The ‘end of dog walk’ routine is now well rehearsed; dog is made to sit on the door step; towel is laid on hallway floor; dog commanded to lay on towel; dog only partially completes task leaving large dog shaped mud stain on carpet; dog is rubbed down with second towel; dog tries to eat second towel; dog commanded to run straight through house to the kitchen; dog stops half way to shake; dog given biscuit for completing routine… which dog takes into the back garden only to get wet again!

Walking the dog in the winter can become time consuming… but my dog, Scout, has been a large part of my motivation to Move More. It became too easy as the nights drew in and the mornings remained dark to do the bare minimum; to take the shorter, cleaner route but I soon realised that this wasn’t really fair on the dog, and it wasn’t really fair on me. As my work has become increasingly desk and meeting based, I have noticed that it has become harder to motivate myself to exercise. With the aches and pains of an ageing sportsman, I know my limitations and I know I cannot do what I used to do… and this in itself had become a barrier to me taking part in sport – I was finding little enjoyment in reinforcing the fact that I was no longer the sportsman I once was. The problem was, my inactivity was making things worse… the less I exercised, the worse I felt… the less I felt like exercising… and the more ‘timber’ I was beginning to carry! Something had to change.

The decision to use walking as my pathway to improved health and fitness was the result of a slightly self-pitying conversation with my better half which went something like;

“Why don’t you play squash?”

“My squash partner is injured.”

“Why don’t you play five a side?”

“I am injured.”

“Why don’t you go for a run?”

“My back hurts when I run.”

“Why don’t you ride your bike?”

“Puncture.”

“Well… what can you do?”

“Walk.”

“Well go for a bloody walk then!”

So I did… except I decided to walk further… and that was the start of it. I set out on a walk, to the top of what is known locally as Elephant Hill. It was hard work, I had to stop several times and it took me an hour and a half to complete. The dog was shattered too; used to short fifteen minute outings she had run from the first and must have covered ten times the distance that I had done. It was a good walk… but something slightly competitive inside irked me that I had not been able to reach the summit without stopping… must do better the next day. So I did, pacing myself from the off, my goal to reach the top without stopping. I found that the walk became self-motivating; and because I had in mind that I was walking for fitness, I found I walked quicker than usually would have been the case; and as I walked quicker, the time became important; could I break the one hour mark? Absolutely I could… I even found myself putting in a little ‘shuffle’ to shave a few extra seconds off the time. Within two weeks, I had broken the hour and could feel some semblance of fitness returning.

I guess we all lose our motivation to exercise at some point; and the problem is that once we stop it is so difficult to find a way back. For me, it was the realisation that all I had to do was to just walk a little further, and with a little more purpose. To find the time (and the inclination) to go to the gym or play sport was so difficult with all the competing pressures on my time, but to just walk a little further was something achievable… and something that most of us could do! Dog is optional… but mine certainly helps!

Paul Carney

Director of Sport