"Runnin' down dreams…
Stronger than any fear or doubt,
It's changing everything I see…
It's a real fine place to start." – Sara Evans
I got my bike back from the repair shop the other day: new saddle, new cables, new tires. When I hopped on to ride home, I found that the saddle was raised so high that I couldn't touch the ground even with my tippy toes, so my only means of stopping was to gently crash into bushes. My planned route home from the shop ended up ended up being an obstacle course – all the side streets I needed to use were closed to due construction! So I kept taking different routes, looking for ways to keep heading north and east without having to stop unless there were bushes nearby. J
As I got pretty close to home, I spotted a group of middle school kids walking together. Great, just what I needed: a pack of kids who specialize in making fun of people (for some reason, in recent days I've been remembering hurtful things someone said to me in middle school). Thankfully they didn't see me or my helmet dancing and pirouetting gaily on my head. My stomach was in knots. This inauspicious beginning to training for the bike portion of the triathlon ended with me crash-landing into the bushes next to our driveway.
Even after my husband lowered the seat to a manageable height for me, I was still nervous about getting back on the bike. He gave me a Gear Shifting tutorial and even practiced on the bike himself a little to show me that he understood my questions. He then went to a meeting, and later arrived home to find me with a bowl of popcorn watching So You Think You Can Dance (I don't think I can dance, but I love watching these talented young people progress through the show). My good and wonderful husband had the nerve to turn off the TV(!) and, over my whiny protests, cajole me into facing my bike again.
Without letting him know how much I appreciated his strong encouragement, I went outside, hopped on the bike, and rode over to the parking lot across the street. I rode in the lot cautiously at first, wide looping turns, experimenting with the gear shifts. After a while it started coming back to me: I remembered what it felt like when I was a kid, cruising on my bike, pretending I was one of the Wonder Twins ("Wonder Twin powers, activiate! Form of an eagle!"). I felt like I was flying. I couldn't wait to do more. I started thinking: from the time I was a little kid, I've loved to bike and to swim. I've always been 2/3 of a triathlete!
So I planned and prepared, and this morning I biked to the Y, then swam more than I'd need to for the triathlon (but I still need to work on strength and breathing), biked home, then made my way around our block doing a walk/jog combo.
What I learned in the last 12 hours is that I really do need to work on my jogging. At best I'm an awful jogger – poor form, cramps in my side, tight upper back. So I'm forming a training plan to help me get ready for July 24. Heaven help me!
On my way back into home, I was thinking about how losing more pounds would make the jog somewhat easier. After all, fewer pounds = less to carry. And then my mind went click!, and I thought "Well then I'd better watch what I eat. I'm really not going to want to carry ice cream and cookies on the jog with me." A-ha!
Oh! And when I checked in at the Y this morning, my triathlon t-shirt was waiting for me. On the back is that famous quotation attributed to Henry Ford: "Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right." I think I can learn to jog, and I think I'll have a grand time in the Pirate Triathlon on July 24.
~Karin
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