This year, I was definitely NOT summer ready. I’d got into bad habits of snacking at work, drinking wine on days with a Y in them, and not doing a much exercise. Ok…not doing ANY exercise!
My stomach had developed a muffin top, and slowly but surely, I was having to buy a whole new wardrobe, not because I wanted to, but because nothing actually fitted anymore.
I had to make a change.
The problem is, I find exercise quite boring. I loathe going to the gym and pounding the treadmill, lifting weights until my arms burn, or ploughing up and down the swimming pool. Its dull. I’d much rather do something a bit more…fun.
It was then that I came up with the idea of roller skates. Yes, you did just read that right.
I knew that I was probably too old for skating, but it would be great exercise and good fun! I’d loved disco roller skating as a teenager, whizzing round the local sports centre in my skates and fluorescent leg warmers while the DJ played Wham!
What was to stop me doing it again?
I bought myself a pair of fabulous black and pink skates and wasted no time in going for my first practice skate to warm up before I hit the nearest roller disco. With my husband in tow for moral support, I went to the flattest place I knew, which was Waddesdon car park, and I put my skates on.
Feeling nervous, I rose to my feet and my legs immediately turned to jelly. I wobbled around for a bit, holding on to a fence for balance, before getting up the nerve to just go for it. And you know what? I was ok.
“Film me!” I called out to my husband as I wobbled past him, and he dutifully took some footage on his mobile phone. I could imagine how I looked, youthful, with the wind in my hair and a grin on my face. The only things missing were Wham! and my leg warmers.
Later, as I held an ice pack to my aching back, he showed me the video footage, and let’s just say that the reality did not fit the dream. I realised I was no longer that cool teenager. I was a fifty-year-old woman in knee pads, wobbling around a carpark like Bambi on ice.
Needless to say, I’ve put the roller skates on Ebay and signed up to a boring gym membership.
At least I’m Autumn ready.
Sherry x
