Mr Fat has an idea!

I was chatting with Caitlin via email the other day after being pointed in the direction of her blog, RoseRunner,  by Aunty Jules .

Anyhows, me and Caitlin got to discussing Mr Fat and she, being young, fit and healthy (we won't hold the fact that she is a lawyer against her - she does seem perfectly nice in every other respect....) and she was giving me some encouragement to keep up with my getting fit and losing weight regime  - now if I could only encourage the hundreds of folk who give me encouragement in these endeavours, to give me money instead I would be a rich guy, but hey, being friend rich is just as nice - and she suggested that Ishbel should get out there with me.....   Oh, how I laughed at that, in fact laughed so much I'm sure I must have lost a couple of pounds .....

Now Ishbel, as you all know is the other half I have had to put up with for over 37 years, give or take a millennium or two, and who is the Stan Laurel to my Oliver Hardy, the twiglet to my oak tree .... you get the picture right, I'm fat, she's skinny.

The Boss, looking FAB!

So, I mentioned this to the totally gorgeous creature who inhabits my life and after having to pat her on the back to assist her in her coughing and choking fit she says, "No more bloody emails between you and this Caitlin, if that's the type of advice she gives out, and she's a lawyer you say? Remind me never to ask her for advice should we ever be in the bay area (chance would be a fine thing). What else does she do?" she asked.  "Well., she runs, marathons." says I.  "Oh! she does, does she, well tell her.... "

Well, lets not go there shall we.  Suffice it to say, we and by we, I mean me and the kids who have all grown up now and flown the nest used to run, play, swim and cycle together when they were indeed kids. Ishbel on the other hand never learnt to swim, cycle or for that matter learn to run as a kid and still cant till this day.  " I can get enough exercise running about after you lot" is the usual riposte and let's face it while some would argue and of course that seems to be the new 'in vogue message that we are getting this last week in the news, that lack of any exercise is almost as bad for you as smoking and causes just as many deaths.. I kid you not that's what has been in the news here in the UK this week.

A lack of exercise is now causing as many deaths as smoking across the world, a study suggests.

But, Ishbel does get some exercise as, when she is not working, she gets out and about, walks to the station a mile and a half away gets a train, underground, train and heads over to visit the kids in Woking, and Northampton and Berkshire.  Not great, someone with more strength of character than I, might say to her, but hey, she looks good doesn't she and as she keeps reminding me, women in her family all live into their late ninety's - so , no time off for good behaviour for me then....

This idea I had, from today's title, you thought I had forgotten hadn't you, come on you know I ramble on, but I do get there eventually, As I was having a cycle run this morning, and today is the first day in months I have mounted my bike in anger and you will recall the last time I did this was months ago and I wrote then 

So, that's what I did, I got on the bike to go to the shops this morning which are a ten minute walk or a three minute cycle.  I've discovered that if you don't cycle regularly that getting back on to it, even for a few minutes, makes you feel as if you have just taken part in a gruelling stage of the Tour De France, seriously, you start to get pains in the top of your legs caused by the unfamiliar rotational movement, your ass starts to hurt again, even although there is still plenty of cushioning there and all of this as you cycled to the end of the street, shit what's it going to be like by the time I get to the shops.......  Do I stop and walk the bike back to the house or carry on pushing those stiff pedals that seem to be in need of some oil as they really don't feel like turning after being neglected for so many months.  Persevere was the answer so off I went teetering on my way to the shops to buy some paprika, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers and corn, for a spicy sauce I'm making later.

So off I went.  I decided to stay local and managed three circuits of of a square in the village.  Each circuit is about 1.7 -8 miles so I managed a paltry 5 miles this morning, but I really couldn't do any more as my legs were beginning to seize up and my bum was as numb as my gob after a visit to the dentist and having been given a shot! You will also know that I am a big fan of the Tour De France and as much as it pains me to say it (as I loathe and detest the company S**) - Go Wiggins, Froome and Cavendish, (who are all in the team sponsored by that appalling company).  Anyway, as those guys are peddling away hell for leather and they develop a problem, out jumps the mechanic from the following team car  and does a quick wheel, or in extreme cases, a bike change....

And my thought was, as you would have read previous posts, it's in there somewhere, I am forever getting punctures, and so with Caitlin's thought in mind, I thought I could get Ishbel up, strap a spare wheel to her back, she doesn't drive either.... and get her to jog along behind me... that way if I get a puncture, she could stagger up to the plate, hand over the new wheel, do a quick change, and I'd be on my way again.... what do you think, it has merit I think and it would kill two birds in one.  We'd both be getting fit together and still be going and doing everything together as we have been doing for the best part of the last half century!