I’m not what you’d call a natural sportsperson. When I was a teenager, I was much happier in the library than in the gym, and only attended PE lessons at High School for the first year, after which I realised that if you didn’t turn up to the first class of term to pick a sport, you weren’t on any of the registers and therefore couldn’t be absent. (Please don’t read this, kids!)
Then I had children, and it quickly became apparent that Mums did not feel ok about leaving their young children with their Dads to go to the pub, but they did feel ok leaving them so they could exercise (even if they went to the pub afterwards). My Mum friends were always out rowing and running and cycling, but I didn’t do any of those things, so I never got to see them without the kids in tow.
Then my boys started school and I made new friends who were even more into exercise than the last lot. They were always off paddleboarding or kayaking, playing volleyball or football, running and even winning marathons, winning rowing and sailing competitions. For them, a swim in the sea meant actually swimming: heads down, front crawl, for a respectable distance. For me, it meant going in for a swim, screeching at the cold, and coming out before I’d got to my knees. I certainly never got my hair wet.
If I wanted to get in with this lot, it was time to up my game and become a joiner-iner.
Since then, I have gone on to run a marathon in the South of France (in a thunderstorm!). I’ve started going to a weekly hula hooping class, and tried all sorts of other things like Aerial Hoop and rock climbing. I do lots of walking. I’ve finally started to make the most of living by the sea, going in for proper swims in summer and quick dips in winter, rowing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and even doing yoga on a paddleboard. I’ve entered the colour rush and the raft race in Teignmouth Regatta. None of them are team sports and I’m not going to win any competitions, but I’m much more active now and – best of all – I actually enjoy it!