Today has been bloody fantastic!
Despite my reservations I managed to climb that big hill that I have talked about…the one I climbed at the end of September and really struggled with. I did not struggle today…I was up it like one of the local mountain goats. Okay, okay…that might be a slight stretching of the truth…but I climbed it!
The last time I climbed it – about two months ago – it took me over two hours. Two hours of sweat, aching joints, and tantrums…at least three…yes, three times I literally threw myself on the floor and shouted that I could not go any further. I rested for ages on every bench and complained pretty much all of the time. Yet I still felt a sense of satisfaction when I got back to the car.
Today…well, today was a different story. I walked past the first two benches, rested only for a few minutes in total, got to the top without any tantrums, and was back at the car within an hour. So I have halved my time and improved my mood exponentially within the past two months. This is despite shedding less than 2st since then. Obviously, the work I have been doing at the gym has really strengthened my body…so all of those tough weeks without decent weight losses were not as unproductive as I might have thought.
Mr WLB was so pleased and kept muttering about how impressed he was and how proud he was of me. When I reached the top I was quite shocked. When I finally got to the bottom, I actually wondered – albeit fleetingly – if I could push myself to go up again! Baby-steps though…I know my limitations!
I did have a chuckle on the way down though. There I was, feeling all proud of myself and a tiny bit smug with my performance…and then some dude – I am guessing he was in his late sixties or early seventies and he looked as fit as heck – came running past me…yes, running past me. There is always one – that someone who has to dampen your spirits! He didn’t dampen mine though – I am in love with myself today and feel bloody amazing! I told my other half that I too would be running it eventually!
You can’t really be held back by ‘what if’…I cannot describe quite how happy I am now. I put that demon to bed and am actually looking forward to climbing up there again, rather than feeling it is something that I have to do to prove a point to everyone…to myself.
So how could I top that high?
Well, I went sledging in the snow! Again, ‘sledging’ might be a little bit of an over-exaggeration…I will explain shortly!
Mr WLB wanted to tick ‘winter snow sports’ off his list. I am not quite sure that sledging qualifies, but we didn’t have time for a snowboarding lesson, so we improvised. We headed to Aonach Mor and I had a choice…stay in the car whilst he went up on the cable cars and had fun…or join him.
So I too got in a cable car and headed up the mountain. Now, this was the toughest part – as I hate heights – and last time I was here, I went on the cable car and was quite happy with that experience…didn’t really want to do it again. Halfway up I was nearly in tears as wind was high and there was sideways snow…it was not a good journey. I wasn’t happy with Mr WLB for getting me in the bloody swaying metal box of death as I thought of it! Once my feet were on solid ground though, I was happy again.
I headed to the cafe for a peppermint tea with plans of watching Mr WLB through the window. That didn’t go according to plan – for a start, they didn’t have peppermint tea! There was also a teenager giving me the evil-eye…and I could see my other half having all sorts of fun…so I thought sod you both, I am joining in.
It looked ace, so we walked a tiny bit up the hill and I got on the sledge. This sounds quite straightforward…but it wasn’t. It was the most ungraceful sledge mounting of all time I think…I did notice that some skiers decided to head into the cafe at this point in time…perhaps they didn’t fancy 25st+ of sledging WLB heading towards them.
But sod it, I was off…kind of. It didn’t really go according to plan. Gravitational friction took hold and I ground to a halt after the grand total of two metres. It was hilarious! Have you ever seen a dog scooch along on a carpet trying to scratch it’s arse? Okay…imagine a 25st WLB on a sledge doing the same. It was just not happening for me…I was digging in deeper and deeper and the snow was working it’s way through my leggings and into my lady area…wet knickers part two!
But at least I had a fecking go. I could have sat in the cafe all miserable and wishing that I was out there. I actually wish I got the view that those in the cafe did of me…I can only imagine. I really don’t give a shite though…I had a go and that’s what matters. Next year, I am greasing the bottom of that sledge and bloody well flying down that hill!
So that is it for today folks. If I can urge you to do one thing on the back of today’s blog, it would be to just get out there and have fun!
Breakfast: Smoked salmon and cream cheese toasties (HEA and 2 x HEB).
Lunch: Tuna (11 syns) and baked bean jacket potato.
Dinner: Poached salmon fillets, Bombay roast potatoes and salad.
Snacks: Total Greek yogurt and fruit with a mini Green & Blacks bar (3.5 syns).
A gorgeous food day. The toasties of yesterday made a reappearance and were just as tasty as yesterday’s ones were. Lunch was a bit of a bugger. It was very tasty, but I wrongly assumed that the tuna I had ordered would come as is…instead it was tuna mayo. I am betting that it wasn’t low fat mayo, and the full fat stuff is 5.5 syns per tablespoon…so I have had to allocate 11 syns to that little lot as I guesstimated more than 1tbsp but less than 2tbsps given the amount and consistency! Dinner was delicious. I had some poached salmon fillets and partnered these with salad and some Bombay roast potatoes…gorgeous. My snacks were amended due to the synful lunch…a nice bowl of fruit with a bit of chocolate.
Exercise: A decent hill walk and a minuscule – not even worthy of a mention really – amount of sledging!