My 2009 Manifesto

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions although I like the opportunity to reassess my life and come up with things that I want to do in the future. Rather than vague ideas such as 'lose weight,' 'drink less alcohol' etc - for the first time, I'm going to write down concrete achievable and measurable goals that I will enjoy doing and, in some cases, have wanted to do for a very long time. 2009 is the year!

1) Walk the Coast to Coast
This walk covers 250 miles, three national parks and some of England's finest scenery, taking you from the Irish Sea to the east coast of England through the Lake District, the Pennines and the North York Moors. While I was growing up, I spent many weekends walking in the Pennines, the North York Moors, the Cheviot Hills and the Lake District and at various times, have walked parts of the Coast to Coast highway. For the last 10 years, I've wanted to do the whole hog in one go. One of my life's ambitions is to walk across a country (random, I know) - where better to start than England? This is also mean lots of walking practice built into my daily routine for training for this.

2) Build up my swimming so I can swim a mile with ease
Back in my younger swimmer days when I used to be in the pool training 6 days a week, a mile would be what I swam every practice. It's been over 7 years (!) since I swam regularly and I would probably just about manage to swim 20 lengths these days.

3) Build up my running so I can run 5 miles without problem
Back in the glory days, I also used to run 5 miles more or less every day. [I was a very fit teenager!] I'm going to go back to being 16 and love swimming and running again.

4) Take dance classes
I love dancing but have only sporadically taken dance classes. This year, I'm going to dance tango regularly and probably also salsa. I love rhythm and I love music. When I'm dancing, it doesn't feel like I'm exercising to lose weight. It just feels like I'm dancing for the pure joy of it. More pure joy and less exercise is needed.

The aim is not to lose weight but to be fit - to go back to the days where I used to run, swim and hike, when I used to have huge lung capacity and very slow heart-rate, when I used to have strong legs and strong arms, could lift anything and run everywhere. If I manage to go down a couple of dress sizes on the way, it's a bonus.