I want to become a better human being by becoming less well rounded. In the literal sense.

Hello. This is my first blog post.

Well, it's not really. I've written many blog posts. This is my first post on this blog. And this blog isn't going to have posts like the ones I've written for other blogs. I won't talk about sci-fi movies or video games or genre fiction on this blog. I'm here to talk about improving my fitness through running and cycling.

There may be frequent posts on how much I hate exercise, at least to start with.

I called this blog Chocolate is a Food Group because that kind of sums up my attitude to my body and how I've been treating it all these years. Now, that was all well and good in my 20s when a month or two of behaving myself got everything back into reasonable trim, but that simple solution is no longer available. And, to be honest, it never really worked. I was never skinny and very rarely in any kind of decent shape. Just a decent enough shape to get away with it.

When I was single and carefree that's all I needed. Now that I'm married, in a relationship with someone that sees past my physical imperfections and my determination to complain about my weight while consuming yet more chocolate (or pizza, or fried food, or... you're getting the idea, I'm sure) it's time to do more. We'll be a family soon, knock on wood, and I need to start working on my health.

Also... you know. Vanity.

So, what to do? I love a variety of sports but I am shocking at them. Shocking. You have no idea. You think you do, but you don't. So, I'm not really able to enjoy team games for the most part. The two types of exercise I've had most success with have been running and cycling. The cycling came about after a running injury, actually. Now, I've never been a strong runner, but I have gotten some momentum going now and then.

Now and then. I always quit. Always. Well, not so much quit as fade away. That's what this blog is about. It was inspired by a post at the Guardian Running Blog. The idea, simply enough, is to write about my experiences getting fitter. You know, a way of shaming myself.

So, this will be a personal blog and completely unrepentant in that respect. I do promise to avoid whining as much as I can and Lord knows I have close to no interest in posting regular times. That wouldn't do any of us much good. But there'll be posts about how good a run or bad a run I had, how I'm doing... I've always had trouble running and this is my big effort to break through the barrier and get to a point where a 5k is a regular run I can actually complete in under half an hour and I forget what "walking breaks" are. Well, for the most part.

The cycling will come a little later. We're moving soon but I'm going to get back in the saddle (hey, what other way should I put it?) at the end of the summer throughout the autumn.

If you stumble across this blog while out travelling the web, the first thing I want to do is apologize that this isn't a really cool foodie site about chocolate. Secondly though, it is my hope that I will actually get my act together here and become a fitter person and that might actually help to motivate others. Or at the very least continue to motivate me.

Let's go!