Get busy

Today I did something I've quite possibly never done before in my life- I exercised, without anyone telling me to.

When I was younger, I played a little bit of sport and participated in school PE classes when my AS pain wasn't too severe. Once I left school (five years ago now) my pain got worse and worse but I also got extremely lazy. I wasn't at all bothered about swimming or walking to keep fit, only about the way I looked. Since any weight I gained went straight to my chest, I had no desire to exercise at all.

I've been AS pain-free for two years now, and it hasn't made one bit of difference to my motivation to get fit. Over the past year some extra weight has crept on, without me really paying much attention. It's easy to see how it happened- I have a reasonably short walk to work, I sit down all day, walk home, eat rubbish food, and sit around with Charlie, and I suspect I'm also losing my teenage metabolism. Anyway, I was aware I'd gained weight, but I hadn't really noticed how much until the past week or so. I looked at myself in the mirror and realised I don't look like a slim girl with big boobs anymore because my torso is expanding too.

Even before I came to this realisation, I'd considered starting a programme like the Couch-to-5K run for quite a while but just never got around to it. This morning on my way to work I saw a few runners in the streets. I went on the App Store and downloaded the 5K Runner app. Straight after work, I walked home, tied back my hair, changed my clothes, put on my running shoes and did some stretches. And then I left, iPhone in pocket and instructions in my ears.

The app interrupts your music to tell you when to walk and when to run, and builds up over the course of eight weeks. Today I went around our neighbourhood, then up the hill into the walking tracks. The wind was blowing something crazy, the sun was beating hot, and I was probably panting like a wild thing, but it felt great. I was out for just over half an hour, and came back home sweaty and energised. I feel silly for not starting this programme months ago, but I'm so glad I just got my ass into gear and began.

I'm not interested in tracking my weight or calories or measurements, I just want to get active and stop being so damn unfit. I'm already looking forward to doing some more tomorrow! Exercising is step one in becoming a healthier person- once it's become a regular part of my routine I think I'll start making a greater effort to eat healthy food. And someday I'll definitely have to quit smoking. Today has been a good start.