I haven't posted this weekend because I've been busy, and to be honest, the majority of you don't want to hear about all of the stuff my wife and I did on our anniversary. Besides, this blog isn't so much about my life as it is about my goals and my health. So for those of you who want to hear about the anniversary weekend, we had dinner, we had drinks, we had a picnic, we visited a winery, and we rode bikes.
Correct. My wife, as awesome as she is, let me sign up for a bike ride on our anniversary. This ride was called the French Creek Iron Tour. My brother, friend, my wife and I all signed up for a 64 mile trip through Kimberton, PA and the surrounding areas. My wife intended on doing a 32 mile trip regardless of what she had signed up for, but she finished the big ride. She told us before her turn off point that she felt strong and wanted to keep going, even if she pulled out for the 50 mile loop instead of the 64. At that turn off, we told her it was only an extra 14 miles, no big deal, so she decided to stay with us and even though I know she was hurting, she finished strong!
I was pretty excited for this ride. It was one of those trips that we did for the first time two years ago and missed last year because of our wedding. This ride was the first group ride that both my brother and my wife participated in two years ago. At the time, we had been engaged for about 6 months, and my brother had a bike for about 4 weeks. He even told me today that he thinks the 50 mile ride we did last time doubled his miles for the year at that point.
It was nice to be back up in the hills again in some areas that I'd never been. I won't bore you with the details of the ride, but I felt pretty strong in the hills today. Something I haven't felt in a while. I was passing people on a regular basis, and if I could figure out how to keep my feet from getting so sore, I would have been perfectly fine. My legs didn't give out on me at all. I'm also learning more and more about positive thought and how it effects me.
During a few brutal climbs, I repeated to myself, and to whoever was around me sometimes, that I was having fun, I was enjoying myself, the climbs, and I was happy to be on my bike. I climbed with a smile (I also explained to my brother at one point that even fake smiles release endorphins) and found that repeating to myself positive thoughts that brought the attention away from the fact that my leg muscles felt like they were on fire and my lungs felt like they were about to explode really helped!
On the car ride home I expressed to my wife that I may be interested in taking some yoga classes. I'm finding that being more in tune with my body and my emotions really helps with working out and even controlling my urges.
Overall, I'm happy with my progress. I'm hopeful that my weight is back on track tomorrow despite only getting in 4 workouts this week (I was saving some energy for the bike ride). If I am on track and I'm at 263, that will be my first 10 pounds lost, hopefully of many more to come.
So in closing, I want to say that I'm proud of my wife for doubling the mileage that she planned on doing today and I'm so happy to have her in my life. Her support has been above and beyond anything that I could ask for. I can't wait to continue years and years of happiness and athletic pursuits!
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