Face the sunshine

Today I did the Christmas version of the 10k trail event that was my first 10k distance back in March this year! I feel that I've accomplished a fair bit in a year given that I'd never run before and I don't have a lot of time to commit to it as a hobby. Today's event was in aid of the mental health charity MIND and given that the conditions were very muddy and it rained throughout my entire run, I was pleased with my time and the fact I can run that distance at a steady pace throughout now.  Highlights from my introduction into running so far have been: joining a running club that mostly runs off-road, completing some half marathon events and not falling over yet (I am so clumsy and given that I mostly run off-road I can't believe I haven't fallen badly!) The first time I completed a 10k distance I had to walk-run-walk the event and will admit it was a struggle to finish. Today I can confidently run that distance on road or off-road and am pleased to see ...

I'm supporting the 'Colostomy UK' 50K challenge which aims to prove that having a stoma is not a barrier to being active by inviting people with stomas to do a variety of activities that count towards an overall 50,000KM over a 6 month period. People can walk, jog, run, climb, swim or cycle any number of metres and can also raise funds for the charity through sponsorship. I'm already trying to be fairly active and the reason I started this blog was to show people that you can live a healthy and active lifestyle when you have a stoma so this challenge was something I was keen to get involved with. After registering I was sent a pack which contained a 50K challenge t shirt that I could wear when exercising to help raise awareness and a pedometer to track my progress. I'll then log any activity on the Colostomy UK website which can be done daily, weekly or monthly. There's a live counter on the website that shows the total of KM travelled so far by every...

I'm seeing an improvement in my fitness and a great measurement of this is burpees! I started the year barely being able to do them properly, partly due to strength and partly mind of matter of my head telling me that I would collapse if I tried to hit the floor with my hands whilst kicking my legs back! I'm still very slow at them and will never break any records doing the 'one minute challenge' of how many you can do but my technique is a lot better and my stamina has improved so that I can fully get down, do a press up, jump up and do a tuck jump - far more of an advanced burpee than what I was previously doing. I'm really enjoying high intensity classes at the gym including circuits and a GRIT class where I'm even doing jumping lunges which I wasn't just a couple of months ago. The GRIT session is 30 minutes of high intensity exercises which you do for short periods of time with rest periods in-between. I feel a real sense of achievement when I...

I have a love/hate relationship with personal goals as I feel that you can really beat yourself up if you don't meet them however they do give you something to aim for and a sense of achievement if you have met or exceeded them. I could probably think of about 50 fitness goals if I really sat and thought about everything I would want to do but I've limited it to 5 that I would like to do during 2018.... Improve my overall fitness so I can look to more comfortably run 5K and improve my time  Strengthen my core so I reduce the risk of a hernia forming (and can be better at dreaded burpees!)  Tone my arms  Tone all the way round my stomach and back area which has been really affected by weight gain from steroids and two lots of abdominal surgery  Look to accomplish another event like a GO TRI