Playing Rugby

I love playing rugby. I only started it at age 30 and I always regret not getting into it sooner. I remember a radio-therapy class I had in my final year at university and I used to sit next to a girl called Rhiannon - Welsh of course. I only ever saw her a couple of times a week - none of our friends opted to do that option and so we kind of fell to sitting together in class. She played rugby for the university team and loved it. I never really spoke much to her about it as rugby wasn't on my radar then, I'd never been to a live match and never sat and watched it on TV. If only..

Anyway, to cut a long story short. I've always been very sporty. From an early age I would win the sports day events at school and it wasn't long before I was in the netball and hockey teams as well as training for MK athletics club and running cross-country for the County. Generally speaking, give me a sport and I'd give it a go. After I left school and university I still prided myself on being fit - I did the Great North Run a couple of times and used to run a couple of times a week at lunchtime with some guys from work. Monday was swimming night and I thought nothing of going to the Leisure Centre to do a class of some sort.

So what has happened now? I'm not doing very much exercise at all - the only class I do every week now is my yoga, which is great for core strength but not much good for the heart. I have this strange exercise-envy thing going on. Inside I still feel like that sporty, fit person I always have been. Yet on the outside I know that I'm now a thirty-something unfit and very much out of shape person. But I just can't budge myself. I see other people doing sporting events and think how great it is. I watched the GNR on Sunday and saw people who I would consider to be more unfit than me - run it! And I envied them - I watched and wished that I was doing it and that I was in good enough shape to do it. I love running and I know if I got myself out to do it I would actually enjoy it. Yet I just can't bring myself to start training.

And then we come back to the rugby. I love playing rugby. It's my favourite pastime, my favourite thing in the world to play or watch. And I played a week ago in the first match of the season for Beccehamians and it was awful. I was so unfit. I could hardly move. My lungs were burning and my muscles were weak and feeble - so much so that I even pulled a little thigh muscle warming up - how pathetic!! And worse than that, for the first time on the pitch, I really felt useless, like I really wasn't actually helping my team much by being there. (Admittedly they did put me at centre which is really a rather silly thing to do bearing in mind my fitness and usual position!)

But I have a problem here - I'd love to go training. But it's a 45-minute drive up the motorway each way, that's an hour and a half travelling just to get to a training session. And I'm just not that dedicated. My working day is long and tiring enough without all that rushing around to get to Beccs. And herein lies my problem. It's just another excuse for me to not go to training and get myself fit. It's too far. I don't have enough time. I'm too tired. I don't fancy driving up there in the dark and rain. Okay so what about driving 5-minutes to go to the gym? Hmmmm, I don't like the gym...I'd rather run on the roads. Okay so...?

Oh dear. It's ridiculous enough to be funny! I need to get fit and I want to get fit but I can't get my arse off the sofa to do it. How do I get out of this vicious laziness cycle?