There’s a lot to be said for giving yourself a difficult challenge (one that can be accomplished in a day) and just going for it and not giving up and getting it done. Things like cleaning the house top to bottom, or organising the spare room, or finally getting your taxes under control, or doing the weeding you’ve been putting off for months. It’s hard not to feel good about yourself after you’ve overcome something you weren’t sure you could do.
Yesterday, my challenge was the City to Surf fun run, in Sydney. Note – I do not run. Never. Well hardly ever, I did run the last fifty metres or so to the finish line. So let’s call it the City to Surf fun walk. Except this one wasn’t that fun…
I was not at all in the frame of mind to do the race – the exercise program had fallen by the wayside over the past few weeks, overcome by circumstances that one day I will blog about. And I forgot to bring my iPod, so was facing a boring walk of 14 kilometres. And it took soooooooo long to start (so long, in fact, that we were told the winner had finished BEFORE we crossed the start line). And then, within a few kilometres, my feet and hips and back started to ache (I think I need new shoes…)
By the time I reached the first Gatorade station, I threw it down and got a bit of a kick of energy (not doubt totally mental, but aren’t most of these things about the mind?) With every kilometre, I told myself, one more, one more. And so I attacked Heartbreak Hill – it’s more than a kilometre of just going up and up and up and is called Heartbreak Hill cause a lot of people don’t make it.
Well, I did. I powered up the sucker. And then paid for that the rest of the trip (my hips, my hips). But by reaching the top of that I was now more than half way to the finish, so decided I should keep going.
My final time was I believe (I hope, I’ll find out for sure tomorrow) less than three hours. Considering my lack of fitness, that’s not too bad. The only other time I did it, it was about 2 hours 25 minutes but I was pretty fit then. So I’m considering this year a time-setting exercise and now the aim is next year to be fit enough to smash the bastard.
Once the race was done, came another challenge – waiting for the bus. An hour and a half standing in line (my hips, my hips, my feet…) And then I got to Bondi Junction and immediately hopped a train to Tempe and as a result had nothing to eat until nearly 3, when I got some chips from the bar of the Concordia Club cause the kitchen had closed. Not happy, Jan.
I’m a little stiff and sore this morning, and no doubt will whinge a lot when I go to work later today, but at the same time – I did it. It was hard and I didn’t want to, but I persevered and I did it and once the exhaustion wears off, I’m sure I’ll be delighted in myself.
Must get fitter, must get fitter…