A Truly Astonishing Week - Part 3... Andy!!!

Grieving My Losses

Out of all of the extended Supra family, I've known Andy the longest. I met him when I was 16 at a camp. I think if you had asked us all those years ago if we'd believe we were destined to become besties, I don't quite know what you might have heard us say. It's not because I didn't like him, he was nice enough. But we didn't talk much - probably because he thought I was nuts. Fair assumption. Years later, I met him again around the same time I met Greg - funny that because they lived together for 5 years before Greg moved in with me. And you have never seen a funnier coupling. To this day they are still niggling each other, arguing about everything and laughing at each other, they are a great match made from very similar molds.

So Andy has been in my life for a very long time now and I have watched him over the past few years really establish what interests he'd like to pursue and chase after his goals with such determination and tenacity, that he often renders the rest of us lazy, simply in comparison! This is a man who took up playing football at 34 and can run around the field with the young pups, often putting them to shame. A man who is more competitive than anyone else I know, all you have to do is set the man a challenge and he has already achieved it ten minutes ago....and probably exceeded all expectations. Why so driven? I think Andy is just one of the few people in the world who know that the body can withstand more than your mind allows you to think it can, and he takes it to the limits. His mental strength and perseverance is ridiculous.

I saw Andy's competitive nature again on the back deck of our houseboat...where by nightfall of our first eve on the boat he had caught his 40th carp already! No word of a lie. Albeit they were mostly little ones, but still.....we had only been able to fish since 6pm!!! And I saw it too when he, Micka and Steve set up a makeshift fitness circuit. Andy is one of the fittest guys I know, and he works hard for that label. He doesn't just go to footy training. He also makes sure he runs several other times a week to improve his fitness and skills, and he is very motivated to increase his strength to prevent injuries and just generally get the best out of himself. Steve and Micka play in the same footy team as Andy, so they were all keen to keep up their fitness while away.

So they all suited up (shoes and workout gear) and hit the banks of the river. I did too. Now, I can tell you the stereotypes of people who intimidate me....and footy players are high on that list. But this is Steve, Micka and Andy. So they are less intimidating, but when I was considering taking the opportunity to workout with them or not, I did note the vast difference in our fitness levels, my aching recently weaned boobs and the fact that I'm sure none of them had seen the full force of my red head. But twas the week for throwing caution to the wind and giving everything a go, and I suited up!!! Correction. Was not the week for trying new things. Is now the life for it. I actually left myself wide open for jokes when I announced (after a red wine) at the dinner table that this week was for trying new things and that I would do anything anyone asked of me..........

So we had 5 different stations.
1. A kettle bell swing that looked very alarmingly like you are trying the hump the crap out of it to get it up in the air. All the boys felt it necessary to show me how it worked. I felt rude for watching.
2. Jump ups onto a log. Micka made it look easy enough so when I could hardly coordinate both feet off the ground at the same time and almost stacked it before we even began...so could have given up then. Didn't. Just amended mine to step ups instead.
3. Tricep dips on the log. Easy enough.
4. Another kettle bell exercise that I didn't do, opting for push ups instead (the kettle bell was well above my strength level.)
5. A run along a track. The boys had their track, and I had mine which was about 1/3 or maybe even 1/4 of their distance...but that didn't matter cause it took me approximately about the same time to get my shuffle along my little track as it did for them to pace out theirs.

Here are the strapping young lads...thrusting and planking away. Kat got this pic just before I arrived at workout session. They were warming up.

We worked a few different combos of time, but mostly it looked like 80sec working with 40 sec break to catch your breath...and in your break you could opt to do the plank for fun. After the first circuit I was well red in the face and working hard. My breath was quick and heavy. I was feeling the affects big time already. I pushed through. After the second circuit we all agreed to pop back to the boats for a very quick drink and then straight back into 3rd set. Briefly my mind gave me the option of sitting down next to Greg on the boat and not completing that 3rd. Didn't. And the beauty of the circuit is that you can all work to your own individual level of fitness and strength. So we did. I was encouraged by the boys and their outstanding efforts, and they were proud and impressed with me for what I could do. And by the end, I'm pretty sure we were all sweating, panting, and feeling like we had done our best.

So lets get this straight. I worked out with three fit football players. For fun. And wasn't embarrassed. Actually felt the opposite. I felt like I belonged there, in my group of friends, being active and having a laugh as we go. Encouraging each other until the next break and laughing at Andy when he gagged from his extreme effort. Getting out into the wide world and enjoying every second. Taking opportunities as they are offered. God I was proud of myself.

And I was watching Andy. Not in a weird stalker way. But in an observing awesomeness way. Because he has the most committed training style I have ever seen. And not because he almost threw up. That's gross. But because he just kept going and going. And he was working hard. He was breathing the hardest. Sweating the most. Groaning the most. And we were all working our arses off. But he was the friggin energiser bunny or something! In the rests, where at times we would all fail to plank and stand there sucking in the big ones instead, mostly Andy would be on the ground planking away during his rest periods. Amazing!

But don't you know it when you have worked out muscles that haven't been used in a while. As much as you stretch, you are going to get sorer and sorer. So this is the thing I am most proud of for the week. My workout with the boys was on Thursday morning. My first wakeboarding attempt was that same afternoon! That trying and trying and trying and endlessly holding on as best I can, was with arms that had just worked out with three fit footballers. Those arms that held on time and time again had just been doing push ups and tricep dips just hours before. Those same arms that finally got me out of the water were already weary arms from an awesome session. And I can tell you they were certainly getting stiff by the time I hit the water. Did I care? No! Did I persevere? Yes. And was I the MOST determined person Greg has ever seen behind our boat...even with jelly arms?! YES!

Because I had been watching (stalking?) Andy and I realised as I was floating in the water, mustering the energy to go again, that Andy knows how to get the most out of his body. And I wanted to get the most out of mine too. So I did. And don't forget.....I wakeboarded again the following day. Oh, and don't also forget...I am 40kg overweight. Proud much?

I wanna have that commitment to my life. I want to suck every single thing I can out of every single situation so I not only get the best, but so that I can be the best, and so I can give my best to others. I don't want to just live like it doesn't matter anymore, just a bit willy nilly.And I wanna be fit so that these activities can be even better next time. I am going to own my own wakeboard next summer and get a girly life jacket, not a massive mens one. Mark my words kids. It's going to happen.

I left out an important part of my experience of wakeboarding yesterday, deliberately so I could share it with you today. After my second and more successful wakeboard attempt, the first 60 seconds in the boat were all about how awesome it was. How happy I was. How inspired I felt. And then it hit me strong enough that I felt like crying....from sadness and grief.

I could have had 10 years of this joy. I could have loved it all along. And all these different moments came flooding back of moments that I have not participated, moments of me saying no for no reason. Of me getting fatter and fatter. Of me feeling more and more insecure. I could've punched myself in the throat right then and there. IDIOT! And this is the moment guys. This is the true moment I have been waiting for all along where all of a sudden it clicks. I finally understood what I had been doing to myself and how I had put myself at such a disadvantage in life by missing all this amazingness all along. All the times I could have felt this joy. All the times I could have been proud of my efforts.

I know what you are already rushing to tell me. And you are right. The important part of this story is that I made it this far. But I think it is important for me to grieve my 20s. Yes, I have achieved so much, I have a wonderful life and I am very happy and proud of it, but there was so much more to do as well. I feel I have been only living 70% of the life intended for me for so long now. And I need to acknowledge that and grieve it, because I would hate to just sweep it under the rug and then repeat the same mistake again. I want to focus on it for a while, because it is my wake up call. Life could have been EVEN better than what it already had been. Amazing! And I've had a taste of it and I will not be going back from here kids.

I'm glad I have begun my 40kg challenge, because snowboarding will be so much easier to try when I am lighter and so much stronger. ;)

And Andy? Take a knee, for I have something to say to you. You are a training machine and I have a lot to learn from you. Your encouragement and knowledge has been gratefully received and I intend to continue picking your brain as I travel down this road. Thank you for making something click in me that I never quite understood before. xo

Ciao for Now,
LG, Life's Great!