Red faced

I have a friend who is avidly getting into 'life coaching'. Having another moan that Im fed up in my job, dont get out enough, need to lose a stone, etc etc. she told me i should look at coaching and something called the Circus of Life. Actually I misheard and she actually said Circle of Life - but i still like the idea of becoming a ring master/ mistress - not too keen on the top hat but like idea of the boots and whip! Anyway the idea is that if you want to change something you look at all areas of your life and you can find that making changes in one part lead to or help with changes in other areas.

So one of the areas in my life that i want to do something about is health and fitness (ie I dont have much). Giving up smoking - nearly 100%- having a long term fondness for alcohol and high calorie food, and something akin to an allergy to most forms of exercise, have all taken a toll. This toll shows up around my hips and belly mostly and i reaslied recently that i must have what is quaintly known as 'middle age spread' which actually sounds like a mouldy margarine.

So to give me a goal - if I am to be the circus master/ mistress of my life I must set goals and then work out the do-able steps to get me there - i have signed up to do one of the Cancer Research 10Km runs. (if i can work out how I'll link to their site as they're happening all over the country). It feels like I am making myself run before I can powerwalk, but I now have a goal and it also raises money for a very good cause. But realistically I have to start exercising every day - while I'd love to break a record, I dont want it to be for the longest time ever to do 10km. Like that man who took 5 days or something to finish the London Marathon, but he was dressed in an old fashioned divers costume so had an excuse (theres a thought)

My Mixed Up Mutt will love me even more if thats possible as I'll take him running with me. In fact given that he goes for walks twice a day and i cant think of any exercise i really like, these could turn into twice daily runs. Could. Maybe. I joined a gym several months ago, knowing that i hate it and the last time i joined one many years ago i went 6 times and gave up. And surprise surprise - have done exactly the same thing this time. Am now pondering whether its legal to sell on the other 6 months I have left on the membership. And note to self - dont ever ever ever fool yourself into joining a gym again - you really do hate it.

So today I went horse riding..this can be part of my fitness regime. I know that this seems like cheating, it's the horse getting the exercise but trust me, its made me feel muscles I didnt know I had (and reminded me that I have been single a v long time!!). This is the second time in about 20 years I have been on a horse - but between the ages of about 9 and 12 I was one of those obsessed young girls whose dream is to have their own pony and who spent every weekend literally shovelling shit (some things never change...!) at the local stables. Its like riding the proverbial bike - i managed to remember most things today - and even better, i still love it! I want a pony!!! But of course I'm grown up now and realise this is never going to happen (which is very sad).

I was on the horse for about half an hour, most of that trotting including the dreaded sitting trot - must get myself a decent sports bra - and I was all out of breath and jellied muscled when I got off. Some small girls stared at me - thinking she's a bit old and unfit to be riding, so i thought - and the lady I paid made the comment that i looked a bit hot (I was - very). But what I wasn't prepared for when I got in the car and looked in the mirror was the fact that I had morphed into a lobster, I seriously looked like I'd stuck my head into a pot of pillar box paint, I was soooo red.

This is a v dangerous condition as i kept having to check in the mirror whilst driving home to see if i was getting less red. I had wanted to pop into the shop for a paper on the way but didn't want to scare small children. I decided apart from not being a good look, being this red must mean I:
have developed v high blood pressure (its usually low but admittedly isn't something that's regularly checked)
was suffering after effects of last night's wine (its hard not to finish the whole bottle when there's noone to share it with), or
have burst all my blood vessels as a result of the riding malarkey (I burst them in my eyes when I was giving birth and looked like James Nesbitt does in his Jekyll character for weeks after).
I then remembered when I'd been out earlier walking Mixed Up Mutt it had been extremely sunny and while i had put sun cream on my arms and shoulders I hadn't put any on my face.

As it has now been several hours and i have a red tinge remaining I'm very happily telling myself that it must have been the sun, mixed maybe a bit with the exertions of sitting on a horse (honestly it really is tiring!). At least I hope it was the sun as I've signed up to join a Tuesday night riding group where they are starting to do jumping - imagine the colour I might be after that session!