It came to my attention last week, as I was gleefully frolicking around on the beach, that I could no longer run after my 11 year old son without clutching at my chest and gasping for oxygen.  Being that he is probably not the most athletic of children (without sounding cruel, he does constantly stumble in at last place in every school sports day race) it was more of a wake-up call to me that I should perhaps look into starting up some type of fitness regime.

I have been here before though…. 

Many moons ago, I decided to get up when dawn’s cackling crows interrupted my restful sleep…  I thought I should take the opportunity to go for an early morning walk.

So dragging myself out of my comfy bed, I squeezed my nether regions into a pair of trembling Lycra cycling shorts, screwed my tangled mop of hair into a top-knot, donned my bottle-end glasses and headed out into the warm morning sun for a spot of exercise.

What I didn’t bank on was a whole fleet of slick, toned, tri-athlon style power walkers, all bright and merry and exceptionally happy to greet you on passing….  I certainly wasn’t expecting such a social event – I just wanted to rid my thighs of the cellulite I had accumulated whilst sitting writing a book…. I still had sleep in my eyes, I didn’t want to converse.

After about 15 minutes of painful hill-walking I gave up on the whole fitness-thingy, not only was I perspiring from my knee-caps – I just wanted to escape from these super fit people and their jolly greetings until I was suitably washed and had mascara on….

So making a decision to become fit again and not have to reach for an oxygen mask every time I wanted to play with my children, was one I really wanted to stick to. So this week, I have taken up walking again. But don’t think I am glutton for punishment, this time I had a cunning plan!

Instead of joining the masses for a dawn dash, I wait until everyone is tucked up in their homes, watching CSI Miami/NY/Florida/Omaha or whatever it is they do, then I creep out, and have a 20 minute exhausting power-walk… holding weights and everything…and come home feeling absolutely great. Without anyone seeing me.

The point to this story is though, not only do I feel great for finally doing some exercise, but that the most amazing sight greeted me when I reached the top of our hill…

The street lights in our area are not very bright, so although I do panic in case I squish/trip over a cane toad, when I reached the top of our hill, I gasped at the beautiful night sky…. the array of stars that blanketed above me was breathtaking.  I know I have seen this sight before, but I had taken for granted just how unimaginably wonderful the southern night sky was.

I love my evening walk now, I feel fitter, enjoy a fabulous setting and never have to compete with the greyhound bottomed athletes and their mighty-medicine-ball-breasts…

And one last note…. although my son isn’t the typical Aussie sportsman, he can play the guitar wonderfully!

Simply strummin'