Personal Best
In just two short days' time, I shall be lining up with over 4,000 other mad people (out of about 35,000) to do something that is rather strangely called a "fun run". The course is 4km long and circles the Tan - the Botannical Gardens.
I do have an issue with the term "fun run". After all, if it was fun, why do you need to say so? Does anybody refer to going to the pub as "a fun pub night"? Or when we go, say, surfing for the day - do we refer to it as "fun surfing"? No, because the fun element is implicit in the activity.
Not so, I fear, with running.
Okay, I admit - I'm a little nervous. More than a little, perhaps. Or possibly a lot. I'm also excited, which is something. See, I've never done a run anywhere. Ever. The only time I ever ran as a child was when I was five. I was in a school running race and I came last. The teacher said that I would never be very good at running so I shouldn't bother in future. So I didn't. (see, the things you tell kids STICK)
I became a swimmer. I adore swimming. If I had to swim 4km around the Tan I'd be delighted - and perhaps a little cold this time of the year. But swimming is good. It's my sport. I even love watching it on TV. So why the hell am I doing a "fun run"?
Because it's step two on my Grand Plan. In October this year, I am doing my dream trip - the one I've always wanted to do but, for one reason or another, haven't. I've never been fit enough, or strong enough or sufficiently convinced enough that I could do it - so I never tried.
But over the last 8 months or so, I've been trying to get a bit fitter, just for the sake of good health - and I realised I needed a fitness goal to aim for. Of course, because this is me we're talking about, I couldn't find a nice, easy to reach goal that required the minimum of effort. No, I had to go for something huge, something that I thought I'd never be fit enough to do.
So on the 16th October this year, I will be heading to Nepal to hike the Annapurna Circuit and Annapurna Sanctuary. This is a 28 day trip, with 24 days walking. I will reach altitudes of up to 5216m and cover a distance of more than 300km - all on foot (there aren't any roads). We carry a day pack, which can weigh up to 10kg - but blissfully, there's no camping and instead, we stay in tea house accommodation, with actual beds.
If you're interested, you can find out more about the trip here.
But just so you know, this is the kind of thing I'll be walking through:
and...
I have to say that having something so huge to train for has actually been a really superb motivator so far. I have finally got myself into the swing with riding my bike to work 2-3 times a week (step one on my plan) and in two days, I do my very first fun run (I'll let you know afterwards just how much fun it was). I have also been doing weekly trips to Ferntree Gully to torture my poor old body with multiple ascents of the 1000 Steps! I'm already noticing how much fitter I've become.
So, on Sunday morning, when many of you mothers are enjoying a lie-in, sipping your well-deserved cuppa and delighting in the fact that you're not outside when it's so wet and windy - think of me, at 7.45am, embarking on my very first attempt at running around anything. I've raised a little money for Breast Cancer Research and I've dragged a few other hapless friends into the adventure - but one way or another, I will be there at the finishing line. Trust me, when I'm standing on that starting line, I will certainly be thinking about how I could be lying in bed with a cuppa!
I just hope I can actually run all the way. So far I've only run about 2.5 km without stopping, and only 3.8km in a single session. I also desperately don't want to finish last. That's my biggest fear - because I'm not very fast. I run - but I never said I sprinted. So my goal here is to just do it. To join in, to be a part of it all, to try and find some way for it to be FUN.
And let's face it, no matter how long it takes me, being my first time, it will still be a Personal Best.