I’ve had a realisation over the last few weeks.  I’m way fitter than I thought.

Getting fit wasn’t the plan

When I started Katya’s Microadventures three years ago, it wasn’t a fitness plan. I wasn’t trying to become sporty. I wanted to get people out into nature – for wild swims, hikes, and those little adventures that give you a pop of optimism and confidence.

However, things never work out how you intend them to. I’ve accidentally ended up taking up snowboarding, climbing and paddleboarding, and I’m pretty good at all of them. That really wasn’t the plan, it just sort of unfolded. I moved from ‘let’s just get out in nature’ to actively learning these sports and wanting to share that knowledge with others.

Another development is that those sports started injuring me.  So I’ve had to start going to the gym to strengthen things. Without really noticing, my all round fitness has crept up.

Always comparing myself unfavourably

The funny thing is, I tend to focus on what I can’t do. When I’m at the climbing gym there are these fit people literally leaping around the bouldering walls, and I absolutely cannot do that.  Climbing up tall walls with ropes is more my jam and it doesn’t involve that level of athleticism. So I look around at the bouldering athletes and think, well clearly I’m not very sporty.

Yet when I went snowboarding in France recently, I had so much stamina. I was on the mountain for about five hours a day all week and I didn’t even ache. I came home to England thinking, hang on, I must actually be quite fit.

A couple of weeks later I went out for a run. It was meant to be a short one just to prepare for an event, but I ended up running six miles and felt absolutely fine. That surprised me too.  What I love, is this all crept up on me.

The least likely person to be sporty

If you’d met me at school, I was probably the least likely candidate to become a sporty adult. I was embarrassingly bad at sport. Truly awful.

So it’s still a bit strange matching the person I feel like on the inside with the things I’m doing now.

I started most of these sports when I was 46. Not the most obvious age to begin something new.   And it’s brought me a lot of confidence and joy. 

Be careful what you dream of!

I remember during the pandemic making a vision board to try to inspire myself to do a physical activity other than running – which I was bored to tears with. So on that vision board I put pictures of all sorts of things – surfing, skateboarding, dancing. I wanted to move my body in more exciting ways.  At the time those images felt a bit far fetched.  But look where I am 6 years later!

I wanted to share this as a bit of encouragement.  Things that feel impossible, or beyond the version of yourself you currently imagine, might actually be much closer than you think.

Sometimes it just starts with taking the first step.