Readers Blog: Jo Moseley - one happy rower!

Hello and welcome to my first contribution to the wonderful Sportsister community. I am honoured and thrilled to be able to share my love for the Concept 2 indoor rowing machine (also known as the erg) with you and explain what a huge impact this incredible machine has had on my life.

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I’m a 49 year old working Mum of two teenage boys, who, until the summer of 2013 hadn’t stepped into a gym for more than 20 years. I was too busy, too concerned about not having the right kit, too worried that I would feel out of place amongst the ‘gym bunnies’. My self-confidence had dropped over the years and like many mothers, I didn’t make time to keep fit or look after myself. My evenings were spent taxi-ing the boys to swimming and climbing lessons, or shivering on the side of a rugby pitch, but actively pursuing a sport was simply not part of my day. If anyone asked, I wasn’t really the sporty type.

Thrills & spills of the ‘tomboy’ years

And yet, it hadn’t always been this way. When I was young everyone called me a real ‘tomboy’. Riding bikes in the Yorkshire countryside and throwing myself into huge North Sea waves off the coast of Yorkshire with great delight. I also loved gymnastics and trampolining. However, like many girls when I hit my teenage years, my self-esteem dropped.

Worries about my weight, looking foolish in front of the boys at school and simply not feeling good enough crept in. I wasn’t madly keen on the competitive team sports offered at school and I started thinking I just wasn’t the sporty type.

In my twenties my interest in sport picked up. I was lucky enough to be awarded a scholarship to study in the States for a year and spent the weekends pursing outdoor activities in the mountains of Virginia. I wasn’t great at any of them – I got wedged in an underground cave one Sunday and crashed into the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with my highly unsuccessful attempts at hang gliding. But I did enjoy myself! Perhaps it was the American optimism or the fact it was a women’s college. I didn’t feel so self- conscious about having a go, failing and trying again.

Confidence takes a dive

Fast forward a few years, a pile of unused fitness DVDs and short lived enthusiasm for aerobics classes, by the mid noughties my only activity was racing after my sons and Sunday walks at a toddler’s pace.

MoonWalk Magic

The one significant exception was taking part in the MoonWalk Marathon, organised by www.walkforwalk.org in Edinburgh in summer 2007 with friends, raising money for and awareness of Breast Cancer. We set a goal, made time to train and achieved something really quite special. Setting off at midnight with thousands of other walkers of all shapes, ages and backgrounds was so exhilarating.

I remember feeling a huge sense of hope, self-belief and pride as the sun rose over Edinburgh Castle and we reached the finish line. We weren’t the first, we weren’t the last, but none of that mattered. We had done it. We had actually done it! A memory of the girl who had raced around on her Chopper and done cartwheels for the simple pleasure of it returned.

Things fall apart, but I keep on walking…

Within six months my marriage had fallen apart and my father had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Life was confusing, uncertain and at times overwhelming. Funnily enough however, I did keep on walking.