Survival of the fittest!!!.....

Well............ survival of me at least. I did my big brick, as promised, on Saturday. And let me tell ya....... it was great! I was actually quite surprised of my performance. And my new gadgets were a true motivation.

You see, my birthday was Friday and the hubby got me the Nike Sport Pak and a heart rate monitor. And I really, really, really wanted to try them out in a serious way!

So, I headed out to the Silver Comet (a lovely path in GA that travels I don't know how far, but it is totally flat and beautifully shaded, perrrrrrrrfect). I packed for a long day with two Gatorade bottles, two water bottles, two gu's, a cliff bar, my belt fully stocked and the very important Ipod. The weather was gorgeous and a light breeze blew as I got my bike ready to hit the path. I started my ride with the idea that I would do 15 miles since I planned for a long run as well. But as I rode, I got totally lost in the beauty of the day and the activities of the passersby. So as I went past the 7.5 mile marker, I wasn't ready to turn around. Not yet. I just wanted to keep going. I just wanted to use this time to reflect on everything around me, reflect on my children, reflect on the choices I've made in my life. I just wanted to keep going so that I could keep using this time as my mental revival. As I came up to the 10 mile marker, I reluctantly decided to turn around. Even though I felt great and could have kept going on the bike, I wanted to be able to fully enjoy the day by topping it off with a good run.

I got back to the car and assessed my intake. I managed to finish one of the Gatorade bottles and half the water. I also tried a Hammer Gel during the ride and let me just add, it was not that appetizing. Those are definitely an acquired taste. Gimme a vanilla bean Gu any day (mmmmmm). So with that said, I ate my vanilla bean Gu before my run, strapped on my belt with Gatorade, changed shoes, (fixed my hair, of course - nobody wants to see a girl running with helmet hair) and off I went.

The legs felt heavy as I started back down the path. I knew my pace would be slower due to the long ride, but I was ok with that. I just wanted to enjoy my time. My mom had the boys for the weekend, so I was on no time constraint. I could go as far and as slow as I wanted. But alas, the Nike tracker was keeping up with my constant pace and to look down and see it creeping up in time was too much of a motivator for me to pick it up. For the first 3 and half miles I kept my pace under 10 minutes (which is good for me). But at my turn around point I decided that I had to slow it down just a little. The slight burn in my thighs was a settle reminder that I had just gone 20 miles on the bike!

As I muddled along the path, listening to Brendan James, Damien Rice, and all my other melancholy tunes, I took a deep breathe and cocked a slight smile and thought about how proud I was of myself. I could have taken it easy and completed a shorter training session. I could have gotten home earlier so that I could finish the piles of laundry. I could have gotten caught up on my Tivo in a much quieter setting. I could have worked on photo projects that I had been putting off b/c of time. But I decided to work on a much greater project........myself. And that felt great!

I hope everyone was able to work on their "projects" over this beautiful weekend.

Raina