Go Mum Go is kicking this year into shape

I have made a decision that my approach to 2017 is to live without fear. In that spirit I am taking on challenges and pushing myself. This includes applying for jobs that I love the look of, even if I don't think I will get them. I am saying yes to opportunities and volunteering.

So far I have committed to a few activites and I started a 5 week boot camp in January. I've done this before and it's hard work, but completely worth it. The post Christmas period can be so deflating so doing this really pumps me up and gives me strength and energy. It also motivates me to think about my health overall. This coincided with my giving up bread, sugar and alcohol for the first week of January to kick start the year with a fresh look at what I eat. I reintroduced bread the second week and then sugar the third. I've had a glass of wine tonight and last night. The exception to this was when we went out for my lovely friend's birthday and enjoyed a fantastic three course meal, delicious cake and wine.

Last week I also tried my first kickboxing class. I did try once before, but the teacher was intimidating and the other students scared me so it put me off for years. This time it was held at Blue Bear's pre-school by a great teacher who also runs classes for children - in fact I'm taking the boys to his class on Monday after school. I was in a lot of pain for a few days afterwards, but the best thing was that I gave it my best shot. I tried hard during the warm ups and even when I hurt myself learning a break fall I still managed to put some oomph into the punches. I'll be taking the classes throughout February so hopefully it won't hurt as much next time.

Somewhat rashly I've signed up to do sugar free February to raise money for cancer research. I'm pretty sure I can manage to do it, not least as it's the shortest month of the year. It's a good warm up for an event I did last year that really tested my will. Dechox for the British Heart Foundation. This involves giving up chocolate for the month of March with the added motivation that when it ends it's Easter not long after. Last year I found that although I was looking forward to eating chocolate again when April began I wasn't in a rush to reach for the sweet stuff as I'd been off it for so long I didn't crave it as much. Of course once I was back on it the old habits returned pretty quickly.

I've already talked about the Moonwalk in May and I'm in training for that already. Walking and getting fit to ensure I can finish in good time and hopefully without injury. I'll be walking in a team for a change so that will be great fun and help in keeping me going when it gets to the tough bits.

I'm making a good start to the year and am motivated to get stronger and fitter as the year progresses. I will keep reporting back on my progress and showing how to Go-Mum-Go !!

Making plans and tidying up

Hey hey hey it's 2017. I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. This week the boys go back to school and nursery and Hubbie goes back to work. I will get the house back to myself again and I can really get ahead with my Marie Kondo style tidying. I got her book Spark Joy for Christmas and have been through the house like a buzzsaw already !

I've KonMaried our front room ! 

So are you making resolutions or setting goals for this year ? Do you have ambitions or dreams you intend to follow ? I know it's a cliche, but the start of a new year often encourages us to look at reinvigorating our lives, or taking up new hobbies. That's why we have Veganuary, Dry January, discounted gym memberships and those baffling part works. I would love to know at what point in the year you can no longer buy the cross stitch magazines or how many of the later editions they even print.

Hubbie bought a copy of Men's Health for the first time today and was up and our for a run before I even surfaced from under the duvet. I am not passing any judgement on this as a year ago when he took up cycling I scoffed that it wouldn't last and here he is commuting 13.5 miles to work on a bike every day. I'm glad I didn't make a wager on that !

Anyway, as I felt sorry for myself over Christmas lying on the sofa with a stomach bug - secretly thinking ooh that's a good start to my weight loss goal - I thought about what I want to achieve with the next random allocation of 12 months.

I'm taking part in the Moonwalk in May - it's a marthon walk during the night through London and this year is the 20th anniversary of the event. The last time I did this event was before Brown Bear was born and I was at least a stone and a half lighter than I am now, I was fitter and much less sleep deprived. In order to give it my best shot I went for a 3 mile walk today and I'm getting into my training plan early to make sure I'm fit and well before the big day.

Having taken time to be at home with my boys - which has been rewarding and tiring and maddening all at the same time - I now want to work doing something else. I've worked full time before, and before Blue Bear came to live with us I was working again, but now I have to find a way that fits in with all of us and make that a priority. I will keep you posted on my progress.

The best thing about being at home has been the time I've been able to spend doing the things I love. Writing, radio presenting and volunteering. I intend to bring you more adventures, fun days out and even some great things you can do for yourself. It's much more fun if you can share isn't it ?

Well, that's out there now so I have to do it don't I ?

I'm a walking, and a swimming and a cycling...

I've decided to do the full moonwalk in May next year - the last time I did the full walk was the year before I was pregnant with Brown Bear. The following year I had a place, but couldn't take part because I was way to big to walk 26 miles comfortably. Then I did the half moon with my lovely pal Soraya two years ago to mark her recovery from breast cancer. It's taken me a while to figure out that I need to do this because in my head I have a few things I want to do before I'm 50 (and that's closer than I want to admit !)

I'd like to be able to complete a marathon - I have no idea if I'll be able to do it as a run, but walking is a pretty good start. I've not had the best health in the last year - nothing serious, but just a series of annoying things seem to be going wrong. So I've decided to take a long term approach to getting myself fit. In the spirit of this I went on a training walk this afternoon and I'm happy to say I made it and enjoyed it too. Bonus !

My other ambition is to take part in a triathalon. Even if it's a really small one I want to at least give it a go. I swim a lot, I mean 4-5 times a week and pretty much always smell of chlorine. I know, sexy right ? I'm working on my stamina to get to a stage where I can swim and still be fit to do another event. At the moment I go full pelt then clamber out of the pool ravenous and wanting to wash my hair. It is definitely within my sights though.

Get back into cycling. I used to cycle a lot. At uni I used to have to balance my shopping bags on the handlebars and tuck my long goth skirts into boots to cycle home. If I was lucky my friend Neil would cycle home with me and I'd peddle behind him to help with the steep climb back to our shared student house. I'm forever grateful he'd wait for me going at old lady pace as he would have got home so much earlier if he'd gone on ahead on his sporty bike. I used to cycle to work when I was lived on my own and loved my sit up bike with a basket on the front. Nothing too fancy.

Before Christmas Hubbie said he was going to start cycling to work and I laughed so hard I actually had to cross my legs so I wouldn't pee. Oh stoppit we all know even a cough will make you wet yourself once you've had kids. Well, he's shown me as he's still going strong and even got me a bike to encourage me to get back to pedal power. Typically I've gone shopping to get some pretty things before I will actually get on it. It's the bike mother-in-law used to ride to work and is pretty sturdy, but not pretty. Well, once I've pimped it out with all these lovely Orla Kiely accessories I'll be the belle of the bike fraternity. Or something.

My gorgeous Orla Kiely cycle accessories from Halfords

So, I'm putting this here as a statement of intent. The walking is underway. Hopefully the cycling will be soon as well. I have visions of me and Brown Bear cycling to school in the mornings and me putting Blue Bear into a child seat to travel to nursery. I'm not promising that will happen but it's good to visualise isn't it ? I mean I always wanted to have a go at trapeze and never really believed I'd get to do it. Well here is the proof that I did. I have to look at it to remind myself it actually happened.

Adventures don't always have to involve being far away from home. Some of them are simple and achievable. I hope these are for me. Keep coming back to see how I get on.

This is me - I was terrified !