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Running up that hill

I'm lucky enough to live somewhere beautiful.
I'm unfortunate enough to be intrinsically lazy. I love walking, but faced with the tough choice of another chocolate HobNob or getting a bit puffed out on a big hill, I'll go for the instant gratification and non-sweaty option.

This has presented me with a bit of a problem. I'm now seriously unfit, having done just one walk in 2011. So I decided to set myself a little challenged for 2012 - Walk 200 miles during the course of the year.

Sounds easy, right? Yeah - I've only got to do 3.8 miles per week. I have set myself some rules - strolling to the shop for a cappuccino doesn't count; it has to be a walk for the sake of a walk. Distances of under a mile don't count either.

3.8 miles a week. Easy. Yeah. Except I work, so in the the winter, weekdays are out. Still, 3.8 miles every weekend - can't be that hard, can it? Can't miss a weekend though, or I'll need to do 7.6 miles the next week. And I live in Cumbria - it only has one weather setting, and that's why we have bloody big lakes.

So I decided to get started promptly. 3.5 miles over Arnside Knott today. Considering it has rained every day for at least a fortnight, the mud factor was pretty high. So was the out-of-breath-possibly-having-a-heart-attack factor going up.

I'm pathetic. And I have a lot of walking to do. Did I mention I want to lose half a stone too? I had to deny myself chocolate this evening.

If you hear of a murderous rampage in South Cumbria over the next couple of weeks, it'll be me. Assuming I'm able to get out of the chair.

(CD's galore for Christmas! Currently listening to Tori Amos' "Night Of Hunters". Moodyaliciousness!)


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