It’s estimated that up to one billion people watched the opening ceremony and 90% of the UK population tuned into the televised coverage. So we are on a high and sport is all around us, will you be taking up a new sport or trying harder to achieve greater goals in the ones you already play?
I have a confession to make….drum roll…..pause for dramatic statement…..I’m pants at sport! Always have been, at school I was expected with such long legs to be a great runner – sadly I wasn’t. With the longest arms in the world I was expected to be a great tennis player, but with atrocious hand-eye coordination I was rubbish, by the time I had spotted the ball it was past me like a flash.
Swimming hasn’t been any better I recently enrolled in a day long course to improve my swimming, if only I had been able to master the strokes in the gym as everyone else did I might have stood a chance in the water. I proved uncoordinated on land means you are even more likely to be uncoordinated in the water – with a greater risk of drowning.
During my teens and twenties I rode a string of horses and have a lovely box of rosettes and photographs to prove it, but I was never a gifted rider and gave up riding when I became a responsible parent – I can hear my kid’s laughter from here.
When I first met my husband he tried hard to encourage me to ski, and after a number of lessons on the dry slope he took me off to St Anton on holiday. Being a bit of a show off I strutted my stuff in front of the instructors and was chuffed to be put in the improvers class. My showing off didn’t last through the afternoon when I was shattered, with legs like jelly and an instructor shouting from the bottom of the slope “come down zee mountain on zee arse”. I arrived back at the hotel when it was pitch dark and everyone else was enjoying a little après ski, the tears flowed and I vowed never to ski again. Of course I did but still haven’t mastered the technique.
I took up running aged 47 and found woo hoo at last there was something I could do, not much skill involved I admit, we learn from an early age how to put one foot in front of the other, but the breathing, alright we learnt that early as well but no one had taught me to do both things at once, breathing and running was something of a challenge for me. Once I had mastered the technique I found not only could I run (having sworn blind for years that I couldn’t), but that I also enjoyed it. I’m yet to experience the runners high I’ve been promised although I was elated the first time I ran a complete circuit of Regents Park; those 3 miles marked a change to me from a walker to a runner.
I have been seen running for a sale sign, show me 50% off and I’m there like a light, I’ve managed to combine sport and shopping to good effect.