Returning to the Shuttle

One of my (unofficial) goals for the year is to improve both DD’s and my fitness level. It’s unofficial because I, erm, haven’t gotten round to writing down any of my goals/resolutions for the year yet. Perhaps being less of a procrastinator should be one of them.

Anyway.

I realised that asking my husband to go jogging on a regular basis just wasn’t going to happen. And it was unlikely to happen for me too. Friends who remember how I used to be a competitive long-distance runner who pretty much ran everywhere (I was incapable of walking), please don’t judge! That was my past but unfortunately, this is my present. And the present me has not run regularly in years.

I did try to kickstart some running a couple of months back. I found a slot that kind of worked for a while between 8.30am-9am in the morning, right after I dropped Noey off at school and before I had to give DD a ride to the office. I kept it up, running once or twice a week for 3, maybe 4 weeks, then a combination of scheduling issues and laziness killed it. I’m still thinking of re-starting this. Maybe. But my other consideration is that I want to do something together with DD to get him moving as well, and running didn’t seem that enticing.

So.

We went to play badminton!

In our usual fashion, it was completely unplanned and on the spur of the moment. One minute we were talking about possibly playing badminton in the evening, the next thing I know, I am booking the only available slot for the badminton courts at a nearby Community Club for the end of the week. We decided to rope in my parents, in part because we have no racquets and no shuttlecocks, but also because my Dad plays badminton regularly and we thought it would be a fun thing to do together.

It turned out really great when my sister and brother-in-law were able to join us, albeit really late. Our impromptu decision ended up being a fun family get-together.

The kids got involved too, though Noey couldn’t do much more than stand in first position (with one foot in front of the other) and return the shuttlecock that we tossed, no, carefully aimed directly at his up-turned racquet. Sometimes he still missed so I guess he has his mother’s genes. Naomi had her own fun stomping around in her favourite boots and messing about at the net.

DD and I, we got a really good workout. So much so that our arms were aching the next day! I was totally surprised to find that I wasn’t as bad as I remembered. Could it be that years of not playing had improved my badminton skills? Or that my hand-eye co-ordination had actually improved? In the end, I agreed with DD that it was probably beginner’s luck.

No matter. We’ve been so inspired that we booked the courts again for the coming Fri. I’m hoping that this would turn out to be something that we could do regularly as a family. And get fit and have fun at the same time. (Maybe without all the hawker food that we happily tucked into at the nearby food centre after all the exercise!)