It's The Journey, Not The Destination

Even if something happens - my body gives out, fate changes my path, whatever - I am thrilled to be making the journey of a triathlete.

I'm not necessarily getting up that much earlier, but getting out of the house during hours that I'd otherwise be on the eliptical makes a huge difference.

This morning I took the bike out and ventured through a developing neighborhood attached to ours. In the midst of a heavily wooded area, I came across 2 deer and a group of wild turkeys on the side of the road! I cannot describe the spiritual thrill of being so close to those animals and not separated by a car door and window. They quickly jaunted back into the woods as I giggled right past.

I've spent the rest of the day in the house mainly cleaning while they set the tile for our fireplace (finally - yea!).

I am thrilled to share that I am also getting back into the creative swing helped, in part, by inspiration from my birthday visit to Papertrix and Borders. I can't share yet on what I'm working (it's a birthday present for someone who might read this!) but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the process.

What a day - exercising in the morning, sending my son off to school, cleaning the house and playing with my daughter, responding to various emails and catching up on some computer organization, meeting my son at the bus stop, admiring the tile work on the fireplace, doing some heavy-duty creating, giving the kids a bath and going through the bedtime routine, preparing a few meals in between it all...and now blogging. Lovely!!

So here's for my triathlon update:

What I did:
(a.m.) ~21 min. bike ride (~3.5 mi.)
*I accomplished making it up a hill that I wasn't able to before!

What I learned:
*Chris also took his bike out (for the first time) this morning. He said he loved riding, but was frustrated by the hills. He brought up a good point - while we are certainly huffing and puffing, we are forced to do interval-type training in our neighborhood (which is ALL hills). The hills are too steep on the down-hill to pedal and the up-hills are just a struggle. We aren't really learning how to ride on level terrain. We'll need to rethink how and when we will get to the local trails to train.

*Cars are scary when you are on the road and not in one. I tried to venture out of the neighborhood and was passed on a hill by a large truck (who had gotten over, but still scared the be-jeeb-ez out of me). I need more practice riding before I try non-neighborhood roads.

*Biking isn't hurting my ankle (see previous post) but it is hurting my back. I am constantly working on core control (while biking and otherwise) but may still need to make a trip back to the doctor if this continues. Bummer.

*I love life. :)