Euros 2012

Good morning.

I was hoping I could write an upbeat post on Ireland winning, or at least drawing, last night, but it isn't to be. What happened?



I think this sums up in the mood very well. (Irish Times photo)



I just think we are terrible! My blood pressure was through the roof watching O'Shea passing the ball back to Given repeatedly with Croatian strikers all around. And then fifteen minutes of dominance in the second half with green jerseys, especially poor Keith Andrews, trying to get the ball into that net no matter what the circumstances. We Irish are hopelessly optimistic though, and there were people on the radio this morning talking about beating Spain and Italy - there must have been drink still in the system is all I can say to that. Or the key Italian players will finally get arrested for match-fixing and bus with the Spain team on board crashes!

Anyway...this isn't a a soccer blog and I am not the world's biggest soccer fan, so I thought we could try a different tactic here. We had a family get-together this weekend and the majority of the men in the family were watching Denmark Vs Holland and Portugal Vs Germany, whilst the women tried to chat over the noise. One of my sisters was horrified, and I mean HORRIFIED, to be told that the tournament was to last three weeks - regardless of Ireland's fate. I also saw other women's comments on Facebook and realised lots of women (and some men) are not going to enjoy the summer between the soccer, the Tour de France and then the Olympics. So...what to do?



Don't be this girl!!



This is your perfect excuse to get out there! Get the trainers on and go! Be it walking, running, cycling, bootcamp, swimming (take the trainers off for that one though!); use this time to form good habits. Lots of women I know often use their children as an excuse for not exercising; 'I feel guilty if I leave them', 'I don't have time, what with the kids.', 'The kids take up all my spare time.', etc. I always think this is a bit lame to be honest, but now - if daddy is going to be glued to the television for the next while, he may as well babysit, freeing up time for you. Also - if you hate all this sport-watching so much, you won't want to be at home having to endure it. This summer could be your perfect opportunity to change bad (read: lazy) habits. The evenings are long, and getting longer, and the weather is forecast to be good - for the next few days at least.

So, even if you don't care about sport in general, you can still use it in a positive way - be inspired!!