Some may say that I was the lucky one, getting to meet Joe Wicks, the author of Lean in 15 and soon to be global superstar (I just said that for effect but it could be true) but actually he was the lucky one because....he got to see my new Karen Millen leggings and Jigsaw jumper dress. Honoured he was. Honoured.
[Asking Joe a highly intelligent question? Knowing me, probably not.]
Somehow I managed to get tickets to Joe's book signing in Birmingham. I booked them before Christmas, not even knowing whether my friend and I had even the vaguest notion of getting there. With six children between us and with the book signing being at 6pm on a Tuesday it looked unlikely but the respective hubbies came up trumps.
For those who don't know of Joe, he's the biggest fitness sensation for years. His 90 day Shift, Shape and Sustain plan has been signed up to by 90,000 people, he advocates 4 or 5 HIIT sessions a week which last for no more than 20/25 minutes, he posts his workouts on YouTube and his recipes on Instagram via short vidoes - and all of this has happened in the last couple of years. Now there's a book with two more later in the year. He is currently everywhere - on the radio, TV, magazines, newspapers. He's even been on Lorraine. What more can I say?!
Come on guys, no need to fight it out over a"Lean in 15" book, there are plenty to go around.
The first thing that struck us about Joe is that he wasn't as big as we thought. On his YouTube workouts he looks about 6ft and very broad but he's actually quite slight. And he's not as big as his instagram persona either - in fact he seemed quite shy. Poor guy, he probably didn't know what had hit him. I have to admit that we were slightly hyper but I think that was because we were out at 6pm on a Tuesday as much as anything else. Living life on the edge again.
So, as to an interesting interesting fact about Joe, he finished the London Marathon in 6.5 hours and was overtaken by a pair of testicles. Again, what more does one need to know?!
Having a chat with Joe whilst he signed my book. It's weird when you've spent so much time looking at someone on a screen (I do quite a few of his HIIT sessions via YouTube) and then you meet them in the flesh. Like there's a danger that you'll be overly familiar or something.
And here's a slightly closer/slightly blurred look at the outfit which was taken the following morning. Well, I had only worn it for a couple of hours the night before. And it's so warm and comfortable that this is it for me now until April.
