K-Mart or Bust

I started my Moonwalk training today. Woohoo!

We’re supposed to get an official schedule in the post this month but I made my own because I want to get stuck in. For the next 18 weeks I’ve scheduled two short weekday walks  (3-6 miles [5 – 10km] then a longer one on weekends (starting at 6, building up to 20 miles [32km] and then tapering off before the big day). The schedules I found online had four walks per week, but I want to keep up my kickboxing and weight training so three’ll do me. It’s for charity, after all!

Four of us girlies went for a wander at lunchtime. Being Scotland and all, it was raining. At first it seemed dead boring compared with kicking and punching things, and I worried I’d die of boredom when it came to walking 26.2 miles in a row. But soon enough the endorphins kicked in and I thought, AHH how nice to be outside and temporarily free of the office shackles. There was also smugness, for we were striding like women possessed while the rest of the town were stuffing their faces with Gregg’s sausage rolls.

I realised that I need to take this training seriously. 18 weeks from now, I’ll have to be on my feet for nearly eight hours in a row. I was rather knackered after 45 minutes today! Granted I pushed hard at kickboxing last night, but I’ll have to build up some endurance. People have told me they’ve easily done the Moonwalk with skipped training sessions but I want to be a shining BEACON of fitness! I’m in a team of twelve work friends so I refuse to be Ms Slowy McSlowarse, bringing up the rear or collapsing on the side of the road begging for mercy and/or bacon sandwiches.

Another thing I like about training is that it will force me to use my time more effectively. I am still faffing around like you'd not believe. Today I woke up at 8.25AM, having hit snooze over and over for 70 minutes. I washed and dressed in a flash, slapped some almond butter on a piece of bread then galloped and swore my way to work. Miraculously I was only five minutes late, but that is not the behaviour of champions. For one, I discovered via Google Pedometer that it’s only 0.7 miles between home and work. WHAT!? On lazy days I’ve counted that to/from journey as Proper Exercise! Hmm.

So if I’m only 0.7 miles from work and don’t start until 9AM, there really should be plenty of time to do some exercise or writing, have a proper breakfast and not arrive at work in a mess. Of course that means getting to bed earlier, preparing things the night before, etc etc. But lately all I do is run round like a headless chook, bawling at the sight of my To Do list and unanswered emails. It may sound strange but I think adding a big fat time-consuming bitch of task like a marathon training will help me tackle all the other stuff. Fingers crossed, eh?

. . .

Thank you everyone who has been in touch about the book. Thank you so much for your emails and blog entries and rockin' reviews! And hearing news of K-Mart sightings back home in Australia made me strangely emotional! K-MART! That's the place I used to buy boxes of own-brand choc chip cookies and demolish them all home alone. That's the place I bought my Sweet Valley High books. That's where I pulled a tin of tyre paint off a shelf when I was three years old, coating myself and the aisle in black goo. Memorieeees!

Comments

[1 · Posted by Eli · February 05, 2008 at 07:44 PM]

I now have two copies of your book (one is for my mother) but keep reading from her copy as too much rereading my book has made the photos in the middle drop out :) This only happens to books that I bleed to death

[2 · Posted by LaLa · February 05, 2008 at 08:11 PM]

I am spewing because I looked everywhere in the local shopping centre on Sunday and couldn't find it, even Kmart.

So, I am now going to have to find a shopping centre with a Dymocks.

Everyone else has reeeeaaaddd it. I feel like the last kid picked for the tunnel ball team.

[3 · Posted by kathryn · February 05, 2008 at 08:21 PM]

Maybe you should become less organised -- then you can keep leaving stuff behind and rushing home to get it. You could keeps of extra training in that way!

I haven't been to KMart but there's a big shiny display in Borders Carlton :D

[4 · Posted by Laura N · February 05, 2008 at 08:56 PM]

Gosh, I can totally identify with hitting the snooze button. I wish there were a miracle pill that would make me a Morning Person.

Best of luck with your marathon training. I think training for races like that are really helpful to keeping the weight off--not just the physical exercise but the mental GRR you get from all that training and crossing off all those planned workout days.

And I finished The Book this weekend. Straight through to the end, it's fabulous. Just gorgeously written and so wonderful to read your story. Hope you're still basking in the glow of success.

[5 · Posted by Dee · February 05, 2008 at 08:59 PM]

I bought mine two days ago and it's already on my re-read list :D I too bought it at KMart!! I took photos for you to send, but guess I don't need to now...

I have recommended it for our forum Book Club too. It's so much more than just a book about your weight loss, it's the journey and the results that need to be shared including those dark beginnings. I'm sitting here reading your blog with my breakfast yoghurt: my epiphany to change my life started yesterday with the ending of your book. Thank you, a very heartfelt thank you, for giving so much of yourself.

[6 · Posted by Rebecca, NYC, NY · February 05, 2008 at 10:00 PM]

One of my friends did her first marathon charity walk a few years back and the thing she learned that was most important: PROPER FOOTWARE & the build up of good old calluses. She got some lovely blisters from the walk and was cursing the recent pedicure that she had gotten prior to the walk. So keep the foot scalies...you're gonna need them. :)

[7 · Posted by K · February 05, 2008 at 10:31 PM]

It's so true. I used to get up before 7 when I had an hour's bus ride to work. Now I only have a 20-minute journey, I have real difficulty moving before 8.15 or so. That's at least an hour of free time I'm wilfully squandering!

Maybe I should enter the Moonwalk too? It's held at a much better time of day.

When a small child, my sister once upended a full bottle of vegetable oil over her head by accident. I'm sure I must have done something equally daft. We all have these things lurking in our past.

[8 · Posted by Saucehead · February 05, 2008 at 10:47 PM]

DG, love, love, LOVE the book... i laughed, cried and got warm fuzzies.. you're a legend!!

[9 · Posted by Linda · February 06, 2008 at 12:18 AM]

OMG - Decadent Chocolate Chip Kmart Cookies are the best. that's a great old memory :)

[10 · Posted by Brandi · February 06, 2008 at 12:52 AM]

Wow, you're braver than I am, LOL! There's no WAY I'd walk the streets of anywhere in a bra ... I hardly do it at my house, LOL!

Then again, I haven't had nearly as much success in my weight loss venture as you have. Getting there, just not there yet.

Anyway, good luck with the training, and with the walk!

AND PS FOR LALA: You're not the only one who hasn't read it, hon. I have yet to get a copy of Shauna's book into my hands. But rest assured, it will happen ... MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[11 · Posted by Carly · February 06, 2008 at 04:20 AM]

Ahhhh...... KMART I didn't even think to look there! But searched Boarders (who said it was 4 weeks til instore), Dymocks, Target, BigW, Angus & Robertson...... I'll be heading off to Kmart tomorrow..... Good Ol Kmart!

[12 · Posted by Betty Sue · February 06, 2008 at 08:30 AM]

I got my copy in Dymocks yesterday. I read the intro on the way back to work. Once I got back to my desk, I couldn't concentrate - I felt like the book was staring at me from my bag and luring me to read it. So I arranged the book in the middle of a heap of papers and secretly read it all afternoon - any casual passerby would've thought I was deeply submerged in Section 8BF of the Fair Trading Act.

[13 · Posted by Sam · February 06, 2008 at 09:33 AM]

Get up in the morning, ha ha, don't make me laugh!

Now that I am doing exercise I am much better, but I still have three 'alarms' to get me going - a body clock light, a timer on my bedside light AND a shake-awake vibrating alarm (no jokes please!!). It is just sooo much nicer to lie there and snuggle up to the cat!!

[14 · Posted by Tess(NL) · February 06, 2008 at 10:01 AM]

K am I the only one who thought "what? she wanted to learn how to do the moonwalk" and clicked the link back to your goal page looking frantically for where i missed reading about learning how to moonwalk then finally realised it was the bra walk? *shakes head* time for more coffee methinks. You get your train on woman, go go go and rock that walk ;)

[15 · Posted by Nicky Liddle · February 06, 2008 at 10:32 AM]

i started your book yesterday and nearly finished it so fab and you are amazing! and i cant believe you are doing the moonwalk - i have been persuaded to do it and am dreading it not so much the walking but staying up all night to do it - i will keep logging on here for inspiration!

[16 · Posted by Kek · February 06, 2008 at 11:09 AM]

I'm totally with you on being better organised when you have a mammoth task to do. No idea why that is, but it seems to work for me.

Haven't been to K Mart this week, but I can tell you there's not a sign at A & R in Puckle St Moonee Ponds. Boo-hiss! Think I'll start going in at lunchtime and knocking their displays over, just to annoy them.

[17 · Posted by Lynda · February 06, 2008 at 11:18 AM]

Oh,the lure of the snooze button. We actually disabled our snooze button - my husband opened up the alarm clock and disconnected it because neither of us can be trusted with the snooze. And I have never been late for work so often as I was when I worked 5 minutes walk from my house - something about knowing you don't HAVE to be at the bus stop at a certain time just leads to, well, inertia!

[18 · Posted by Marla · February 06, 2008 at 01:00 PM]

I agree--proper footwear will be even more important than physical conditioning. Not that walking a marathon is EASY, but I'm pretty sure you already have the athletic ability to do it. Building up week by week will help you identify any issues with your shoes, blister spots, etc.

I once walked a 20-mile charity thing, but I was about 14 years old! I remember that the first three miles were the hardest; after that it all blended into just mild discomfort and some bits of endorphin-induced euphoria.

[19 · Posted by kelly · February 06, 2008 at 01:14 PM]

Hello Shauna, I have to say i bought your book, and i left it at work, every spare minute i have (including sat in the loo) i spend reading your book, i have just read about your whirlwind wedding in vegas, and i have to say i totally love your book, and you come across so genuine and likeable and so brutally honest, my hat goes off to you lady! Well done!

[20 · Posted by Laura · February 06, 2008 at 02:24 PM]

Loved the book. I found when training for a half-marathon (I'll leave the full distance to brave souls such as yourself) that having a chart with the training schedule on it on the fridge (or some other 'public' place) really helped keep the momentum going of my training.

I also, because I'm overly anal this way, always get all my stuff for the morning (lunch, clothes, bag packed for work) ready in the evening. It takes 10 mins, but frees up loads of time in the morning when my brain is much slower!

Best of luck with the training. It's worth sticking with it, as endurance events definitely hurt if you aren't prepared (but I'm sure you will be!).

[21 · Posted by Daisy · February 06, 2008 at 03:13 PM]

@Laura: I second the suggestion to post the training schedule in a "public" place - my half-marathon schedule is on the fridge. For me the thought of being able to X off that day's training run has been enough to get me back out the door. It worked so well I even got out to run 3.5 miles in freezing rain last night after work!

[22 · Posted by Jules · February 06, 2008 at 08:41 PM]

Aaaah, Sweet Valley High, how I loved those books, and Trixie Belden.

Sounds like you have a plan Stan McWann.

[23 · Posted by dg · February 06, 2008 at 08:42 PM]

Hell yeah, I got a schedule at home, on my desk at work, in my diary... next step, tattoo on the back of my hand :)

Kelly, I think you're the first person who's read Dietgirl on the loo, or at least told me about it... COOL!

Thanks a bazillion everyone :)

[24 · Posted by Felicity · February 06, 2008 at 09:00 PM]

I have heard alot about this book... I think I am going to have to read it...

[25 · Posted by rach · February 06, 2008 at 10:40 PM]

You know, for a while there I thought you were *actually* moonwalking, and I had a vision of you and several friends very earnestly moonwalking your way through Scotland.

I choose to hang on to that delusion.

[26 · Posted by LBTEPA · February 06, 2008 at 11:47 PM]

I love the image of you as Beacon of Fitness! You are right - training for a big project kind of shakes up your brain and helps you get organised (fear as motivator, works for me)

[27 · Posted by cherie · February 07, 2008 at 07:28 AM]

Well I for one couldn't find it at Kmart... They'd all sold! All I found was an empty space and a price tag with your name on it. Bad news for me, but good for you!

[28 · Posted by Bronwyn · February 07, 2008 at 09:22 AM]

Hiya Shauna,

Got your book yesterday and I've just finished it. I wanted to spread it out over a week or two but I just couldn't put it down! You have a way with words, DG!

Anyway, it was as if some parts of the book were about me! Your book has brought me closer to actually going into that store and buying those running shoes! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings with so many others and keep it up!

[29 · Posted by Laura · February 07, 2008 at 10:35 AM]

@Daisy - I'm glad it's not just me that does that! I also enlisted the help of a friend (who is really disciplined about training) as a back-up: I had to text them to say that I'd completed the long runs that were scheduled for the weekend. Fear of having to send a text saying 'I didn't do the long run today' got me out the door on many a rainy Sunday!

[30 · Posted by kelly · February 07, 2008 at 10:36 AM]

hey shauna,

sad i know(reading it on the loo) but sometimes where i work you just got to escape and the only plausable place is the loo! ha ha! i have to say seeing how long it took you, its made me ralise the unrealistic expectations i put on my self just compound the issue of weightloss, i have learnt a lot from your book and its not an overnight story and i takes time, so lesson learnt! dont be too hard on yourself just keep plodding on through the stumbling blocks! Thank you again!

[31 · Posted by Kate · February 07, 2008 at 10:59 AM]

I finally have a copy of your book! I also saw an article all about you in Who magazine last week, you're totally famous :)

[32 · Posted by Mary · February 08, 2008 at 03:13 AM]

Bwahaha....this is not the behaviour of champions! And this my dear is why I loev reading your blog, for gems like this :-)

So I've gotta go to K-Mart do I? I'm going to try again on the weekend.

[33 · Posted by Brooke · February 08, 2008 at 09:37 AM]

Awwww Shauna, I just finished your book, and I'm bawling! Thank you for the inspiration :) :) You RAWK! *giggles*

xoxoxoxo

[34 · Posted by Cat · February 08, 2008 at 11:37 AM]

Just picked your book up in Borders in Brisvegas. Cant wait to get stuck into it.

Hope you have an awesome weekend

:-)

[35 · Posted by carla · February 08, 2008 at 01:46 PM]

youre blazing the trail for the rest of us (read: me)

my kmart memory is far more ugly.

involving an easily swayed ten year old me and almost getting busted for shoplifting bonnie bell lip smackers WHICH I DIDNT EVEN LIKE.

good times.

thanks for all your motivating posts.

C.

[36 · Posted by Kellie · February 08, 2008 at 04:16 PM]

Bloody hell, nearly shat my pants when I was flicking through Who magazine and came across an article on my favourite ex-pat svelte superhero! Not a good look for a pregnant lady but you certainly looked right foxy DG. Bloody awesome stuff lady, well done!

[37 · Posted by Cat · February 08, 2008 at 06:24 PM]

I pre-ordered your book. Saved it for my vacation in Mexico. Read it in one day! FAB!! LOVED IT!!! WILL BE POSTING A REVIEW ON MY BLOG TELLING EVERYONE TO BUY IT!

[38 · Posted by Loth · February 08, 2008 at 08:06 PM]

Wahey! I just spotted you and the tome on the front page of Weight Loss Resources! Now I know you are indeed a goddess!

[39 · Posted by Isabelle · February 08, 2008 at 11:42 PM]

Shauna, you are already a shining beacon of fitness. What a great turn of phrase. As ever with you.

[40 · Posted by Kezza · February 09, 2008 at 12:13 AM]

My local KMart had it in the FICTION section! I moved the 3 remaining copies and the "Great Choice! Shauna Reid...." tag to the dieting/inspiration/health section ;-).

[41 · Posted by Peta · February 09, 2008 at 12:55 PM]

Hello - the book is really powerful. I have just finished reading it and I've come here wanting more more more. Like everyone, I was engrossed from cover to cover and I miss you now it's over! I laughed, I cried, I was totally inspired and humbled. Your writing is fantastic and your insight profound. Yay! Thank-you. PS. How cool is your sister?!

[42 · Posted by Gemma · February 22, 2008 at 02:18 PM]

I did the Edinburgh moonwalk last year and was pretty slack about training only really managing some of the longer weekend ones - the 20 mile one almost killed us (we made the 20 mile point Wannaburger and it was good motivation to keep walking). I recommend good socks and a couple of layers - I wore my bra and a windproof fleece most of the time and have some nice bath oils ready for hot baths after the longer training walks! It was great fun though so good luck.