As January closes and February reveals itself to us, I am
smiling down at my phone like some loved-up teen who has just gotten a text
from his crush. Except I'm not looking at a text, I'm looking down at the numbers 9-0-4-6.
No it’s not the PIN number to my better half’s laser card,
although I wish it was – ka-ching! It is the sum total of my walking/jogging
efforts since January 1st this year! I actually can’t believe it.
That’s from my house in Galway to… Foxford! Or Moate! Ok maybe not the most
extravagant places to visit but it's still the same distance to one of these places. Admittedly I’m pretty sure work/friends would
be pissed if I disappeared for 30 days and only ended up in Moate but still…
In January, I moved myself that distance 9-0-4-6... which is I imagine is 8-9-0-0 more than I moved in the past year!
90km over 20 separate trips equates to 4.5km a trip. Not too
shabby for a newbie! The most interesting thing about all of this is the amount of calories I burned
off… According to the most
health/fitness websites, an average man consumes around 2500 calories a day to
maintain his weight. This means I burned off three whole days food! I’m so proud of
myself. This is three whole days food that used to find a comfy squidgy corner somewhere in my body to cosy in for the long haul.
Then I worked out that a Mars bar has 242 calories…
So I have burned off 31 mars bars (conveniently one a day!). Looking back at my past food
habits, I would often just grab a chocolate bar from the vending machine/local
shop to get go with my coffee to get over the 3pm slump. Or I’d stop in the
shop on my way home from work for milk or the lotto (which I will win one day
just so you know!) and I’d grab a bar just because they are right beside the
till. Where were those calories going but straight into that cosy comfy squidgy corner.
It’s crazy to think looking back that I was that person –
one who made lazy choices at every opportunity. Yes – I used the word ‘choices’
there as everything we do, consciously or not is a choice. Yes I still see the
chocolate stand in my local shop when I stop to do the lotto (which I’m raging
I still haven’t won) but I am no longer going for a chocolate bar.
Having never worked out before, or having never tracked my
exercise before, I had no idea what I could achieve in a month. So at the start
of the month, I had no set goal in mind when I took myself off the couch and
out the front door for my first walk of 2013. Without a goal I didn’t know what
I was working towards but I guess I was happy out seeing that number increase
after every walk/jog I had completed.
Now I know what I can in a month. 9-0-4-6… And with that, my
goal for February is to beat that number!
These milestones are brilliant motivation. Glad you're enjoying what you're doing, and well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks! In fairness, you are my inspiration! See you run the half marathon last year was pretty damn inspirational! Maybe one day we'll do a full marathon together!
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