HOW DOES MATT DO IT?!?!?!?!
No, it's not an R rated question. Just bare with me, and I'll fill ya in...
OK, so the last month or so, I've been trying to get my family to learn more healthy habits. Every morning, I either walk my kids to school and take the long way home, or I take them to the bus stop and turn around and walk through the park behind our apartment. Either way, I walk 2 miles everyday. The first week it took me almost an hour to walk two miles. Now? I can do it in about 30 minutes. Not bad considering to pass the running portion of an Army PT test at my age, you need to be able to run it in 23.06 minutes. (Working on an idea for a book, and have been researching.) Some days it takes me a little longer simlply because I won't make my kids walk as fast as I can to school. (It's just over half a mile to the school. Not that far, as long as I'm with them.)
All this exercise and eating healthy, along with the end of my coffee obsession, (It's been almost a month since my last Latte, and almost as long since my last caffeinated drink.) and I've already lost almost 15 lbs. I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of my kids for supporting me. And now, I'm even more proud of Matt for riding his bike 2 and 3 times a week. Which leads me to my question of how he does it.
I was getting the kids ready for school and I thought to myself, I think I might ride my bike today instead of walking. I mean, Matt bought me this bike almost three years ago and he's ridden it more than me. Why waste the money? I can walk pretty fast, it shouldn't be to hard, right? Easy Cheesy Lemon Squeezy, right? WRONG!!!!! SO VERY WRONG!!!!
I walked the kids to the bus stop with my decaf tea, waved as they got on the bus, and stretch walked my way back to the house. (I do this whenever I walk the trail since I don't get a slow start to my power walk. I think the two hispanic mamas who walk to and from the bus with me think I have gone insane, but that is a total other issue.) I got back to the house, put my cup in the kitchen, grabbed the house key we use for the garage, and off I went. Found my helmet, fit it on over my bandana, (My hair in the mornings is the scariest thing I have ever seen, so I do not leave the house with out a hat or my bandana.) checked my chain, tires and brakes, just like Matt taught me. And off I went.
I made it to the mailbox before I realized this might not have been my brightest idea. I made it to the on-sight manager's mailbox before I was positive this wasn't my brightest idea. I made it to the park gate before I realized why Matt hadn't wanted to ride my bike through rough terrain to often. And I made it to the other side of the parking lot before I was crying and wanted to turn back. But I didn't. I kept going. And then I hit the speed bump.
OWIE!!!! But I kept going. The half mile mark Matt pointed out for me was in my eyesight. I could do this! Once I hit even pavement, and got into some kind of rhythm, I figured I could go further. I forgot, however that the next mile was not even paved road, rather it is a lot of bumps and loose gravel. BUT I COULD NOT GIVE UP! Onward I trudged, learning the benefits of riding with my tush slightly off the seat, as well as using the different gears. (I usually have one gear I use and very rarely move to another one.)
I finally made it to the 1 mile marker and turned around. What is it about doing something hard that when you get to the halfway point, that's when your body decides you're done? I somehow found the guts to keep going, but then, when I was maybe .3 of a mile home, the path was blocked. I couldn't get around the maintenance vehicles without going off road and I'm not confident to ride in the slick grass, so I got off the bike and tried to walk. That's when I thought I may have broken my backside. And my legs? Jello is as close as I can get to describing how gooey my legs felt. But I somehow managed to walk through the line of trucks with dignity.
And when this one guy admired my bike, I seriously thought about selling it to him on the spot. The only thing that stopped me was looking up and seeing how far I really had left to go. I didn't know if I could get back on that evil thing and ride the rest of the way, or if I would have to lean on it and walk to get me there, but I knew that without that bike I wasn't gonna make it home.
As I walked from the garage to the apartment, (yes I walked... even though I really did feel like crawling) all I could think about is not that I had done it. I kept wondering how Matt does it. And when Matt says he's going on a 'short ride' he goes twice as far as I did today! A short ride!
I will never half heartedly compliment Matt again when he tells me about his rides... How in the world does he do it?!?!?!?!?!
It's Office Olympics Day! Have fun doing the 100 page copy dash!
Smoochies ya'll!!!
1 comment:
Good for you! We don't ride our bikes very often and whenever we do, my behind is sore for days :)
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