Climbing a mountain.

Thursday night:

After writing that last post about how I need to get serious, I said to myself: there is no reason why I can't do some more exercise right now.
Myself: But I've done some, and I've got more lined up at 4pm. Don't wanna do more.
Me: I'm just sitting around wasting this special time I've created. It's really important. Get out there and exercise some more.
Myself: Awwww....

So I changed into my gym shorts, slapped on some sunscreen, and went out to tackle Mount Painter. As Canberra is up in the mountains (little mountains, Australia doesn't have any other kind), we have a few peaks nearby that aren't really that much higher than the surrounding houses. Mt Painter took me about 50 minutes from here, there and back. After a short downslope near home it was a gentle uphill the rest of the way through a couple of suburbs until I got the walking trail. I say walking trail, it was more a sheer cliff. But I scrambled up and through the gate at the top into the "reserve" land.

Can I just say that lots of stuff isn't fat-person friendly? I am about 20 kg (45 pounds) overweight, so I am obese but not, like, morbidly obese. I've seen lots of people bigger than me and I'm not sure how they cope. I can't fit into a kid's swing in the park, I have to wear my iPhone strap on my forearm because it barely fits on my upper arm (surely even a muscular man would find it too small), and this little gate into the bushland was a tight squeeze.

Anyway, I was up there on top of the world, behind the houses and above all the streets and noise. And I chickened out and came back down. I really don't like being alone in an isolated place, it scares me. So I didn't get to the peak a few hundred metres through bushland.

As soon as I got back it was time to pick up the kids from school and take them to gymnastics. This term they both have 90 min lessons on Thursday, with a 1 hour overlap. So I sat with Jasmine for the first half hour then went for a walk then sat with Aiden for the last half hour. During my walk I went the couple of blocks to the small lake. Unfortunately they were doing landscaping on the foreshore, meaning I had to detour around construction sites, but once past that I got to the bit of lake that they had finished landscaping and it was really nice. I don't walk around this lake much because only a small section of it is next to civilization, but this was a nice safe bit. The rest of the lake is heavily populated with families on weekends but a bit lonely during the week. As I said before, I don't like wandering around in an isolated area, no matter how safe our city generally is. I've only heard of one person being mugged by the lake, but I just wouldn't feel comfortable, I'd spend the whole time trying to look behind me.

Back near the gymnasium I picked up a prediabetes book I'd requested from the library. I'd lost my library card and the lady was quite concerned about me having to pay $3.20 to get a new one -- in fact last week the librarian had encouraged me to go home and check again before getting a new one. I guess $3.20 can be a big deal to some people who use libraries.

When I went to take the kids home, I found we were parked in. This happens all the time in the gym carpark, but most people are only there for a few minutes dropping off or picking up. We sat in the car and waited, but no one came out. We were all tired and hungry and trying not to get cranky. After about 10 mins we went back into the building. There were only about six parents still there, and none of them seemed to own the black car squeezed up behind mine. So I asked at reception and it turned out it was a coach's car. Which meant I would have to interrupt a lesson -- this late in the afternoon it was all older, more advanced students. One guy who was leaving insisted I had room to wriggle the car out, the receptionist asked "are you sure?" (no! not at all!) and he said yes yes, I'll guide her out. So we went out to the carpark. I couldn't see how it could be done so I gave him my keys and asked him to do it. It would have been interesting legally if he'd hit another car, who would be responsible? But he didn't. He went forward and back and turn and again only three or four times and got it out. Very nice of him.

It was very late by this stage and we got take-away on the way home. I tried to make decent choices; a roast chicken instead of deep-fried pieces and I only had a small portion and measured out some chips. No second helping. Quite restrained.

I walked more than two and a half hours today and I'm tired. I think I did pretty well. Of course there is a little voice (always the little voice!) that says walking is nothing you should have worked harder, made better food choices, been a better human being in every way. But no. No. Today I did well.

picture of Mt Painter from peakclimbs.com