A lesson learned

At the time of writing this blog, it’s 24 days into January and this is how my New Year’s resolution (exercising every day for 50 days) has gone so far: day one, long walk (well it was New Year’s Day and I was very tired and just a little bit hungover); day two, long walk (it does get better – but only just); day three, run (woo!); day four, trampolining; day five, run; day six, strength & conditioning exercises; day seven, run; day eight, swim; day nine, lots of work to get done; day ten, tired; day 11… as you can see, my New Year’s Resolution failed less than two weeks into January. It was tricky keeping the momentum up with a hectic working day and a mentality that has always been: exercise one day, rest the next. Oh well, I tried. And I’m consoling myself with the thought that as it was a New Year’s Resolution, it was destined to go wrong.

The beauty of running

Now I’ve had time to take stock of my exercise demise, I’ve started to realise just why I didn’t do so well. You see, the only part of my routine I’ve managed to stick to is the running. OK, my runs are not always that long, but I manage to get out there. In contrast, the swimming pool was absolutely packed, horse riding is very expensive and I’m yet to find a badminton court I can get to easily after work. I’m not giving up on these activities completely, but it’s safe to say that trying to combine all of the above into my weekly exercise routine has made me appreciate just how damned convenient running actually is! I mean, in the time it took me to get to the pool, change, find a working locker, swim, shower and head home, I could have gone for an hour’s run! Running is also free. I admit the reason I failed on my 50 days of exercise wasn’t solely for this reason (I can talk myself out of exercise on a cold winter’s night with the best of them), but it didn’t help. From now on, I have a more realistic goal – to keep enjoying my running, and fit in the other activities as and when I can. (Incidentally, I’m still loving the trampoline!)