... and other cliches that annoy me include...
"If at first you don't succeed, try try again"
"You can't teach an old dog new tricks"
"You can't have your cake and eat it"
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger"
No, wait, I like that one.
More on those later. Back to today.
It's 30th December 2011 and I'm starting a New Year Resolution.
If I'm being honest, I completely suck at these. Previous ones (that have failed) include training for a marathon, eating healthily, being faithful to my husband, keeping a diary and learning how to use that hoovery thing in the cupboard.
But this year will be different. For starters I'm starting early. And this time I'm going to just try one of the above. I want to keep a blog. And this time it's going to work. I'm not entirely sure how I know this, as I haven't managed it before, but, hey, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
So let's start with a little bit about me.
I'm 41 years old (or as I like to call it, thirty-eleven). I went back to college at the age of 35 (twenty-fifteen), and got a Masters in Astrophysics. So you can teach an old dog new tricks. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was twenty-nineteen. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to have cake and eat it, but I'll find a way. Even if it's gluten-free.
Oh and another thing. I was diagnosed with Asthma when I was thirteen. (that's 13 by the way). Before that I had spent years and years feeling really pants. I had no energy. Sports days were a nightmare, either because I couldn't breathe or because I was too busy sneezing to catch my breath (I get hay fever too). I couldn't even run for the bus. It didn't get much better once I was diagnosed though. My blue inhaler made day-to-day life a bit better, but I would still end up in hospital with some form of chest infection every so often. It made training for a marathon really difficult.
OK, I didn't really train for a marathon. But I used to watch the London one on the telly every year and wish. That maybe one day I could do that, if I tried really really hard, and trained really really hard, and stuff. But it never happened. Every so often I'd try - I'd read lots of books about training, get some running gear (in a size too small, because I was convinced I'd shrink into them soon), and even join a gym. This would normally happen some time around 1st January. Every year. Then I'd start running. And stop. Because either I couldn't breathe, or my knees would start hurting, or because I had chocolate to eat.
About 5 years ago, two things happened that changed my life.
The first one was a purple inhaler called Seretide. Suddenly breathing wasn't a problem anymore.
The second one was bumping into a slightly cuddly woman in running gear (a size too small for her) along the seafront. She had a medal around her neck, and a very smug look on her face. I wanted both. So I stopped her and asked her how she got the medal. I was going to ask about the smug look, but figured that was a bit rude. She beamed at me and told me she had just finished a triathlon.
A what? I thought that you had to be super-fit to do one of those. Doesn't it involve a channel swim, a month of cycling, and then a whole marathon? With no breaks for chocolate or anything? How could someone so normal-looking (if a little cuddly) manage one of those AND look so smug?
It turns out that, just like most things, triathlons come in different sizes. Yes, you can do the channel swim, Tour de France & then a marathon. But you can also do ten lengths of a pool, a bit of a cycle ride and then run (or even walk) a mile or so. And get a medal. And call yourself a Triathlete.
So that New Year, I decided I was going to train for a triathlon. I'll tell you about that tomorrow.
I hope.
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