"You know that 'special' sauce you make when Mr Strongman Fitness is due to go to lunch with his ex-wife the next day? You should so blog that."

In my opinion, you can't be too careful where ex-wives are concerned.  After all, at one point she was wife.  

The special sauce is the best tomato sauce you will ever have.  The reason it's 'special' is that it also has a teensy weensy little bit of garlic in it.  OK, it's got an enormous amount of garlic in there...
It's also dead easy to make and full of good stuff.  Just four ingredients (or three if you don't do cheese), no nonsense.  But I guarantee it will impress.  And will keep both ex-wives and vampires at bay, should you worry about either.

Not that I distrust Mr Strongman Fitness.  I just consider it wise to take sneaky measures just to be on the safe side.  Consider it a contingency plan if you will.    And I get to eat tasty garlicky sauce too, bonus!

For two:
Eight tomatoes, preferably slightly over-ripe ones.
One bulb of garlic.
A bunch of basil.
25g parmesan, chopped into small bits (tastes fine without though).

With a small knife, carefully cut the 'core' out of the tomato, and then stuff it with peeled cloves of garlic (usually 2-3 per tomato).  Slightly tricky to explain,so I took a piccie for you (over there <<<<).

When you've done this to all the tomatoes, place them "hole" side downwards into a metal roasting tray so that they just fit (if they're cosy, you won't need to add any oil).

Cook at 180 degrees for an hour.  The skins will blister and you'll get some of the 'juice' caramelising.  This is fine....  They look a bit like my (blurred, sorry) piccie over there >>>>>.

Use a fork to remove the skin (it should come off very easily), then mush the tomatoes and garlic together with the fork until you get a sauce.  Add ripped basil leaves, and stir in the chunks of parmesan.

Great with pasta.  Fab whizzed up (add a bit of stock/water) as soup.

I bumped into someone I've not seen for a while today.  Another instructor.  Who has (in her words...) 'chubbed up' lately.  She asked if she could talk to me about something a bit sensitive and a bit awkward.  She asked what it was like being known as the 'big instructor'.  She's recently been approached by the studio coordinator for a 'chat' about her weight and it had been quite strongly suggested that she needs to slim down or lose her class.  Had I experienced this before?  

Here's the thing:
I am old.  And I am fat.
Ok, I'm not.
But relatively speaking, and when compared to a load of the other instructors, I stand out.
I don't wear tight crop tops, I don't have skinny thighs.  Bits of me wobble.  Some of them, a lot.
And I know that.  And I don't particularly care.

I get a few sidelong glances from new participants.  When teaching in new places, I confuse the staff by not 'looking right'.  And yes, I have had studio coordinators not use me because I'm not 'right' for the venue.  
And that's fine with me.

But they're missing a trick.

I know my stuff. I'm good at what I do.  
I'm fit. I'm strong.
I am well capable of delivering any class I'm qualified to teach, and giving it some welly.
I can (and do) teach damn hard classes if that's what people want.

And, look at your class participants.  Some of them are 'young' and 'skinny'.  
But, some of them are 'old' and 'fat'.
People like me because I'm 'safe'.  People will come to a class to try a new format because it's me, because they trust me.  I'm like them.  Except I do the 'mad as a box of frogs' thing up the front and bounce around motivatingly (or something).

I'm happy in my own skin, and I don't feel the need to aspire to be something I'm not.  I'm just doing my thing.

So, should my friend care about being the 'big instructor'?    As long as she's still 'walking the walk' and capably delivering effective sessions, I'd say she's doing her job.  If people care more about what she looks like than what she's able to teach people to do, and what she can inspire them to be, then that is their problem, not hers. 

First impressions count.  
But sadly some people don't look any deeper than that.
I very much hope she tells that studio coordinator where he can stick his class.

I'm feeling a bit grumpy today.
Stumbled upon someone clearly upset, looking the part in fitness clobber.  Me being me, I asked what was up.  Her "personal trainer" had just told her that she wasn't succeeding because she lacked focus, she didn't believe in herself, she was making excuses, she was 'mentally weak'.  On gentle probing I discovered it was the wrong time of the month, she'd been up with a small child most of the night, and is getting a lot of stress from work.  Mentally weak, my arse, she's just knackered!  And hearing that it's to do with her lack of intrinsic motivation is helping?  I doubt it...
It reminds me of a gym instructor I once had - I'd told her I was unable to do an exercise she was giving me, 'of course you can do it, you just need to believe more'.  Er, no, I have something called a "frozen pelvis" (as nice as it implies) and recent abdominal surgery; sorry love that's simply not going to happen. 

I get the whole 'tough love' approach.  I get the whole self-belief thing.  I get the fact that some people are motivated by this stuff.

But surely, sometimes, people can't do stuff.  Not because they are 'mentally weak', and not because they 'don't believe', but just because they can't.  I suspect I've bored you with my diagnosis of post-thrombotic syndrome at some point.  Well, this means that sometimes, when I'm out running I have to stop. Not because I'm making excuses, but because it hurts like hell, and it's the sort of hurt that can't be 'run through' (I've tried, believe me).  Sometimes, we just can't do stuff.  Sometimes people have invisible illnesses that prevent them doing what they used to do.  Sometimes we have stuff going on in our personal lives, stuff that gets in the way of achieving what we want to achieve - stuff that we can't (and shouldn't) ignore.  

So today, I'm focussing on the positives.  Some of you people achieve some amazing stuff.  And some of you people achieve less in terms of distance run, medals won, weight lost, but you're achieving something amazing by just keeping on doing what you're doing and not giving up when things get tough.   Keep on doing that stuff.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I seem to have gained a new client.  One strong, feisty lady with a lot on her plate, quite the opposite of 'mentally weak'...

I've had one of those weeks.  One of those weeks when things just go right.  My new running groups are tremendous, popular and just, well, fab.  New people popping up at classes all over the place.  And I got a new job too (not a fitness one, so I won't bore you with details here...).  And, to cap it all off, I have been told by five different people this week that I am an inspiration to them.


So I thought I'd share with you, my loyal readers (both of you <grin>), some people that inspire me.  In case anyone was wondering.  

The boyfriend and I used to refer to C from our spin class as 'the amazing shrinking woman'.  I have no idea how much weight she lost, but it was *very significant*.  This is not why she inspires me (but hey, you knew that right?).  She inspires me because she always came along to classes full of enthusiasm and determination.  Why's this in past tense though....?  C got ill.  Which messed stuff up.  But (and here's the thing) she keeps going.  She's still trying to get running again, she's still out there doing stuff.  She refers to her running technique as the 'three legged dog'.  But she's still going.  She's still trying.  She's damn resilient.

B came to one of our beginners 0-5k groups.  She didn't find it easy.  But she carried on with quiet determination, never moaning, never complaining.  She came to every single session - rain, snow, ice.  She got there.  She did her 5k with us and was delighted.  Now I spot her every so often on a Sunday morning running round the village with her daughter.  She's still out there.  She's still doing it.  And she's doing it on her own.

And finally, L.  L got diagnosed with breast cancer 20 years ago and beat it.  She has the most positive attitude of anyone I think I have ever met.  Nothing is impossible, it's just about finding out how to make it happen.  She overcame something astonishing.  I wish I could have a fraction of her positivity and determination.

These aren't their real initials. Because these aren't the sort of people that make a big deal of this sort of thing.  But if you're reading this, C,B or L, you should recognise yourself.  I hope that makes you smile.  

And yes, there's a recurring theme here.  Overcoming adversity?  Resilience?  Perhaps.  We're all just normal people, getting on with our stuff, dealing with our crap we have to deal with.  When people say that they're inspired by great athletes, or great politicians, or great activists, I get it.  But perhaps real inspiration lies closer to home. Showing us what we can all achieve if we try.  
Real people.  Real lives.  Real challenges.  Really inspirational.