So, what was the point of actually deciding to make them in the first place, discussing potential ones, deciding on them, and then committing them to paper.....

Yep, again as I have previously announced, I am rubbish. And at least this time, so is my boyfriend. Neither of us have been particularly good at sticking to them this year, but then I don't think we managed in previous years either.

But....

When you're ill, all you feel like doing is snuggling up on the sofa with the duvet and eating comfort food. Which is precisely what I've spent the last couple of months doing.

Stress from degree coursework hasn't helped, and wedding planning is starting to become a prominent requirement. Doesn't help that I am permanently tired and all I want to do is go to bed.....and sleep.

But in spite of all my excuses I have been to the gym this week, and with a months free membership voucher for a local health club to use this summer I'm already feeling a bit more positive. All my illness is behind me, and I don't feel guilty, my doctor said this winter has been particularly bad, so I've nothing to worry about...... at least that's what I'm sticking to.

Diet could be better, but have managed to reduce the chocolate and crisps and increase the fruit intake, and at the moment I'm particularly enjoying low fat strawberry yoghurts. Yum.

This year is going to be hard work, finishing the uni course, finding a job, then getting married. As long as I make sure I get enough sleep I think I'll be ok. Now that I've ordered my wedding dress too, I've got to make sure I at least maintain where I am, if not at least try and lose a few pounds.

I am lazy and easily distracted, happily choosing sofa over strenuous exertion every time. He's equally lazy and often needs the proverbial kick up the..... We complement each other very well really.

So far, I've not touched chocolate, well, I did pick up a Mars Celebration, but put it back again unwrapped and intact. I haven't had any crisps, and we've been to the gym twice since the new year. OK so it's not 3 times a week, but we were both ill over the Christmas and New Year period and didn't recover fully until I was back at University last week. He, on the other hand, has admitted the naughty food lapse already. I am smug. Well, a little bit.

For the last couple of years I seem to have caught the big winter flu bug over Christmas, thus not enjoying the festive fun and excitement that everyone else appears to be indulging in. I hardly did any university work either, having planned to get an essay and two reports written (or at least mostly completed) over the holidays.

And now a weekend at work has left me tired and drained again, distracted away from the task in hand, writing this while waiting for the new series of Countdown to start. Am I a student or what?!

So, 2009 eh, it's going to be a big year for me, a few months left at university to work my brain as hard as it's ever been worked, putting in 200% effort to get a 2:1 degree out of it (I hope).
My wedding in September will be here before I know it (which means we actually have to start organising it and do things, not just plan it any more).
I'll have to find myself a proper full time job, not easy in these credit crunch times, and save hard to pay for the wedding.
I hope it's going to be fun all of this chaos, and I want to fit in losing several stone and getting fitter to have more energy in between all of this? Hmm, I'm gonna need more motivation and dedication, and less distraction and sofa.

Wish me luck. I'll need it, I'm not sure how much of my will-power and self-determination actually exists and I am continually hopeful they will appear....soon.

I am rubbish.

I have decided I am the most easily distracted, lazy, procrastinating and full of excuses person I know (except perhaps my fiance who has his equally just as bad moments...)

So, excuses, or reasons, for not keeping up the GABL pledges and getting fitter and healthier in 2008 as I had so confidently planned I would do.

Erm, studying, working, overtime, housework.... so, all the usual things people fit into their lives. So why I am so much worse than the rest of us at fitting everything into my life, and getting my rear into gear when it comes to being organised. Hmm.

I am rubbish.

It's certainly a worthwhile goal, and although in between I have to pass a Psychology degree I'm feeling hopeful. But haven't I said this all year? Yes, and I know I am weak and will often choose the comfy sofa option over gym exertion, but if we force and bully each other enough we'll make it, I hope. What a great start to married life it will be, after 9 months of nagging each other I think we'll be set up for a long and interesting marriage!

It's so hard at this time of year to drag yourself out and make the effort to exercise, and with the shops being so full of naughty fattening goodies, it's easy to see why a lot of us aren't as healthy and fit as we'd like to be. But I know it will take a lot of willpower on my part, and support from those around me and I'll make it in the end, allbeit a bit later than I had originally hoped. Injury drawbacks aside, I'm not the most motivated of people, so it really has been a mammoth effort to change my lifestyle, and I'm still working on it. I will get there eventually, although I hope it will be before I walk down the aisle.

Let's see what 2009 brings, I can tell it's going to be busy year all round.

Managed a couple of gym trips to use the bike, and have been meaning to go swimming too. But as is always the case, I find time disappears and I'm left getting ready for bed each night thinking where has today gone, what did I do with it. The answer is usually not much.

Recent weeks have been filled with the "W" words - Work and Wedding. We've booked the reception venue, paid the deposit, booked the register office and next week were are going to give notice. Then it's no going back!

In order to actually pay for it, overtime at the office is called for! Which is great, if the heating and hot water worked. Been jumping around to keep myself warm since all the portable heaters blew out....

Uni work has been scaring me. I knew 3rd year would involve plenty of hard work and even more reading than the first two years. But the tutors have done a good job of putting the frighteners on us! My only saving grace is that the assessment hand in dates are all pretty evenly spread out allowing me to focus on one assignment at a time!

As for the GABL pledges I will make a concerted effort to sort out my diet and exercise in the run up to christmas as I am planning to start wedding dress shopping in the new year and I would love to be at least a dress size smaller by then.

FOCUS.

In the run up to Sunday, I have been stretching and visited the gym a couple of times to try and get the strength up in my thigh. I attempted a little jog a few days before the race and only made it down one half of Albert Park, but not deterred I remained positive.

I finished in a time of 1hr 38 mins which was not fast by any means, but my target was to just get round, and I jogged more of it than I expected to. It was a good first attempt and I plan to keep up the running and get back up to speed again. A visit to the student sports injury clinic should see me back on track next week when new term starts again. And getting myself back into the gym regularly to keep up my fitness too. Now all I need to do is work on that diet pledge and stop eating the bad CH food - chips, cheese and chocolate.

Thanks to Angus for helping me get started with the running bug. And with a wedding next year to look forward to I will be maintaining my exercise and healthy eating regime with a bit more focus!

And it was not good. It seems my erratic attempts to run after resting have only made the problem worse, and I may now even be out of the running (literally) for the 10k. I will have to walk it if I'm to complete it, and I am raising money for charity and I don't want to let people down. I've told so many people and put so much into this, to fail now is a crushing blow to my pride. I've got some exercises to do and have to rest my leg for a couple more weeks at least, but this all means that the likelihood of my actually running the race is somewhat slim, or even nonexistent.

For someone who has sporadically tried and failed to maintain exercise regimes for over a decade, and to have finally found something I can do and am beginning to even enjoy, to suffer this setback so early on and when my enthusiasm is high is mind blowing. I just hope that by resting and following the physio's instructions faithfully I have rescued it before doing myself some long term damage.

A weekend sat on my rear at work was fine, but I thought after 2 days rest I'd be ok to attempt another run. I was wrong. I didn't even manage 1 lap of the park, and decided to give up and limp home, leaving my partner to carry on his run alone.

However, this first experience of injury from exercise has not put me off running. I am looking forward to getting back out there and back on track. This is a minor blip and setback in my plan to get fitter and thinner in 2008.

After a stressful couple of months revising cognition, grief and social constructionism among others, then sweating in a hot oven (the exam hall) in early May I managed to pass all my exams and assessments with much relief. Roll on 3rd year, dissertation, late nights and caffeine injections here I come.

A temp job at the Gazette for 2 months alongside my existing weekend job saw me working 7 days a week for a while and becoming somewhat rather tired in the process. Only myself to blame. And as my long suffering fiance kept saying: " I tried to warn you, you didn't listen, I said you'd be tired." I don't tend to listen to him much.

On the day I warmed up on the bike at the gym with a 5k ride, did plenty of stretches as we waited in the elegant surroundings of Ormesby Hall, then after a delayed start, set off at a slow jog. I managed about 1k before the shins started screaming so I walked the pain off for the 2nd kilometre before attempting to run the 3rd. Before I saw the 4k sign I gave up again and took to a brisk walk through the woods. As the final 500 metres approached I forced myself to run that last uphill stretch and staggered over the finish line in about 45 minutes. My legs hurt and I was knackered. I didn't feel as pleased with myself as I should have done.

After my dismal performance at Race for Life, I decided a new direction was called for and resolved to focus my running for the 10k in September. Enter my running Guru, a friend of my partners who helped him train for his 10k a few years ago. After the Race for Life I started weekly running sessions with him and in only 2 months can now run over 5k without stopping to walk, and without the screaming shins.

I still get stitches but he says that will pass as long as I run through them. But I am feeling pretty pleased with myself at the moment having reached my first target I set myself if a little bit later than intended. I wish I had sought his help sooner, but my thanks go out to him, he knows who he is.

As for the diet side of things, I naively thought I could carry on eating pretty much what I wanted as long as I kept up the running. Nothing happened and the weight didn't start dropping off as I'd hoped. So both him indoors and me have resolved to be stricter with ourselves and refocus the diet. It lapsed a bit with a few days in Wales last month gorging on fish'n'chips on the prom, and juicy steak pies at the pub. We're back on track now, cutting out cheese, chocolate and crisps for starters.

And this week I have really started to see the physical results taking effect, my trousers feel a bit bigger than before, and I can fit comfortably back into a pair I couldn't even do up this time last year. This is what I've been waiting for, being able to see the effects of all the effort, and I'm even starting to like running - at least I don't mind it any more.