500 Feet

I am still nursing my stress fracture in my left ankle. I am allowed to walk, bike and swim. The most I can run right now is 3 minutes. Yep – I’m not going anywhere fast!


This whole “not running” thing has been really hard for me. It is my outlet for the day where I don’t have to worry about anyone. I leave the title of wife and mom at home.


I love having goals to work toward – seeing progression, feeling the “high”, and ultimately achieving the goal. But I can’t do this right now. No goals, no progression and I am in detox from my “high”. My running friends call and ask if I want to run a favorite route or do a speed workout and I politely have to decline. It is killing me.


All the big races are coming up. Runners are just swarming the streets. And I am not apart of any of it.


I’ve been doing a lot of biking – riding Tim’s old school mountain bike that feels like a hundred pounds (I am getting a road bike for my birthday - Hooray!). Biking is a lot harder that I had ever thought. Propelling yourself AND a bike takes a lot more strength then just running up a hill. Coordination – something I lack!


But all this biking isn’t cutting it for me. One of my favorite sayings is "I can do hard things." I feel like I haven't been doing anything HARD - really HARD. Stretching myself - getting out of my comfort zone.


Until tonight.


While driving the kids to an art class, I noticed this GIGANTIC hill leading up to a trail-head on the mountain. I said to myself, “I would like to ride that someday” (thinking in years).


Tonight I did it.

The hill was 2 miles up and a 500ft ascent (which is big for a slow poke like me). Not only did I make it up, but I did several of the side street hills as well. I confess, I did have to stop for water.


I don’t write to brag, but I felt the “high”. Feeling that drug again was awesome! It’s been too long. I felt like I accomplished something hard.


My next goal is to ride over the Alpine Loop.