The imminent arrival of child number 1 has recently had me thinking that I need to improve my health if I wish to be around to see them grow up.
The desire to guide them on a path of happiness, honesty, integrity, social conscience, and success in all its forms whilst sheltering them from any undesirable traits potentially inherited from relatives or learned from an inappropriate environment is an overwhelming driver.
So to, is the more self serving motivation of basking in the reflection of their success and happiness as they grow, safe in the knowledge that the person I will love more than anyone else in the world, has been provided with a good grounding for their life ahead by me their loving parent.
But for that I have to make sure that I am around for them.
Combine that fear with some recent serious health scares for some friends of a similar age and I think I may, for the first time, be completely genuine in my attempt at achieving a healthier existence.
I have rarely been genuinely fit in my life and certainly not for at least a decade – perhaps even two, but I have certainly been healthier. A lot healthier!
I used to eat better and exercise a hell of a lot more. An extremely modest amateur sportsman at best, I nevertheless played several sports socially as well as at organised clubs. Cricket, several codes of football, hockey, basketball, squash, golf, swimming and surfing have all been part of a regularly active lifestyle at various stages.
In recent times, age, crumbling knees, a dodgy back, Friday Night drinks, a larger TV, a more comfortable couch and the onset of middle age lethargy have reduced my physical output to dog walking, the very occasional gym visit and the requisite handyman type activities that accompany home ownership.
It has become plainly obvious to me and to others (even those too polite to mention it) that this is simply not enough to maintain, yet improve, my current state of health.
But, I am now making an effort. Finally, after who knows how many years and how many failed attempts at fitness, I am on my way- and not because of some drunkenly proclaimed, half serious, New Year’s resolution but because I love my wife and as yet unborn child and I know that I need to do what is right by them.
Perhaps it is a clarity promoted by impending fatherhood, perhaps by the increasingly frustrating shopping excursions for new clothes or perhaps it is just that it is the right time? Whatever the reason the long journey back has begun and I have discovered that it is a very long, very slow, very difficult and most treacherous path that lies ahead.
This weekend I am playing my 2nd game in the return to a modest, suburban cricket career that had neither faded away with the grace of an elder statesman nor shone brightly before suddenly disappearing in controversy or tragedy as so often happens with famous (or infamous) sports stars.
My cricket career had just paused. Nothing more than a break for a few games that had extended to a few more games which had in turn, extended into a whole season and then to a few years. Inevitably, as life carries on some things are simply left behind.
Last weekend’s return to action in a Twenty20 game, was something of a disappointment and yet still a positive. The realisation of exactly how far there was to go in my journey was emphasised after a couple of chases to the long boundary which in turn was compounded by my cheap dismissal and a poor batting performance by the whole team overall that resulted in an unsatisfactory loss whilst chasing down a very moderate and most definitely achievable, total.
However, the assuredness that I felt during my short, 9 ball innings before being run out and during my (again, short) 2 over, bowling spell was welcoming, given that I had anticipated worst case scenarios across the board.
Less welcoming were the freezing ice packs required for my knees after the game and the tender manner in which I disembarked from bed the next morning.
A couple more evenings of ice packs and anti inflammatory cream during the week and I find that I’m again ready to go. Hopefully this weekend will see change in the fortunes for the team and myself but I’m not expecting any change in the recovery process or overall health................................yet!
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