Today was a day of rest... Well not entirely. Every now and then the rainy Pacific NW has a few days of brilliant winter sunshine. Today was one of those days with Temps reaching 65 degrees. Spring came out hard today and it made a big dilema for me. Whatever shall I do? Do I run or bike or take a hike or.....?? I finally decided on a bike ride and then decided to take my tour bike to the very hilly lake. So I did a 20 mile very slow ride today (11.5 mph average) on extremely hilly terrain. It was wonderful. I found myself for the whole 2 hours (I stopped quite a bit for pictures and all) giving thanks for my health and my new strength. The scenery was spectacular. Mt St Helens was clearly visiable on my ride (see pic) and the air was crisp cool and clean.
Just over 2 years ago I was old. I look back today on pictures from that time period and I look so much older then I do today. My weight was up more than 40 pounds from today and my body was loosing strength as well as flexibility. At some level I knew that I was getting old but I had resigned myself to this fate.
I decided to try to loose some weight and subsequently I bought a bicycle. This was my first bicycle as an adult. Today I remembered my first ride down the steep hill from my house with that bicycle. I was terrified. I held my breath, rode the brakes and held back tears of fear. That ride was nothing short of awful and I was so pissed at myself for getting old. My whole body hurt and every peddle forward felt like it would kill me.
Today my body felt strong and with that strength come courage. I peddled down the hills reaching top speeds of over 30 mph several times. I felt at one with my bike and the world. The work felt good and I reflected on how today I am many years younger then I was back then. It occurred to me then that it isn't really age that makes us old at all but rather apathy and unawareness.
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