Sometimes it's hard to say goodbye, but even the smallest changes you make will echo into eternity10/6/2014 What will be your legacy? Sometimes its hard to say goodbye to people. This evening I had the news that my (great) Uncle Vic passed away earlier today. It's been a long time since we last saw one another, but it's hard to know that that amazing man has gone from this world. He was my grandads best friend and the lifelong support of my grandmother (his sister) and for that I can only thank his memory and commemorate him as leaves us to go and do whatever it is that happens when we pass on. I'm just sad that I never got to see him that one last time. I think we never realise how quickly things can change, how quickly people can be gone never to be seen, or spoken to again and once more I'm reminded of the utter frailty of our lives. We are simply a speck in the running of the world, yet each of us has potential to change everything. Even the smallest changes can echo into eternity. So what will you leave behind when it's time to move on? Who will miss you? What will you have achieved with your eye-blink of a life? I know for one that I want to be able to stand before those "pearly gates" and say that I have lived my life. That I don't regret the things I've done and I've lived a life well loved. I hope that's how my Uncle felt as he approached the unknown. For a while now I've been resolving that life is for living. Each passing year a testament to the year we've left behind, our own fingerprint on the life we're leaving behind, every second of the day. I want to live a life where, in the words of the great "Blue Oyster Cult" I "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" because I know that if my life is to be gone in a second, then I need to take every opportunity I can with open arms. The challenge we set this week has been based on this resolve and today has helped me clarify that I want to TRY EVERYTHING! Life may be fleeting, but in the moment everything is an adventure. People leave you, people come into your life. Every moment you change into the person you wish to be. I am me. Today several lovely things happened, which I feel is appropriate to move on to, because what is death without life? Those little things that make every day worth waking up for and I'll share some with you, just so it's not all doom and gloom from my corner!
In the words of Heather Small - What have you done today to make YOU feel proud?
gym #workout #physical exercise #fitness #you #challenge #fernwood fitness #humour #blog #fitness blog # fitfam #news #bbc news #free weights #resistance training #training #trailwalker #Oxfam #fundraising #money #free #you #donate #charity #charity shop #jewelry #bitch #boobies #girls #funny #weights #bro do you even lift #lift #physical #personal trainer As I went to the gym I normally walk past....kind of sums up last week's challenge!!Time for your lunch time funny :) This basically sums up for me every new class I've started. Save the KO. Well. Depends on which classes.... Credit to "Almost Cool" for this video - I love them xD gym #workout #physical exercise #fitness #you #challenge
#fernwood fitness #humour #blog #fitness blog # fitfam #news #bbc news #free weights #resistance training #training #trailwalker #Oxfam #fundraising #money #free #you #donate #charity #charity shop #jewelry #bitch #boobies #girls #funny #weights #bro do you even lift #lift #physical #personal trainer #google #google ad-sense #computer #meme #photo #team #hiking #walking #ninja #gerbilenge Dave the cat wants to know why we're cross he runs around the house at 4am. Apparently it's just his morning HIIT. Today I'm going to scoot my food bowl around until you can't bear the sound any more and then I'm going to meow pitifully like I haven't been fed in oh, about 2 hours. No. Wait. That's my cat Dave. Dave the cat is on one of my fitness programmes. I've been getting him to jump through hoops to get a treat.....wait, am I missing something here? ;P j/k but really. Thanks to everyone today - we've raised £0.85 from Google Ad-Sense so far TODAY! Whoop, keep those clicks going. Check out the ads, they're all through Google :) Thanks also to Lesa, who is my ninja inspriation - today I will be trying to make tiny, ninja gerbil bookmarks :D Keep an eye out for them in our store!! Whoop, go ninja gerbils! Remember, day 1 of this week's challenge starts today - say yes to any opportunity that comes your way!! :D If you want to join us on the challenges all you need to do is let us know that you're playing (pm or the comments box) and then send us proof you did it!! So today was the day after the biggest training walk so far. Did it hurt? Well, not so much for me, although I got a volley of abusive Whatsapp messages from my dear sister Tasha regarding the blisters she's formed. Hmph. The worst pain for me was in my burnt shoulders. I'm talking crispy roast Squidgey. Sheesh, who'd have known. Ok, fine. Most of you. But who wants to wear sleeves when it's a million degrees celsuis outside!! ./melodrama Anyway, I know you're not here for me...you're here for the photos from yesterday.....I'll admit to being the OUTSTANDING photographer here ;) (you can follow our photos/products on squidgeypaws @ Instagram!!) And a few minutes later.... It was shortly after this that there was a small mutiny regarding the camera and me talking. Some people. gym #workout #physical exercise #fitness #you #challenge #fernwood fitness #humour #blog #fitness blog # fitfam #news #bbc news #free weights #resistance training #training #trailwalker #Oxfam #fundraising #money #free #you #donate #charity #charity shop #jewelry #bitch #boobies #girls #funny #weights #bro do you even lift #lift #physical #personal trainer #google #google ad-sense #computer #meme #photo #team #hiking #walking #ninja #gerbilenge
Sh*t gym girls say to one anotherThis video from Fernwood Fitness made me giggle a bit. Mostly because I'm guilty of saying *most* of those things. Especially the bit about knowing a personal trainer is trying to kill you *cough* Sophie *cough*. It also reminds me of a very uncomfortable conversation I got into with someone a couple of months ago that went a bit like this them: "you look good, what have you been up to?" me: "oh i've been training a lot more. Started including weights since January, I feels really good!" them: "me too" me: "you too? Oh. You do weights?" them: "yeah, I spend about an hour on that ab machine in the gym. And then I use that other one, with the long pole and the lifty.....thing" me: "oh, the Smith machine?" them: "uh, yeah" me: "ah right, well I try to focus on free weights - I find it more effective" them: "yeah, me too. I can lift 30kg over my head" me: "ummmmm...." them: "yeah I've been spending like 3 hours in the gym every day" me: "uhhhh" Anyway, on to the video....have a giggle ;) #gym #workout #physical exercise #fitness #you #challenge #fernwood fitness #humour #blog #fitness blog # fitfam #news #bbc news #free weights #resistance training #training #trailwalker #Oxfam #fundraising #money #free #you #donate #charity #charity shop #jewelry #bitch #boobies #girls #funny #weights #bro do you even lift #lift #physical #personal trainer
Bring it on. Introducing our newest member - welcome to Simon, he's moving from the support team into the walking team!
Good hustle ;) Today we were out on a team training walk, 30km in total from CP6 to CP9 on the map (Lower Beeding to Lewes basically). We started at one of my personal HELLs on the course, which is in Lower Beeding and on a hill that I swear is vertical. As we rounded the corner the hill lulled Simon into that false sense of security (Oh I'm not that bad see...) so we got a few "oh cmon girls, this hill isn't THAT bad" (which is what I made sure to repeat to him as I overtook him halfway up the hill and he'd had to sit down on the corner of the path). But the hill is sneaky you see. What it's actually covering up with that gentle start is A BLOODY CLIFF FACE. Ok, maybe I'm being melodramatic (I'm not) but that hill is HUGE. On the elevation map it's the equivalent of 0-60 in about .5seconds. Ok fine. Maybe 1s. But it's steep people. I actually have footage to prove it (there were also some very rude comments made about my camera *sniffs*). It's the sort of hill that you get half way up and decide that this is a definitive moment in your life. Will this HILL BREAK ME?! NEVVAAAAAA. YOU CAN TAKE OUR FREEDOM BUT YOU CAN NEVER TAKE OUR SPIRIT DEATH HILL!! *thumps chest* Apparently my motivational comments during the "death hill" struggle aren't going down too well....after a sustained period of "come on guys, I believe in you, you can do it!!" I could hear muttering behind me about....well, I shan't report it. But I'll do my inside voice next time! So, sweating, panting and crying with relief we finally reached the top of the hill. You always get that moment when you reach the top of a really big hill and look over the scenery only to spot the hills that are to come....oops! After death hill it's pretty much up a hill down a hill up a hill down a......BANG. Bloody hills. We saw loads of people out on the paths and roads, most said hello as we passed them which is really lovely. I've no idea what we looked like, soaked to the skin in sweat, red as tomatoes and burnt around the edges. The sun was out in full support of the team, I'm currently sporting the ice-pack on my shoulder to prove it! (yes people, wearing something that covers your shoulders is a GOOD IDEA). I did however pack a hat, so I avoided sun-stroke. Not by much though, I feel a bit like my brain is ready to go on some french toast....! Tasha did an AMAZING JOB! She hit the 20k fatigue wall and almost stopped, but something happened and she pushed. She pushed through that barrier we create that keeps us in our safe little parameters and she kept on going. Watch out, she's on the loose now people! Amber rocked the whole journey, aside from a few incidents with rocks on the path and one incident with a rather large BOULDER. Simon's first 30k was strong! He slipped on a hill and felt the knees go, but I told him, if he'd done leg day people it wouldn't have been that bad. LEG DAY SAVES LIVES PEOPLE. Keep at it ;) The first 10k everyone was pretty chipper. The second 10k people started crying. The third 10k everyone had gone numb and it went pretty fast. I like that numb feeling. Eventually you get the sensation of floating away from your body and it's like you're high (what, just me? *ahem*). Facing that final 10k in a training walk is always the hardest bit. It always happens - whether you're going from 10k to 20, from 20 to 30 or from 40-100k it's facing up to the fact that you're pushing yourself that little bit harder. So what do I do? I take a deep breath and I let go of my pain. I figure that pain is a purely psychological sensation - yes, it has a physiological cause but the acceptance or rejection of pain is in the mind. We've all had those dreams where we've felt pain and woken up to find nothing has changed with us - like cutting your finger in a dream. You can FEEL it, clear as if you'd just sliced it open - but you haven't. It's a remembered phantom pain. So if the mind can cause pain, why can't it take it away? It can! But you have to be ready to let go of it. How many times have you clung to the fact that you're hurting when you've been training? It gives us a sense of reality, that martyr sense that says the more pain we're in the better we're doing - right? But you don't need to hold it to you. Accept the pain, if there's something seriously wrong - stop, if it's just fatigue....you can conquer your mind. For me, that is what fitness is. The acceptance and mastery of both my mind AND my body. Death hill. We're going to meet again. I've walked you with a broken toe and several torn and broken ligaments. I'll be walking you again Death Hill. You'll be MINE. Lets dance. As I was walking to school this morning (late) I was following a group of students (who were also late) when all of a sudden this cat walked out from the bushes in front of them. The cat didn't even pause, instead it laid down, rolled over meowed and waited for the kids to pass it. Anyway.... As I said in yesterday's blog....it was pole night. You all know how I feel about pole night, but last night marked the 16th week I had been going to pole - that's 4 months of my life that have apparently just flashed past without even noticing. Every week I look forward to our hour of pole dancing, because for an hour I can challenge my body and my mind to make me do things I never thought I could. Pole makes you forget what the problem was. I went to pole in an uncharacteristically savage mood yesterday and an hour later I stepped out of the leisure centre chipper as a cat in an aviary. We don't usually attend pole on a Thursday so there were lots of new faces, who of course then assumed we were new - it was like stepping back 4 months into that first lesson, with everyone looking and giving encouraging smiles - you're here, well done! There were of course the people we knew, who get the opportunity to do it twice a week - lucky sods!! Anyway, the new person shine wore off once we stepped onto our poles and started inverting. That drew a few "ah, right" glances. We had Robyn instructing us, who (as all of them do) makes it look super easy!! She's very patient and when I told her I needed a challenge she went through the possibilities. I rather sheepishly told her that my inverts aren't so hot so she asked me what AM I good at? Well, I'm good at climbing. I've also put a fair amount of work into deadening the nerves on my thighs sufficiently to do a good knee-release without grimacing. Usually I do a knee release holding my foot - like so But tonight it was both hands off of the pole, asking my knee to use the force (haha). Here it is... As as a still - which makes me look like I know what I'm doing ;) As you can see, I'm not new to climbs - they're nice and easy, but the two handed thing threw me....what if my leg gave way? It didn't. How many times have I tried to get myself to trust my body and accept it knows what it's doing? Know that it's strong enough to face whatever challenge I put in front of it? This is an important lesson for the upcoming event. My body knows how to survive, it knows what to do, when and it's strong enough to complete. That is what I need to have faith in. Every week, slowly but surely I add to the arsenal of knowledge that I AM strong enough, that I CAN do it. As I said yesterday - what happens when we think about what we CAN do instead of what we cannot? after thinking about this. Knowing that I made the choice of whether to be scared by these news things or not I decided to choose to work against it. To know I'm strong. The Butterfly that I was trying to get last week happened almost immediately after I gave up the fear. Try it for yourself :) (letting go of your fear. Not the butterfly. I mean, you're welcome to try that too but it HAS taken me 4 months.... :p) I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes: To get on with it and challenge myself. To acknowledge that I am the person I am trying to be THIS VERY MOMENT in time. Not in a week, a month, when I'm skinner, braver, richer, older....This is my creed.
pole nights rock ;) So, short update for this evening!!
We have had some bad news tonight - Kirsti (one of our team members) has decided that she does not want to take part in the Trailwalker event. On the back of that we're looking for our 4th team member - if you fancy walking 100km with a bunch of girls let us know.... xD Anyway, I had a sleepy day today. You know those days. The ones where you can't really remember what you were doing 10 seconds ago. So I had a sleepy day today....you know, one of those days.... :p Anyway. Tonight was Pole night xD As the last night of the challenge I decided to film myself on the pole! I'm still waiting for that from Tom's phone - I'll have to write my essay on the amazingness of pole tomorrow with attached footage (I also did the Butterfly from last week....whoop!!), so instead I'm going to go with the theme of running. Today I went over my blogs from when I started the c25k programme back in March 2012. I read through the posts on my old blog and whilst I was writing the article for our "today's news section" (Light, sleep and Obesity) I considered what some of my problems have been in the past that still haunt me today. I'm scared. Why can't I do handstands? Why have I sabotaged my own weight loss before? Because it comes back to the fundamental fear of failure. Why lose weight when I can blame something or someone else? Well, I'm not getting enough sleep/I'm too busy at work to work out/my husband makes amazing food....we've all used those excuses before - when do they become redundant? They became largely redundant for me a little over two years ago. Don't get me wrong, I still have those days where I want to blame ANYone else for my unhappiness or failure to do something - Ah, Dave the cat ate my sock, damn I can't go running or ooops, Tom is busy and can't go to the gym. Neither of those things mean that I don't have to to, or that I can't but it's still tempting to believe that outside circumstances have a large impact on my choices. I believe we all make choices. They lead to outcomes. Sometimes those outcomes could never been seen in a million years, sometimes it's an obvious one. At the moment I know I'm CHOOSING to allow myself to be scared. Scared of failing, scared of hurting myself (those damn handstands), scared of looking silly. When you think about it though - what do any of those things actually mean in the long term? Obviously choosing to play chicken with 10-tonne lorries is off the cards, but that's a RATIONAL thing to be scared of. Going upside down on a pole or doing a handstand.....well, I'm sure it happens but how many people actually hurt themselves doing those things? The fear is everywhere too. Don't ride a motorbike - you might get killed. Don't eat too much sugar - you might get killed. Don't eat carbs - you'll get fat. Don't don't don't. How many of us consider what would happen if we do? Where would our lives take us if we just said "yes" and trialled it? Anyway, talk about a tangent! Running. I came across this whilst I was looking for something else and found it an interesting read - ladies, it always feels hard to work out during period week and this article explains that it's not just in our heads!! http://www.active.com/running/articles/running-for-women-6-ways-running-impacts-the-female-body?page=1 Anyway, it's past bedtime for me - so over and out. Happy running XD p.s. keep those clicks coming peeps :) ""You are transient. The one constant in our life is change..." |
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