Trail – Will I ever get there?

http://whitespider1066.spaces.live.com/

This guy seems to blog about all things outdoor, and he asked Emma, Sian and I to get in touch so we could answer a few questions and prove our blogs weren’t fake, set up only to promote Trail. Anyone who’s a regular reader of mine will already know that’s not the case!

Been thinking a bit about the whole Fitness Academy experience this weekend, so the questions on the above link were kind of timely! My pondering was sparked by a text from Sian on Friday evening which said that she was just driving back from the latest Trail trip (the one I couldn’t go on) and she’d had a brilliant time but: “you would have hated it”. Apparently it was uphill and there was some scrambling. I don’t know where anyone has got the impression from that I don’t like scrambling, as I’ve never really had the opportunity to try it. She’s probably right though – from the sound of it it was another one of Trail’s “gently undulating” walks that turns out to be steep and challenging, and I would have been right at the back without my mountain leaders to spur me along. And then I read the blog above, and I can see that I’ve got the reputation of being the one who whinges and complains all the time…. pants.

Ok so I may not be climbing Kilimunjaro, and I may not be able to run ten miles in ten minutes, but I have achieved things that I didn’t think I could do, and I’ve learnt a lot, particularly from Steve and Barry on the weekend in Wales (if I’m honest, that’s the shining pinacle of the whole thing for me – I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.) It’s just that my achievements are so small compared to everyone else on the academy, that I’m not sure that Trail know how to or want to manage that.

Just wanted to be clear that, although I refuse to pander to a magazine when things aren’t as good as they could be, I’m still grateful to Trail for all that they have done, and the positives more than outweigh the negatives.

Lastly the latest Trail magazine is out, and I don’t get a mention – perhaps I should try being a bit nicer about them! Looks like they sent Jess and her family on a great break though…have to look into how much that would be for me to do the same. And there’s some tips for avoiding the post work slump that I am so guilty of. I’m going to give those menus a try, which will be much easier when I’ve moved (May 1st completion date – eeeek!) and am shopping/cooking for myself.