The Fat Bloke Diaries

Episode Sixty-Five – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

At this time, when the Christmas presents are finally making their way into their permanent places around the house and the last sprout has been either refried or binned, it’s traditional for regular writers to use their articles to sum up the past year. I’ve been pretty regular this year (in the FBD production at least!) so I’ll give it a go.

I started 2009 in determined fashion. So much so that in the January sales I bought my first ever pair of running shoes. For the first time in my life I had a fitness goal and a personal reason for attaining it. I told lots of people of it so there was no way that I could quit. And I’m pleased to say that I didn’t. Last year will forever be remembered as the one when I ran my first 10k, the Great Yorkshire Run. I say ‘my first’ because it definitely isn’t going to be my last. Although I will never claim to be a running junkie, I have at least signed up for this year’s Great Yorkshire. Just like at the start of last year I’m now in training (i.e. I’ve been for a few long walks over the Christmas break), but it should be easier this time. This time the fear of the new has gone. I know for certain that I can do it. Putting all those miles in before last year’s race was difficult for this fat bloke – especially the ones in the heat and humidity of my holiday in Florida – but they paid off; the day itself was (relatively) easy and I could actually enjoy it.

As a happy by-product I’d lost two and a half stones by the time the big day came around. I then rashly promised to lose another nine pounds before Christmas. Looking back that may have been a little overambitious of me as since then I’ve put one of those stones back on. But I recognised the problem (I suspect that the return to zero exercise may have caused it) and managed to stop the slide. Now that I’m doing at least something again the weight is very slowly starting to slip off once more. I’m fully confident that I’ll start losing serious poundage once I get back into proper running again. The good thing is, I feel that I’m in control of it now. If I feel the need to lose a little weight I just have to cut down on the pizza and beer for a few days and slip the special shoes on. It’s not magic, it’s simple hard work, but I know that I can do it. I’ve done it before.

Apart from running I also did a fair bit of exercise on Snowy, my Wii Fit board, aided and abetted by Derek, my virtual trainer. This resulted in a little extra fitness and a lot of laughs as I tried to put myself into the unnatural positions that they suggested. The Beloved has never asked me to try some of these, that’s for sure, and she’s a whole lot better looking than Derek. And female. And real.

And just when I was starting to get a bit bored of the board, along came the new upgrade pack – Wii Fit Plus. Good old Santa delivered that last week. Goodness only knows what they’re going to ask of me this time. Someday I’ll have to load it onto the machine and find out.

Another thing that I did this year was keep churning The Fat Bloke Diaries out every week. Whatever the circumstances, these 800 or so words appeared every Monday. They gave me another reason for not pigging out and for taking my exercise fairly seriously. If I slipped in my fitness regime then I’d have to tell you about it. Or lie. Neither of these options appealed to me. So I kept at it all; the healthy eating, the exercise and the weekly Diary. But I think that the FBD has run its course now. I’m starting to repeat myself. And I’m starting to repeat myself. All good things come to an end. And so does the weekly Fat Bloke Diary.

Thanks for reading these Diaries. It’s been good to share.

Have a fantastic new year.

© Shaun Finnie 2010
 

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