I have had quite a few clients over the years who hit their 50th birthday and decide it’s time to…:

• Get fitter
• Have a health check
• Eat better
• Do more stuff
• Get things done

I think this is a great plan, but why wait?  I decided to get a head start and get myself as healthy as I can by the time I am 50.  Which gives me approximately 354 days.

I already run (plod…involving a fair bit of walking) four times, do a circuits class and a spot of yoga each week, but I am not very strong.  And if you listen to the experts (and even if you don’t and just engage common sense instead), being strong becomes increasingly important as you get older.

So to address this particular thing, I asked Mr R for a weighted vest for my birthday.  I know we talked about the actual weight and the plates and what it would look like, but I think I must have made it into one of those tangles of wool I mentioned in my last post and…well, there are a couple of issues.

10kg (just over 1.5 stone) didn’t sound that heavy.  And the fact that it was a 4kg (ish) plate on the front and one on the back seemed almost irrelevant.

Oh fuck a duck.  Let me tell you, it’s not heavy…for about two minutes.  And then it is like some evil giant is pushing you into the ground with his thumbs pressing on your shoulders as they start to sag, followed closely by your knees and you wonder if the short dog walk you planned on might be your very last.

I did it though. 2km (accompanied by Mr R just incase I fell over and got stranded like a beetle on my back). And boy did I feel it the next day.  And two days later I repeated it.  Because the only way hard things get easier is to keep doing them, right?

But now we have another small issue:  I did not consider what it would look like.  Or maybe I did, but it was cold and it would be covered by my coat.  But actually, I only have one coat big enough to cover its bulk and it’s getting warmer and…well, I think I might have to accept that I’m going to be mistaken for armed police.  Or just a bit of a weirdo.

But I’ll be a strong weirdo, right? 🙂