Deary Diary: April

April Stats…

Start Weight: 11st 3.8 lb

Weight Now: 11 st 4.5lb

Monthly Gain: .7lb

Total loss: 13.5lb

Waist: 30.5″

Miles Run: 18.82

Average Distance per run: 3.1 miles

Like I said in my only other post this month, April has been a real struggle. Whilst I’ve always travelled around a lot, this month has seen a sudden increase and also more actual *travel* rather than just being away from home, which has meant more snatched meals in service stations and restaurants. It’s one thing getting home after a busy day at work, with the makings of a healthy dinner in the fridge and having the willpower not to order a pizza, quite another arriving at a restaurant after that long, busy day and having the will power to choose what ever lacklustre “healthy” options they deign to offer instead of the steak and chips.

I did OK on my running twice a week goal, until the end of April when I managed to get ill again, this time with a stomach bug AND a head cold in the same week, it wasn’t fun.

What I have done is started on the fabled Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred , by day 3 I wanted to die. I am now on day 7 of week 1 and it’s far easier. I’m not sure if I look any better after just 7 days, my tape measure and scales certainly don’t show any significant difference, but the exercises are certainly getting easier, and I’m improving my form and doing the harder versions (though I still can’t do straight leg push ups, at least not 40 of them)

The thing that is happening in May, is that according to My Asics my official training for the Larking Gowen Half Marathon begins. This isn’t all about weight loss, it’s about my journey from “person who occasionally did a bit of Wii Fit” back in May 2012, to “person who has signed up to run 13.1 miles” in May 2013. This one is going to be a real challenge for me. I’ll HAVE to fit the training in around this stupid busy life, no excuses, but at least it’s light later at night now!

The reason I am running, or one of the reasons I am running, is that I want to raise lots of money for Parkinson’s UK. When I ran my very first 5k (which I am signed up to again this year) I raised £371 for Cancer Research, I ran it on the same day that I got a phone call from my Mum telling me that my Grandad had cancer. He died in December. In January I lost my Nana, she suffered from Parkinson’s and it’s an awful disease that not a lot of people know much about. It’s not just shaking, it has a whole host of symptoms including depression, bladder and bowel problems, and problems with swallowing and eating. So I’m running this Half Marathon in memory of my Nana, she found the idea of me running anywhere at all quite bemusing, but she should have spent the last few years of her life pottering around the garden and helping out at the History Society instead of stuck in a chair and in and out of hospital with falls.

If you’d like to donate to Parkinson’s UK, I’ve set up a Just Giving page.

Aprils Achievements

Not many in a fitness and health sense. Even putting a positive spin on it I can’t claim April contains any successes. Still, onwards and upwards!

May’s Goals

Finish the 30 Day Shred. All 3 levels.

Start Half Marathon training. My Asics gives me a distance of 46.5 miles in May.

PLEASE get me back under 11 stone!