Born to Run (ha!)

I just read 'Born to Run' over the weekend. I know, everyone else read it last year. I’m a little behind the times. I loved the analysis of how people have come to the conclusion that the human body was born to run, or maybe evolved to run. I got so jazzed about running I kept thinking, yeah, I can do an ultra, I can do more marathons! I can! I can! I can! Then Sunday morning I took Daisy to the trails for a hike. Not a run. A hike. Ok, I’ll call it what it was. A walk. A simple walk. That sounds so sad for someone who wants to run. Going up the hills nagged my hamstring, and my hip got irritable, and I got so pissed off at my body not healing. I’ve been consulting with my own personal online PT and she gives me tons of ideas, questions to ask, things to look into. I want to try it all! I’m so impatient for a fix.

So, in the meantime, I ride my bike a little. I go to the pool once a week and kick. Yep, just kick. I’m taking a page from Natalie Coughlin’s play book, where she kicked for almost a year exclusively when her shoulder healed, and she made herself into the best underwater swimmer, she kills everyone off the walls. I’m going to try to improve my walls so I can kill it (the walls, that is) next time I swim a masters meet. Which at this time, may be never! (Stupid shoulder)

So, in my other copious amounts of spare time, I have tried to expand my cooking repertoire. Starting May 28, I’m going to get a weekly delivery of fresh local produce from my local CSA. So excited about that. New veggies will become a part of my weekly menu. So I thought I better start looking for recipes and trying a few new things in the meantime. The website, 101cookbooks.com is awesome, lots of good veggie recipes, and easy ones too! Last night I fixed brussel sprouts. I hated bp’s when I was a kid. When mom made them, I’d have to hold my nose shut and force one down. They were the worst thing I could ever wish to show up on the dinner table. But I thought 20 years is enough time I should give them a try. And I found a simple recipe on that 101cookbooks.com, and I liked them! Holy guacamole! I was shocked. Now I’m all inspired to try more veggies. Can’t wait for my CSA produce to show up!!!

singletrack, two wheels and three friends

April and May have been bad months (ha, who am I fooling, February and March too!), too many injuries, failed workouts, medical issues for the very best dad in the world. I’m not training right now. No running. No Swimming. But I can ride again.
Saturday was a cold, gray blustery March day, in May. And since I’m not training, I didn’t have to face the misery of the weather, I took a day off! Sunday brought sun, breeze, and 60 degrees. Time to rediscover my love of sports.

Where do I go for this? To the trails. On my mountain bike. With my friends. And you know what. It worked! I cannot run right now. I cannot swim right now. But I can ride. So, ride I wlll. And ride I did!

It was so great to be back on the dirt. I love my mountain bike. Hopping on the bike, I felt happy. The first mile is a long easy climb. You get warmed up, bounce over a few roots, fly down a short swoopy twisty section, sans brakes, and it feels good. And I'm smiling. We chat. Laugh. Bounce along. On occasion, I feel the flow of the trail, and on occasion, I nail a corner, and on occasion, I really flub one up. The skills are hiding somewhere in my brain, so I keep trying to talk them out of my brain and into my body and bike. Sometimes they are there, sometimes totally NOT. We climb up the long Aynes climb, I'm breathing loudly as it steepens past a mile. That was expected as I have done very little for the past month that would give me power up the long climb. I’m relieved when it mellows out a bit, and you get a little swoop downhill through the green fern covered hillside. I try not to be too cautious on the off camber rocky downhill, and have a little success, hit the brakes maybe a little too often, but I’m feeling happy, and enjoying myself like I have not done in months. I clear the three rock gardens at the top of HP and I haven’t done that in a longggggggggg time. More smiles. Even on the newer intermediate trail with lots of rocks, even though I flub up, A LOT, I still smile.
After almost three hours, we are back at the car. I’m tired. But happy. I’m coming back. I’ll be back!