Busy Bee Tuesday!

Another busy busy week has come and gone. Along with excitement and adventures, there has been more goals reached and other disappointments. Although I am pleased to say that none of my disappointments were as catastrophic as my last two week weight-gain shockers. Phew! :)

So let me tell you about my first 13-mile bike ride! I am so stinking proud of myself because let me tell you, this route was a doozey!

Wednesday night (last week) I left for Rachel's house which is about 3.1 miles away. She met me on the road when I was about a 1/2 mile out. Then we attempted to cross a busy road. Almost getting ran over in the process of turning left at an intersection I may have lost my cool- only a little though. I said no naughty words, and I even waited for Rachel to move ahead of me (didn't want to be a bad example- don't you know!) before I let some eagle fly.

Now I'm not proud of my weakened state here. I could have easily just spit bugs at the two blonde bimbo's and felt somewhat satisifed, but I know deep down inside I would have carried that dirty queasy angry little man inside me the entire ride. So yes. I fell victim to the evil little man and showered the bimbo's with a gesture, just a single one, and rode like the wind.

It's funny to look back on how stupid I was. I was on a flimsly crap-shoot of a bike and the bimbo's were in a fast moving vehicle. Just a little jerk of the car would have scared the poop snot out of me enough that I would have probably fallen off my bike. I can hear them now laughing at the fat chick. *shivers! One good thing did come out of my weakened character though! The adrenaline of flashing a dirty sign gave me the "oomph" to make it the rest of the way. (Mostly because I was so embarassed that someone I knew may have seen me and I wanted to bury my head in shame... hmmm?...)

About a mile from our destination my chain fell off and ended up getting grinded in between my gears. For two reason's this had to have been the most unpleasant experience ever. One: Rachel is an amazing power house and was already at our destination and two: I got into a fight with a garden spider. I know... drama drama drama. 20 minutes later, purple faced with exertion I made it to the church. I walked my shaking self into the bathroom and just let loose.

I cried... and cried. Oh and I cried some more. I cried out of self pity because of I was alone when my chain got stuck. I cried because the garden spider was the size of my hand when I noticed it was in my face. And I cried out of pure satisfaction. I had made it! The second hill we climbed on our bikes was graded as extremely hard. I did have to get off my bike, but I was still so proud of myself for making the journey. How many people who are 60 pounds over-weight go out of their way to be in physical pain for just the fun of it?! It was a worthy moment in the book of me.

Now on to swimming!:

Yesterday I was elected (by Rachel) to be Rachel's spotter while she swam across the lake across from where I live. Not going to lie, I had it easier than Rachel since I had a kick board most of the time. I decided that in order for me to be a "good" spotter I needed to be readily available if anything were to happen to her. So I kicked along behind her for half a mile.

If you're thinking to yourself right now if that really was easy, let me assure you it wasn't. I WAS completely out of breath and my legs were on FIRE about a quarter the way there. So I did what any normal sane woman would do. I wedged my kick board in my swim shorts. HAHA! So here I am, laying on top of a kick board doing the breast stroke. It was pretty fun if you ask me! Not only can I say I swam about a half mile yesterday, I can say it knowing I didn't let Rachel drown!
I'm actually really grateful for that silly mult-colored kickboard because I did get a cramp in my side while I was just treading water during Rachel's break. Nothing scary or anything... just enough to make me stop and cringe.

So I know that I can do a quarter mile w/o help, and half a mile with a kickboard. Tonight is swim/ triathlon practice- we'll see how far I can go this time.

Now on to my disappointment this week:

My bike really really sucks. I think that I need to get myself a hybrid (mtn/ road bike). My birthday AND anniversary are coming up... so I've already started begging Josh. Maybe you all should beg right along with me!!

:) And in closing I want all of you to remember! No matter what trial you may have in your life, or what your own self-image may be... You are beautiful. You are special and you can do anything you put your heart to.