New Beginnings

Busy day today. I savoured a lovely long lie-in until 10:30am- haven't done that in a long time. I also wondered what I had to get up for.

I had thought I might go shopping in Windsor, but wasn't sure I really wanted to go. However, my sister had other ideas, and insisted we were going, and we were taking Little B! It was extremely windy and very cloudy, but by the time we got there it was gloriously sunny but chilly. I bought two pairs of ballet flats to go with my jeans, and spent quite a lot of time trying on in Superdry. In the end I walked away with a cute sweatshirt. I'm going to go back next weekend and have another browse. I'm getting the hang of this shopping lark :-)

We grabbed a coffee from Pret to take away with us, and I sat outside with Little B while Ro went to get them. We had a nice drive home, and it was nearly 5pm by then.

I decided that evening to do something I had put of and wanted to do for a long time: I went back to Gymnastics. My friend's son is one of the coaches there, so I messaged her to check that it was ok to just turn up. I was given the green light, so I decided to just be brave and go for it. Enjoyed a lovely, sunny, early-evening drive there, but sat outside for a few minutes trying to gather my courage when I got there.

* Will finish this later- in short, Best decision ever!

I walked in and they said it was fine to stay. I went and watched a few people warming up, and was beginning to think I'd bitten off much more than I could chew :-/

But one of the coaches came over and chatted, and persuaded me to go and have a jog about and warm up. I went over and joined some girls who showed me how to warm up. I had zero confidence, and thought I wouldn't be able to do any of it, but I was pleasantly surprised! They started off with the basics: forward rolls, cartwheels, etc, and said that they do this as part of their normal warm up. I managed them both and they said they didn't know what I was worried about!

I had a go at a bridge, and then some back walkovers, supported by both the girls and then the coach. And I actually did it!

We moved on to the bars, which I had wanted to try most. Although I needed a bit of help to pull myself up, I had a go at the most basic movement, a back hip circle, and I did it myself by the end. However, I had forgotten how much the bar hurts your hips! I could feel my skin on my hip bones and my thighs being ripped as I whizzed round, and could feel the familiar callouses on my hands begin to build. It was fantastic fun!

I think the overall message was that you don't forget how to do these things, and they will come back quite easily. I was always told I was very flexible, but not very strong, and I think I need to work on conditioning to get my arms stronger.

It was the best thing I have done, and I can't wait to go again! I think I want to build up to going twice a week, as it was a totally different workout to dancing. When I left I could already feel my arm muscles burning, but in a good way (or so I thought)!

I was so happy I stopped off at my mum's on the way back to chat about it. I was dishevelled, covered in chalk marks and bruises, some of which I don't even know how I got, but I loved it.

Roll on next Sunday.