NBPM 15: Physical Challenge

I have real problem spelling NBPM correctly. For some reason I always seem to start with NM which is not right. Ah well, only sixteen more days to go. I'll have perfected it by then.

Today's blog is about fitness. I've been playing squash against Natalie from work for a good few months now & I'm really starting to enjoy it. In the beginning our games were pretty rubbish as we'd both be content with merely hitting it over the line. Then we progressed into doing good shots, but being rather rubbish in following them up. Now we can do good shots and even return them as well causing some well contested rallies.

If I have a fault it's that I'm too reliant on the 'tap' shot where it only just bounces in play & I think Natalie's starting to cotton on to it. The other problem is I'm still very lazy and will often just stand after hitting the ball rather than move into a useful position.

However my conclusion is: If you appear to be crap at something stick at it and you might get good at it. I'm hoping one day this will become true with my blog.

Time for a joke

I remember a letter in Amiga Power that mentioned the best line to say when someone mentioned Timbuktu. It was: "Tim bucked two? I haven't even bucked one yet!"

I had a similar joke which I had never had the opportunity to use. Until today. Gary was moaning about how everyone at the office was away next week.

"Ben's off. Craig's off. Matt's off. Helen's off."

I saw my chance.

"Dino's off too."

Gary looked at me strangely as though he was trying to work out who the hell Dino was in our team. Then he realised. And laughed.

So it was a funny joke. My work there was done.

Unfortunately it was 11 and I had to stay for another four and a half hours.

SQUASH UPDATE:

Last week I finally beat Natalie at squash, but it was decided that this was because she had eaten two sandwiches rather than one. Indeed we drew again today. After I went 3 games ahead & then faded A-Rod style to let Natalie draw three all. I did manage to smash the ball against the back wall and reach the front wall which was a personal target I managed to hit.

But then I played Helen who was rather good at squash and she wiped the floor with me. Bah.

I've got the runs

I'll write more about my amazing trip to Japan over the coming weeks, but for now I want to go on about before I got engaged and decided to play some football in a UK versus Sri Lanka match.

As regular readers might know, I'm not very fit. About every two months I mention that I should perhaps join a gym. I never do, but merely thinking about doing so is the closest I get the physical activity in those two months*. So when the chance to play in a football match came up I was reluctant to put my name forward. I should have remained reluctant.

One problem I had was that it was raining, not heavy rain but enough to make the grass slippy. The grass had also been recently cut causing further slippage. Finally I was playing in Converse one star trainers, which never have the best grip.

The result? 8-1 to us. Oh, and I fell over before even reaching a ball. I didn't feel too bad afterwards, but in the morning? It was hell. The next morning? Just as bad. This lasted for about 5 days after the match.

And walking all around Tokyo didn't help my legs too much either. At Enoshima my legs really started to hurt again.

So now I'm thinking of getting fit again. But I know I won't join a gym, so perhaps I should just start jogging. One thing I saw in Japan was Nike Plus. This is where Nike & Apple have joined forces so your ipod connects to your trainers and can tell you how far you've run through your headphones. I'm sure an expensive gadget like this will get me fit.

Problems? I'd have to buy an ipod nano, when I really want a video mp3 player. Also I've usually shyed away from ipods, due to them breaking after one year and one day (see also why I haven't bought an Xbox 360). And I've got a wedding to pay for, can't waste it on trying to get fit. But then shouldn't I look my best for the wedding? Argh, I don't know, I'm still jetlagged.

* Well not the closest, but I doubt you want to hear about the closest I get...

Some people say that bowling alley's...

...got big lanes

One good reason as to why I should perhaps start attempting to get fit (yes it's this old argument again) - I wouldn't still be aching two days after bowling.

It's probably my own fault for choosing the heaviest ball, but surely my buttocks shouldn't hurt after that? Possibly too much information for you readers there.