Tracy Maclean

NAME: Tracy Maclean AGE: 44 DATE: 26th June – 3rd July COURSE: Women’s residential boot camp, Devon "I lost 1 stone 5 pounds and 17 inches!"

I know before I went to boot camp (June 26 - July 3/2009) I had a few questions not least of which was "can I really survive a week of non-stop exercise at my weight?" I won’t divulge the actual poundage but trust me, I was heavy. In fact, it turned out that I was the heaviest girl there! That would usually be enough for me to run (although not literally!) and hide in shame and embarrassment. The fact that I used to be as fit as the proverbial butchers dog made it even worse!

Anyway, a friend suggested we give boot camp a go only a few weeks before we actually went which was a good thing. Too many months to procrastinate and I would have ended up binning camp in lieu of 7 days wine tasting in Tuscany or even better - chocolate tasting at the Cadbury factory! But, remembering that the only thing that fitted me when I went clothes shopping were the cubicles, I resolved to give Tuscany/Cadburys a miss and duly arrived in Devon on a sunny Friday to begin a weeks worth of beasting, Army Stylie!

My resolve faltered somewhat when we arrived early at the meeting point and had to wait a while to be collected........in a ruddy pub car park! I argued with myself for 10 minutes or so as to whether or not a couple of pints and voddie chasers would do too much damage. Luckily for me Staff Nesbitt arrived just before the siren song of the bar lured my sorry, easily lead, breaking strain of a kitkat self towards my bevvies of choice!

(Staff N, all you need do now is to get a cape and wear your pants/boxers/other undergarment of choice on the outside and you will forever be my hero for saving me from a fate worse than vodka!)

Now, I could go on and on as I am inclined to do but this email will end up a weighty tome as opposed to the cheeky little missive I initially intended, therefore I shall rein self in....

It was hard. No question, one of the hardest weeks I have had, mentally and physically. But without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best!

The people were fantastic. My group gelled really quickly with everyone offering each other a great deal of support. And they came from all walks of life; from a round-the-world yachts-woman to a Jordanian secretary, and whatever you can imagine in between (JJ, I'm still looking for your apples and pears in M & S!)

And as for the staff - I still miss you all...from camp Mama Katie and Mikey the (best ever) chef, and to all the Staffs - Reitze, Nesbitt and Fernandez. These guys are a truly, truly dedicated team of professionals who give a great big damn about the people they beast and starve, I mean train and feed. Seriously, the encouragement and support they provided was phenomenal and I can’t praise them enough.

If you are overweight or seriously unfit or both, PLEASE PLEASE don’t let that put you off or cause you any angst. Team spirit is one of the linchpins of the camp but within that team spirit, each and every individual is given the opportunity to work at their own pace. That way you never feel that you are holding up the faster members or waiting for the slower ones. But don’t think that means you won’t be pushed and encouraged to go that extra mile. You will be but it’s your choice to give that little bit more every day. If you don’t well that is a matter for you and your conscience. I've always known I was a bit of a stubborn bugger but even I was surprised how you can dig up reserves of energy and determination where you thought only sloath like, couch potato behaviour lay! On one particular day (I won’t tell you what the activity was as it will spoil it for you) I was sick several times and at one point threw teddy in the corner declaring myself done. Totally exhausted not even able to keep half an apple down, I couldn’t stand up, was seeing spots before my eyeballs and caused a little bit of drama on the Devon hills!

However by the time Staff N reached me and fed me some rhubarb and custard sweets (please don’t think they dole them out just any old how - they don’t, you need to create afore-mentioned drama!) I was like, "Sod it; if it takes me hours more than the rest of them, I'm doing this". And I did. They offered me the chance to quit but that is one four letter word I have no use for in my vocabulary....and trust me, I used all the other well known ones that week! So I completed the day to cheers from my lovely fellow campers. How proud was I? Just writing about it makes me feel that

I can conquer anything. Everest? Purleeeese...Its nowt but a hill!! And there were a lot of laughs along the way. "I don’t do sheep s***! Shoot me now" whilst doing army style exercise on the sheep filled hills at camp, to "hello nice old lady, you got any food in your handbag?" said to a nice elderly female walking her dog in Blackberry woods during circuit training, to a thousand laughs in between! People you know who you are!

Anyway, if you have read this far dear reader, boot camp will be a breeze in comparison! Give it every thing you have and then some. It’s one week out of the rest of your life and I promise you won’t regret it. When Katie weighed and measured me on last day and told me I had lost 19 pounds and 17 inches (no word of a lie - ask her!) I screamed the roof off! I can’t help but wonder if I hadn’t had those rhubarb and custards would it have been 20 pounds.............?

All the best to you future campers!!