Naughty Spice goes on holiday
Claire and friends on holiday in the UK.
Sigh. I’m back in the UK and my fitness regime is shot to bits as Naughty Spice takes over. It’s taken a back seat to family lunches, nights out with friends and the fact that everyone in the UK wants you to have tea and biscuits with them.
What I have managed to squeeze in fitness-wise, however, has been amazing, though, so that’s kind of interesting.
Day 4: I go for a 6am run. I’m so used to the humidity of Maryland that I am spurred on by the invigorating freshness of the English morning! I’m not dripping with sweat like I usually am. It’s a brilliant run (ironically retracing the pub crawl route from my youth) and I feel so alive and full of endorphins that I stop by the shade of the canal and launch into my own personal 20 minute Zumba session and cool down. Amazeballs!
Day 8: I play netball for an hour and a half. The best game ever, and one that the USA really needs to get its act together with. I streak like lightning across the court, enjoying playing a team game once again and feeling like I’m engaging in fun interval training. It’s been a year since I’ve played at this level, having only really had the chance to dabble in the USA. My heart is pumping and my legs are like jelly as we finish the matches – and who got player of the match? Only 38-year-old me – not these 20 something gals!
And so despite the few pounds added on this holiday and the lack of proper exercise, Naughty Spice has not won outright and I will be saying ‘cheerio’ to her in September, so maybe one last ‘hurrah’ hey?!
Claire Bolden McGill is a British expat who lived in Maryland for three years and moved back to the UK in August 2015. Claire wrote about her life as a British expat on the East Coast and now works in travel and hospitality PR in the UK. She still finds time to blog about her repatriation and the reverse culture shock that ensued – and she still hasn’t finished that novel, but she’s working on it. You can contact Claire via twitter on @clairebmcgill or via her blog From America to England.