Adventures in living a healthy, juicy life
Guest Post by Hayley Forster
Craig Fairley, Cheese Rolling Winner 2009
Hang on, this first bit’s by me. Hayley’s update follows mine – Cheryl Ragsdale
Just when I thought I’d found the perfect “test run” for Hayley as she prepares for her upcoming journey through the Tough Guy Challenge’s 8 mile obstacle course, I was disappointed to discover that the 2010 Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling event is cancelled.
With steep slopes and muddy people running madly after an 8lb cheese roll, Hayley could have tested her mettle to see how far she’s come in her cardio – get fit program.
Here’s more info on the event that’s been cancelled, in case one of you wants to go next year.
♥
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3 March 2010 – posted on facebook fan page
The organisers of the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling regret to announce that the 2010 event has been cancelled.
The attendance at the event has far outgrown the location where it has traditionally been held for several hundred years. Last year, more than 15,000 people tried to attend (according to official estimates) which is more than three times the capacity of the site.
The organisers are working with the local Authorities and Police to control numbers which will enhance:
- crowd safety
- respect for the local community
- emergency vehicle access
- traffic flow on local and trunk roads
The event will be back, in a revised form, in 2011.
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What? You’ve never heard of cheese rolling? Here’s a video so you can see what you’ve been missing. Want more details on the annual event? The injury report and the mishaps involving cheese – rolling off course – taking out innocent bystanders are just below Hayley’s weekly update on her preparations for the Tough Guy Challenge 2010. Details provided by SoGlos.com
Um, Hayley, those green sling thong things seem to be fashionable for the competitors. I hope you’ll be more covered up and ladylike. It’s awfully muddy, wet and cold where you’re going 
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Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2009
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Hayley’s Tough Guy Challenge – Week Two
by Hayley Forster
The Before Picture
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, so says the old proverb. Granted, I’m certainly not an old dog – I’m only 26. But what if this 26 year old has spent most of her life exercising her brain and not her body?
How do you get this girl to then transform her hectic life into a life that is not only hectic, but also fit and healthy?
Well, you give her a terrifying challenge that’s what!
Peter and Hayley visiting Cheryl's martial arts class in Boston
I was never a sporty girl. My sister Kelly was a tomboy when she was younger. My mum and dad would turn their backs and Kelly would be up a tree or teetering on some rocks looking for shells. My sister was very adventurous.
There is quite a big age gap between my sister and I. Kelly is 6.5 years older than me and I was the typical little sister – wanting to do everything like my big sis did. I started my life (and continued it…) as a bit of a nerd. On my first day of school, I asked for homework – yes I was 5 – and I asked for homework.
Looking back I’m not sure if I was a stupid, clearly unstable child or I was just a healthy curious little girl who wanted to grow up quickly and be like her big sister who would write reports instead of playing with toys.
No matter how hard I tried, there was one thing I didn’t or couldn’t follow Kelly on – and that was her sense of adventure. I was never very good about coming out of my comfort zone.
My mum took me to a dance class when I was about 3. She didn’t even get out the door before I screamed my head off – I remember being absolutely mortified that she would take me to a room full of girls dressed as fairies and leave me there! How dare she! Adventure was not my thing – I was a home girl.
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Becoming Adventurous
The biggest challenge I have is transforming myself from a girl who is used to getting her exercise from walking to the vending machine or dancing on a night out, to a girl who can run laps round people and have fun doing it. Tough…
I’ve become much more adventurous in the past few years, but my idea of adventure is visiting different cultures, countries and learning new things. I am not a physical adventure girl.
The reason I am not a physical girl is not because I cannot do it – it is because I’ve gotten into the habit of not being physical. In order to complete Tough Guy, I need to turn the past 26 years around and get a new habit – a habit of wanting to get fit and being a cardio machine!
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Forge a New Habit
Apparently it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Let’s hope this is true…..
I understand that I have set myself a challenge and it will take time. My biggest issue is that I’m very impatient. If I don’t see results instantly, I’ll give up – why put in all the effort, if you don’t get any results?
This is the mindset I have to get out of, as it will not happen with a click of the fingers. If it were that easy I would have done it years ago!
The weekend before I started training, I over indulged a little….. Long lie ins and chocolate cheesecakes come to mind. Why not? If I was being good for the next 5 months, I was going to make the most of my ‘free weekend’!
But then something odd happened…… Monday morning arrived and I was a new Hayley! I woke up at 6.30am for a 5-mile bike ride, went to work with a spring in my step and then had a 2-mile run at lunchtime. Now I say run… it was more of a walk 30 seconds, run 30 seconds. But this was a part of our plan. Yes you heard right – we have a plan! We have even set ourselves goals! We are aiming to:
- Run 2 miles on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
- Bike ride 5 miles at least on a Tuesday and Wednesday.
- Circuit training on a Wednesday evening.
- Another form of exercise one day of the weekend.
Even after 2 weeks I have learnt some very vital things in this whole habit changing challenge:
- Set yourself goals. If you’re sure you want to do this – you need to do it properly. Add timelines to these goals.
- Decide why you want to do this. There must a reason for you to complete your challenge. I lost 50lbs in weight because I was getting married and wanted to look slim line and beautiful on the big day. I want to become fit because I would like to survive the Tough Guy challenge. Some reasons may be more serious than others – but you need a reason. It will help you stick to it. When you find it tough, just think of your reason and you will find extra strength.
- Keep yourself motivated. Whether this is by rewarding yourself when you hit one of your targets or telling your friends, family or blog readers about your progress.
- Stay clear of negative people. Whatever your challenge is, you’re doing it for a reason. The people around you should respect this. Even the slightest negative comment can knock you from your track. Surround yourself with people who celebrate your accomplishments and show an interest.
You can always start off with a bang, but maintaining the enthusiasm is the biggest challenge. I will not lie. I am in pain. I am tired. I am doubting myself. This would not be called Tough Guy Challenge if it were easy and I see some tough times ahead.
I am 14 days into my habit. I will be honest and say I am struggling. Both the physical and mental aspects are tough, but I’m showing improvements already. Keeping to the four points I mentioned above and most importantly having fun with it, will keep me going. This is more a mental challenge than a physical challenge for me and anyone that knows me and my physical abilities will find that hard to believe – but its true.
Just remember this:
Habits are an essential part of our life, without them we would fail in most things we try to accomplish. They help us to reach specific goals, stay focused along the way and keep on pushing when the going gets tough.
If I do complete this and I manage to create a new habit for myself – I would like to make it official and I will say it here first. I am changing the proverb. It is no longer ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’. It will be ‘you can teach an old dog new tricks. It will be bloody exhausting, but you will get there eventually’
For more information about the Tough Guy Challenge, see
Hayley’s Report for Week One
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Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling
click the above link for the full story – only a portion of the story is reprinted here:
With a disputed history dating back to at least the 1800s, the annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake involves hordes of fearless competitors chasing a weighty 8lb Double Gloucester cheese down a death-defyingly-steep hill.
The slope on Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester, the eponymous setting for the world-famous event, is in fact so steep that very few contenders manage to even stay on their feet, instead tumbling head over heels down the hill in a desperate effort to catch the coveted prize.
While in reality, the cheese can never actually be caught – with a brief headstart, it soon reaches breakneck speeds – the race winner is the first person to cross the line at the bottom of the hill. Some contenders, sadly, don’t make it all the way down though, and instead, lie in wait for the St John Ambulance crew who are on hand to fix-up the daredevils or whisk them away to the local A&E.
The highest injury toll in recent years occurred in 1997 when 33 competitors were treated for everything from splinters to broken bones, and in 2005 races were apparently delayed as ambulances delivered victims to the local hospital before returning to wait for the next batch of casualties.
Spectators have also be known to receive their fair share of injuries – one year an off-course cheese took out an innocent bystander – but you can rest assured that such occurrences are rare.
As normal, five official downhill races are expected to be held on Monday 30 May 2011, including one ladies’ race, each involving around 20 competitors who will line-up and anxiously await the master of ceremonies’ commands before setting off.
The winner of each race receives a Double Gloucester cheese, supplied by Smart’s Farm for more than 20 years, as well as enjoying local and even international fame.
Children will also have the opportunity to get involved on the day in between adult races, but not downhill – instead taking part in a series of much safer up-hill races.
Growing in popularity every year, SoGlos.com’s videos of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 events have in fact been watched more than five million times on websites around the world, the Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2011 is once again set to attract thousands of visitors for one of the world’s wackiest spectator events.
photo credit 2009 cheese rolling winner
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And while we’re on the subject, what about the rest of you?
What challenge will you take on over these next 5 months?
The American Heart Association is encouraging everyone to change our eating habits and get more exercise to support a healthy heart.
Let us know in the comments section!
located on the right hand side of this post about half-way down the page
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Hayley Forster, a long-time female fight fan, lives in the North of England with her husband, Pete. Both have deep love for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Keep up with her MMA chat on SportsChatPlace.com
email her on Hayley@sportschatplace.com or follow her twitter.com/fairly_normal
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I’ve lived in the middle of cheese country in Wisconsin for a long time and have never heard of cheese rolling. I’ve seen lots of interesting sporting events on ESPN, but never something like this! Wherever did you hear about it? Love their fan page, too!
Adventures are a very memorable in any one’s life. it is lot of fun when recollected at later stage of life. Am a Hip Hop dance trainer, NYC .
.-= Todd Chen´s Last Fabulous Post blog .. =-.
Twitter: thatgirlisfunny
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Hi Todd,
Thanks for visiting. I checked out your site – looks like it would be a fun adventure to take hip hop dancing lessons with you
.-= Cheryl´s Last Fabulous Post blog ..How to Stay Young – Have a Good Laugh and a Long Sleep =-.
Cheese rolling! I’ve always wanted to watch a competition before!
*from SITS
.-= Maya ´s Last Fabulous Post blog ..Marf of the (Mon)Day =-.
Twitter: thatgirlisfunny
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Hi Maya,
Do you think the winner gets the cheese they just chased down the hill? Maybe the cheese is well wrapped and is none the worse for wear by the time it finishes rolling down the hill…8lbs of cheese – that would make a whole lot of grilled cheese sandwiches
Glad to read about the great progress you have done. You stressed a very important idea there. A timeframe is essential in any goal we set. Without a timeframe, we would often lose focus and eventually spend time in tasks that don’t contribute to our main goal.
Also, I think we truly cannot avoid negative comments. I’ve even experienced getting them from those whom I’m used to always getting good comments from . But I think it is possible to find at least some motivation or a good idea from these type of comments.
.-= Julius´s Last Fabulous Post blog ..>When Sound is not an Option: A review of Vibrating Devices for Deaf People =-.
Twitter: fairly_normal
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Hey Julius,
I completely agree – we can never get away from negative comments. The people you would least expect to give you them can often surprise you! I always try to take negative comments/actions and turn them around. I get a lot of satisfaction from proving things to the doubters out there. Why do people think i cannot do something. As far as im concerned anything is possible to whoever wants it and whoever is willing to put in the hard graft!