Ask The Marshmallow: Anything you want to do?

Ugh, so sorry about the sparse posting. I've had a full on weekend followed by a full on week; and I fell behind with my posting on C&E, so I've been catching that up. I've got a few things to post about, and I'll get onto that within the next week or so.

In the mean time, here we are, the next instalment in Ask the Marshmallow Anything. This question comes courtesy of Fat Lazy Guy:

Is there still anything you've always wanted to do once you lost weight that you haven't done yet? If so, what are they? If not, what have you done? And if you haven't done any yet, why not?

Back in June of 2006, just over two years ago (OVER two years ago? Sweet zombie jesus where has the time gone), I wrote this post, whereby I listed 10 things I wanted to do when I'm smaller.

I don't know how much my size has changed in two years, but I do know that there has been a remarkable improvement in fitness since then. So answering Fat Lazy Guy's question is really, a revisit to this list. I'm bound to find some things in there that are cringeworthy.

So, let's review.

1. Run around the block
2. Buy some sexy lingerie
3. Wear stiletto heels (or any type of heels that don't resemble a chimney)
4. Wear a halterneck dress
5. Swim at the beach
6. Wear a strappy singlet in the hotter months
   
7. Learn to ride a bike
8. Join a social netball team
9. Sign up for dancing lessons (Yes, this is the effect of Dancing With the Stars. If Rodney can do it, then Marshmallow can too!)
10. Go to a night club

1 - Run around the block
While I haven't technically done this, I know I'm more than capable, since I know my maximum run distance at the moment is 5km, or just over. So I 'pretty much' can cross that off as being done and dusted.

2 - Buy some sexy lingerie
Errrr. I'm not sure whether I have any desire to do this at all. I think I'd rather spend my money buying t-shirts off Cafepress.

But who knows, I might want to later on. Though if I DO want to later on, I don't think weight will be a factor, really.

3 - Wear stiletto heels (or any type of heels that don't resemble a chimney)
Seriously. Who the hell cares whether I'd wear stiletto heels or not? Keep your heels, I'd rather keep my ankles, which I know are seriously out of proportion with the rest of my body. They're small, tiny things, and I've had many an ankle injury in FLAT shoes, never mind walking around with my heels raised by a chopstick.

4 - Wear a halterneck dress
This is something I think I might still want to do. But I think I might raise a few eyebrows if I rocked up to work in a halterneck dress. I think I want to be able to wear a dress like that at least once because it meant that there was an occasion worth it. At the moment, my life is void of occasions - I had one opportunity where I was planning to wear a strapless dress; Sarah-I's wedding, but trying on the dress the day before and finding that it was TOO BIG meant that opportunity went out the window.

5 - Swim at the beach
Technically, I have done this. But not in the manner in which I initially wanted to when I wrote the original post. I swam at a beach, in the ocean, for the triathlon back in February. However, it was an awful day, and no beach bunnies were anywhere to be seen - it was just the hardened triathletes. I have since realised that horror of all horrors, I am not a beach person. If I were to go to the beach, I would probably sit under a tree and read a book; I honestly would have no interest in going in the water at all. I prefer the artificialness of pools, and now, I'm not ashamed to say it! That being said, it looks like I'll have to do some ocean swimming at some point this year - though it won't be in some fashionable swimwear, it'll be in a heavy duty wetsuit.

6 - Wear a strappy singlet in the hotter months
Errr... wtf? I have no desire to do this. A strappy singlet is powerless to hold my... 'puppies'. There ain't nothing wrong with a t-shirt. Nothing wrong at all. (Especially if it's from Cafepress). When I wrote this list, I thought I had to wear a singlet to 'fit in'. I don't have to.

8 - Join a social netball team
Yes I know I've missed out number 7, but bear with me. I would still quite like to do this. It doesn't have to be a netball team, it could be a squash club, an indoor soccer team or cricket team; though it would have to be an indoor sport. I was in a cricket club for one season and the weather aspect of it alone was enough to put me off rejoining, never mind that I stood around for the entire season doing absolutely nothing. I do know that I'm too stubborn to give up most of my training at this point to make way for game practice and play. This would be in the distant future, but not completely out of the picture.

9 - Sign up for dancing lessons
Similar to the above. I'd like to do this, but if it clashes with RPM, I ain't going anywhere near it. I'm too stubborn to give up anything I'm currently doing in terms of training. A plan for the future, definitely.

10 - Go to a night club
Yet again, this is me thinking I need to go and get drunk and snog random men to fit in. Sure, I'd like to go to a night club, but I'd rather a night in chilling out with my closest friends, a packet of Tim Tams, a tub of ice-cream and a bottle of Baileys.

There is one thing though, that I still, very desperately, would like to do, that appeared on this list.

7 - Learn to ride a bike
Noone in my family knows how to ride a bike. I was the first person to learn to swim. Now, I want to be the first to ride a bike. And from there, I'd like to do a triathlon. All of it, by myself, all three sections. Not just do 'part' of a triathlon with a nice half an hour rest in between the swim and the run. I'd like to be able to explore this beautiful part of Auckland that I live in - it's prime cycling territory. You'd think, with the amount of RPM I do, that I'd know how to ride a bike. Sadly, that isn't true. But I want to change that. Eventually, I'd like to do something like Bike the Bays.

This, sort of connects to the question that Kate asked:

I want to know if you have an ultimate fitness goal...?

At this stage, I don't know. There are several things that I want to do.

• Swim the Auckland Harbour Crossing - 2.8km
• Run a 10km Race
• Run a Quarter Marathon
• Run a Half Marathon
• Enter a triathlon by myself, and complete all three disciplines
• Do a 20km Bike Race
• Do a 40km Bike Race
• Eventually, do the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, a whopping 160km.

After that, any other ultimate fitness goals would be being able to put myself in a position to inspire other people - meaning, instructing either of, or both, RPM and Body Jam.

Man, I just looked back through that list. It terrifies me. There is one other thing I'd like to be able to do though. It's nowhere near as spectacular as the above, but I'm as far away as you can get from achieving it at this moment, and the day that I can do it? That will be a good day.

• Do a single, full length, push up

Oh yeah baby. That's the good stuff, right there.