Mt Everestesque, Exercise and Excuses

I am trying to get fit at the moment and it sucks a great deal.

Excuses and denial come in very handy when one is trying to get off one's arse and go for a jog in the early evening twilight after work.  And there's nothing like a bit of panting and asthma wheezing to attract the annoyed stares and whispers from the local magpies and other wildlife trying to have a quiet evening in.

"I've torn an abdominal muscle" was a very effective excuse for a few weeks, in so much that I knew I wasn't lying to myself because the doctor told me not to exercise for a minimum of three weeks. Bummer, I said; but I was secretly pleased with my temporary muscle damage. But unfortunately that excuse has lost its legitimacy, given that I saw the doc four weeks ago.  You do the math.

"It might rain" was also a reasonable justification to get out of exercising, given that it held an element of truth when Canberra went through a period of sunshinelessness, which affixed itself to the tale end of winter, just so you knew who was responsible for our weather oppression. Alas, this excuse doesn’t carry much weight when the sky is blue.

Ditto for "it's getting dark"; an excuse with great legitimacy in the depths of winter, when you have to start your working day at 6am to get home in time to go for a run. Only shift worker carry out this fanatical ritual, and most of them go to the pub at 3pm anyway. They sure as shit don't go for a run up a mountainous peak, in any case.

"I hate people" is generally an effective excuse to get out of exercising; given that the mount where I torture myself has become more popular in the last few years thanks to society's interest in not becoming obese. I don't like communicating with people at the best of times, and I definitely don't like acknowledging unfamiliar folk on mountains. It's not because I'm in the zone, or that I’m being Zen; I just don't like people a great deal.

"My exercise tool is too far away" has never been a strong contender as an excuse not to exercise for me, especially since I've opted to utilise the little mount near where I live. I literally have to walk out the front of the house and I am there; right at the foothills of a dangerous rocky cliff face.

And with this diminutive Everest being introduced into my "intensive training program", my old faithful excuse of "I have dodgy knees" has been getting a bit of a resurgence. It's actually the only valid excuse that I have, but is not really justified when this mini-me Himalayan range is about 10 metres above sea level,  Or ten metres above the rest of the ground, I can’t remember which.  It's whichever one that makes it sound like I run up mountain ranges.

So last night I recognised that I was probably all out of excuses, so I did ten - yes, TEN! - up and downs of my Everestesque mount. Apparently I have to do this again and again if I want to get fit. This sucks.