing back as my chest began to tighten. I'm not sure why but I really struggle to breath when I'm exercising which, of course, my body doesn't appreciate and I start feeling the strain far earlier than I should. However, we powered through another three lengths and I quickly realised I pushed myself too much too quickly and developed a stitch. After a LOT of breathers, my Mum and I completed 10 lengths before calling it a day. As we never checked the time I don't know how long our jog was but, including the breaks, it was easily about 40 minutes.
My Mum could not of been happier. She felt amazing with a massive grin plastered over her face, pushing me to do the final laps. She has not stopped bragging to my sister and I how brilliant she feels and wants to drag me out again tomorrow. I, on the other hand, was not so pleased with the fact the entire contents of my lungs wanted to hurl itself out of me afterwards (I am aware you should never feel like that after a jog) and just felt rather sick on the journey home. Still feel a little ill now. Why does exercise hate me?
So that was the story of my first, and almost definitely my last jogging session. I may feel like my body hates me but I am proud for actually doing something active. Are you like me more a fitness-phobe or have you found that one sport you couldn't live without? Let start up a chat in the comments below.
Tasmin x
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