Three weeks into my 60th year it is beginning to feel like any other year. Not surprising as my life hasn’t changed much over the last two years. Same passions, same frustrations. I’m just writing about them with the hope it will keep me accountable to what I intend to achieve.Two things have been ticked off my list but one looks as if it may not happen. The company I was doing the Peak District 6 Dale Challenge with has gone into administration so I will need to look for something else.

​It took me a couple of days to recover from conquering the 3 Yorkshire Peaks. Last weekend was a far more sedate affair with three days in Center Parcs. The weather was glorious. Most unexpected in April. I was up early to make the most of it. There is something special about running around the Parc. Spotting the deer, saying hello to the ducks on the ‘beach’ and then stopping off for a cappuccino. I did a hula class which was not my most elegant moment but a lot of fun. I managed to keep 3 hoops up for the longest time receiving a plastic tiara for my achievement. Sitting in the sun, chatting, laughing, eating with friends and a spa and Swedish massage made for a lovely weekend. Restorative.

I am so lucky in having friends. I don’t make friends easily and it gets harder as you get older. But last weekend was spent with friends that I met at school and I climbed the mountains with the friends that I made 8 months earlier climbing some slightly taller mountains.

​I’m happy with how my fitness goals are progressing. The pull-up is still a long way off but I’m getting stronger. I can now bench press 15kg dumbbells. Over 2 stone in old money. Each arm. And I’ve started running again. The Great North Run is just over 4 months away so I will need to start getting the miles in.

What is frustrating is the continued presence of my layer of blubber. As I have bemoaned before I am a normal BMI and a waist to hip ratio but my body fat percentage is high. I was calipered by my personal trainer last week. I remain stubbornly around 37% body fat which is classified as obese. For a woman of my age it should be 32% or below. I have also put on 1.5 kg since the beginning of the year. Some of that could be accounted for by my increased muscle mass but I can see in the mirror that I’m getting more rounded. I had to agree with my trainer. I do well during the week. I eat healthily and whilst I eat carbs it is only after training. I take a lot of Tupperware (I’m showing my age here) to work. However the weekends cancel out all my good work. I drink beer, I eat out and have takeaways.

But when I hit that big 60 I want to be the best shape of my life. So I need to stop procrastinating and do something about it. The food diary is out. Everything is to be recorded as there is a lot of evidence that we underestimate what we eat either by portion size or mindless grazing. I’m the first one to convince myself that a biscuit has ‘nul points’ if I eat it standing up. Unfortunately my fat cells aren’t so forgiving.

This may be the biggest challenge of my 60th year.