Up The Tower

Well, the whole journal thing isn’t going very well is it?

To be fair, I’ve had a mad busy few days. Last week was full of boyfriend trouble with me having to make it very clear that I need his support and him forgetting I had a counselling session was not the way forward. Luckily things calmed down before the weekend and we were able to enjoy ourselves with a trip to York.

Had such a brilliant weekend and spent most of it feeling soppy. We did the tourist thing and visited several of the museums and historical sites, and had loads of fun looking around all the interesting shops and even the haunted house. My knees really ache now from all the walking and my feet are so sore, mainly due to the vanity of wearing my lovely Ugg boots on the Friday night which don’t fit my feet at all and caused major pain all night, and for the rest of the weekend even though by Saturday I had swapped them for my trusty trainers.

The only bad part of the weekend was going up York Minster tower which is something like 300 steps to the top. I should have paid attention to all the health warnings and “physically demanding” signs warning the ill and unhealthy people to steer clear. But I didn’t. I went up it, slightly nervous but confident I would be fine. I was not fine. The steps were the ones that spiral in a steep and cramped manner, that just seem to go on forever. The tower is really high and it just didn’t occur to me it would be so continual, I assumed there would be flat walk breaks but there was only one or two. I was in a group with D and several fit people who practically ran up it, apart from the ones stuck behind me of course, who had to go at my slower pace. The main problem was that you just couldn’t tell how far up you were or how far you had to go. After what seemed like an age, my calves stopped working and my arms ached from having to haul my ass up the stairs using the railing. I had to stop and let two of the people behind me squeeze past. It was not easy though as the width of the stairs was about shoulder width so it was really embarrassing and I was mortified enough to carry on climbing the stairs rather than let anyone else have to squeeze past me. A bit further up was a gap where the windows were, making a kind of seat in the wall, so I sat in there and let the others past. While I was sat there I had a mini strop at D because I was feeling so useless and nearly started crying in a pathetic panic kind of way because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, turning around not being an option in case more people were on the way up. D calmed me down and talked me into going up again after a bit of a rest, and we were actually quite close to the top at that point. I collapsed into a chair at the top and sorted myself out, feeling like my chest was going to explode and looking a bit like a tomato, all round and red. It was pretty tough going down too, as my knees were struggling at this point and threatening to collapse as a protest. It was worth it though for the views and slight smugness of accomplishment that I actually did it and didn’t give up. I’m pretty stubborn about things like that.

Food wise, the diet was abandoned for the weekend due to the excellence of the cream teas and puddings that were on offer. I’ll not go into details but it was worth it. It’s not often we go for a weekend break and I’m glad I decided to enjoy myself. The only thing is, according to the scales this morning, I’ve gained a few pounds and I don’t want to go to the WW meeting tonight for that to be marked on my card. So my plan is straight back on the plan today and be angelic for the next week, and do quite a bit on the Wii Fit before next Monday. I’m back at work and feeling focused again on the plan and what I’m wanting to achieve. I said to D that it would be interesting to go back to York Minster in a year and see how I manage with the tower steps in comparison to yesterday.