Start of the mission

Just after Christmas I stepped foot in the gym for the first time in nearly a year. It was one of those post-Christmas "let's shift some of this weight" type decisions and for the first couple of weeks I embraced my inner Jessica Ennis and really got in to it.

Now, when I say I got in to it, what I actually mean is I spent a bit of time half heatedly peddling on a bike and then sat on some mats for a bit pretending I was doing sit-ups and the like. This quickly got quite boring.

Whenever I've been in gyms previously, watching people on treadmills has given me cold sweats. Not because of the exercise but because they genuinely terrify me - I honestly could never understand how there aren't more fatalities linked to them. Anyone who knows me will know I'm not always the most stable on my feet - I'm 23 yet still spend a lot of time with scabby and bruised knees like a seven year old who's fallen down in the playground. (Admittedly, much of this has something to do with trading in playgrounds and plimsolls for killer heals and nightclub dance-floors!)

So after getting increasingly bored of my gym routine I gave myself a good talking to and decided I had to conquer the irrational treadmill fear. Clinging tightly to the bars on one I managed about two minutes on some kind of weird fast walk pace before I decided that was more than enough for one day. But most importantly, I didn't die.

A few of these awkward fast walks later and my confidence in the treadmill was high enough for me to give it a go without holding on. I still panicked and grabbed the sides every now and again, and I had to keep my head perfectly straight and still while I was moving, but I was doing it!

Fast forward a few weeks and the novelty wore off and I started getting bored again. I decided I needed some proper motivation before I slowly packed up with this gym business altogether. So the obvious thing to do would be sign up for a 10k race, obviously.

I'm now at the 12 week countdown stage and starting to think seriously about not only the training but also the fundraising. I've always fancied doing a blog but never really had anything worthwhile to write about, so thought this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

For the next 12 weeks I intend on posting around once a week with an update on my training and fundraising, I'll try and keep it at least marginally entertaining, and not slightly overly long and waffly like this one! I thought it would be something a bit more creative than the re-posting of "Kay Knowles is fundraising on Just Giving" on a daily basis (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

So, here we go, wish me luck!