Bryan Greenfield

Hero?

Legend?

Thoroughly bloody nice bloke?

Possibly all of the above. Possibly not. 

2012

I'm certain there will be thousands of other posts about the year just past. I'm just going to go over a few things, well achievements, that I can actually remember.

Not much of an achievement, as such, to start with but 2012 saw my 30th birthday. I had planned, in December 2011, not to be 'fat at 30'. I wanted to lose weight before my birthday, in April. I didn't do very well at this, even with the assistance of 'laser lypo' treatment! I think I probably put on weight, if anything!

Shortly after my birthday, in May, we had the Kent Senior Trophy final. By 'we', I mean Hollands & Blair FC. I am the goalkeeper coach there for the senior 'keepers. We played against Sevenoaks Town, a team from the league above, and won 2-1. Winning the trophy was a massive achievement. We were the lowest ranked club to ever win it, and it is a day I will remember fondly for the rest of my life!

Me and the goalscorer (one of my best friends in the world, Nick Smith)

The coaching staff with the trophy

The start of the post match celebrations

Shortly after the cup final, I went on a charity 'walk', across the Yorkshire Three Peaks. That was one of the hardest things, physically, I have ever done. I didn't prepare for it. I was 17 stone. I was not meant to walk for prolonged distances on my stupid knee. But I did it all the same. Fuck, it hurt. Funnily enough, my knee was ok. The rest of my body was not. There's talk of doing it again this year. We'll have to see about that! I very much count this as an achievement, though. I could have given up on a few occasions, but I carried on. I'm very glad I did. If you want to read more about that 'experience', you can find the related blog post HERE.

Me and Lukey at the top of the first peak

I'd started back doing boxercise at this point, and had lost a little bit of weight. Not loads, but it was a start. I really enjoy boxercise. It's a great class, run by the best instructor EVER, and has some amazing people that go to it. I miss not going regularly now, but I picked up a wrist injury and then had no money, so had to have a bit of a break. I know, it's not an achievement, but it's something I enjoyed doing and thought it worthy of a mention!

Aforementioned instructor, Peter Herbert, and I

In August, I received a few DVDs from America. I had ordered DDP Yoga after hearing lots of good things about it and seeing a film on YouTube of Arthur Boorman. It's well worth a watch if you're requiring motivation of any sort! It was with the delivery of these DVDs, as well as the paperwork that accompanied them, that I started on the road to arguably my best achievement of the year. I started to do some of the yoga workouts on the DVDs and decided to give a gluten and dairy free lifestyle a go. As of right now, I've lost around 3 and a half stone (50 lbs) and am wearing 34" jeans for the first time since my very early teens! 

I really didn't expect to be able to stick to the dairy and gluten thing. I love cheese and I love bread and I love pizza. The list could be endless! I've managed it, though. And I'm glad to have done so. It's nice to be less fat, and it's even nicer to not spend every waking minute in knee related pain! I fully intend on maintaining this lifestyle, and hope that I achieve the goal I set myself in August!

On the subject of the goal I set myself - it was a bit of a strange one. When I had dieted before, I'd said I wanted to lose x amount of weight in x amount of time. This time around, my goal is to be able to perform a 'kip up'. Don't know what that is? Look on YouTube. I've linked far too much stuff already =) I can't do one yet. I'm just working on the basis that, if I continue to lose weight and continue becoming stronger and more flexible with the yoga, I'll be able to do it one day! No time constraints, so no pressure. Just 'one day'. I did give myself a secondary target, too. That was to get in to a pair of trousers I bought in 2003. I wore them last in 2004, and they were always tight. The sort of tight that left that big red mark around my belly. They were the most expensive trousers I ever bought, and I've always kept them in the hope they'd fit again one day. Unfortunately for me, they still don't fit. Only now they're too big! At least I got in them, and achieved my 'secondary target'!

Before I finish, I did manage to do something else lately. I'm quite pleased with this one, too. I learned to use an Xbox controller! Until now, I've been uncomfortable with anything more advanced than a Mega Drive controller. Now I can play one game with some sort of confidence on the Xbox! Woohoo! I doubt I'll be putting this new and amazing skill to much use. Only when my eldest wants to play WWE 13. I don't see me learning to play other games. They're all too hard these days, and you can't even use Game Genies or Action Replays to cheat. Where's the fun in that!?

I hope you all enjoyed surviving the end of the world in 2012, and all the best for 2013 and beyond!

The end.

xxx