Acclimatise me, please!

Anytime you're visiting friends and family you can be relatively sure that the gatherings will include food and drink, and lots of it. In coming back home for the holidays said-friends and family have been fattening me up much like the Christmas turkey - just call me Hansel.

While the inches will surely take another week or two to find themselves on my waistline, my declining fitness was put to the test Sunday morning when I attempted a 12km run with my sister.

We set out from Manly (in Sydney's Northern Beaches) running north past Queenscliff, Freshwater and Curl Curl, but just at the base of Dee Why, this little piggy could run no more. The sun was pelting down upon my newly fake-tanned skin (note: fake tan blocks pores and traps body heat - not pleasant) and the humidity was causing my tummy to do cartwheels. We'd run a good half hour but the thought of chugging up another hill and then the return journey (with an E.T.A. of an hour and ten minutes) proved too much and intuitively, sister knew. She asked if I’d prefer to turn round and walk back… swallowing my pride (amid gasps for air) I said, “If you don’t mind… otherwise I think I might be sick.”

Tail between my legs – now covered in a sweaty-sheen with my full-length leggings rolled up to mid-thigh (nice look, I know) – sister tried her best to make me feel better. Saying things like, “It’s the heat, even I find this run hard,” and “You just have to let yourself acclimatise.” While I admit that running in London temps of 4°C is very different to Sydney’s 24°C with 54% humidity, I can’t help but think that the five slices of gourmet pizza indulged in on Saturday night also contributed to my feelings of lethargy and nausea.

Never one content with failure I have promised sister that I will spend the next few weeks training and before I set sail for Mother England, I will run with her once more – all the way to Dee Why and back – no matter how many Christmas puddings I am carrying around my belly!