That was then, this is now...... by shazzer

Thanks everyone for the welcomes back.  It is good to see so many familiar faces on here and lots of new ones.  I have enjoyed catching up with what everyone has been up to –and as always it motivates and inspires me to get out and exercise.

Not sure where to start but after the marathon in 2009 my knees had had it and after achieving my dream of running the London marathon my heart was not into the running either, despite best intentions of keeping it up.   So, instead of doing the sensible thing of getting the knees checked out and finding the problem, I just stopped exercising.  Fast forward to 2010, my husband bought me a road bike, I have always loved cycling and I loved getting out on those country lanes on a lovely summer evening.  So that was my exercise of choice of 2010, although I never did anything too strenuous I was cycling fairly regularly.  I would love to do a major bike challenge soon.

This year, my husband and I have taken up Taekwondo, mainly as the boys were doing it and rather than sit there and watch them we thought we would do it too. Really enjoying it – it is really helping with my core stability and general fitness.  I have been running off and on all year but in the last 3 weeks I have been running regularly again – at least 3 times a week - , taking it slowly but am comfortably running 3 miles plus and ready to press on with the mileage.

I have also lost 19lbs in weight this year.  The first stone went quite quickly but then struggled to shift anymore.   So about 5 weeks ago decided to join my husband on a no carb, no dairy diet – that seems to have done the trick.  Now I only have half stone to go to get down to my target weight.

Today, we decided to take the boys to Llandegla Mountain Bike Centre to complete one of the trails there.  I had never been before (my husband is here at least once a week). We picked a 12km route that started with a 2.5 mile climb. I am no MTBer but managed the uphill bit ok – we took it slow though as the boys had to get off and push occasionally and had a a few rest breaks.  Going downhill was another story however, I was terrified especially seeing the boys whizzing off down the trails – my brakes were put in good use.  I was such a wuss, it was good fun though and the boys loved it especially the downhill bits.  We all enjoyed it and came home extremely muddy. 

I then decided to head out for a run as soon as we got back and picked a hilly 3 miler – which I really enjoyed, felt fit and full of energy.  We had a lovely lamb dinner (no carbs) and then we headed off for an hour of Taekwondo Training!  So plenty of exercise today and not a carb in sight!  I am hoping that the weight will be gone in a month and then I will introduce carbs back into my diet which I will need as the training increases.

Long may it continue.