Ride in the Wind

It was windy today – like, western Kansas windy. I loved it. People who aren’t from Kansas might not realize that all of Kansas is not windy. It’s funny, because the storms here in northeast Kansas seem more intense to me, but the wind in general is much less intense. But wind like today… that’s the norm in western Kansas where there are no hills or trees to break it up. In fact, wind like today would have seemed even a little mild in western Kansas.

So what did I do on this windy day?

I walked the dog, enjoying the sound of the wind all the way.

I read my newest treasure from the library.

I napped.

I took a 10-mile bike ride (more on this in a moment).

I walked the dog, again.

I watched some of my all-time favorite TV: Desperate Housewives & Grey’s Anatomy.

So… the bike ride. I haven’t blogged about running or whipping dear hubby soundly in fitpoints since the Freedom Run in July. This is mostly because… well, I haven’t done either of those things very consistently since July.

So I’m going to bore you with details of the long version.

Up until about a year ago, I had never considered running as something I could do. I walked a lot. I was into yoga. I even took some ballet classes, as an adult… and I’d learned to play ping pong. But, aside from the single day in high school that I was “on the track team” I had never considered myself a runner in any shape or form.

About a year ago, however, some of my buds worked up a sort of physical challenge for our group of friends. There was some talk about 2-mile times and the idea of us all participating in the Freedom Run together. My initial response was no way. I couldn’t do it. I had bad knees. I offered to watch the kids while everyone else ran. That would be my contribution.

However, I soon learned that I am more competitive than I thought. On a whim, I decided to see if I could run two miles on the track at the gym. I went on an off-hour, to make sure nobody would be there to see me fail. I took my stop watch and started running… around and around and around. It was hard. Really, really hard. I ended up walking about half the laps, and if I hadn’t had that stop watch on, I likely would have quit before I hit a mile. It took me 22:49 minutes to run/jog/walk two miles. But the point is that I was picking up my feet and running (mostly). And even though I was sucking air and felt like my head was going to explode by the time I was done, I was beyond thrilled with myself that I had sort of RUN two miles!

After that, I was sort of like an addict.

By February of this year I had dropped my 2-mile time to 19:34. Still slow, I know, but none-the-less amazing to me (and all a run/jog). Better yet, I could run those miles without feeling like I was about to pop a lung, and, at a fairly steady pace, I was able to run five and six miles without stopping. I so incredibly hyped about the Freedom Run by the time July got here that I probably managed the first half on pure adrenaline. I ran the entire 15K (9.3 miles) without stopping. It was pretty incredible, thinking how I was doing things at the age of thirty-five that I had never done before in my life. Kind of made me feel like I was still on top, rather than going downhill, getting old.

However, that race did a number on my knees. I only truly hobbled for a few days (thanks to arnica tablets and lots of ice packs). But the tenderness was there and it was a month before I could even comfortably walk again at my normal pace. By the end of August I was pretty much walking again full force, going on long walks once and sometimes twice a day. By the end of September I was just starting to try out running again at the track.

I just haven’t quite found that groove again. I kind of miss the feeling addicted part.

Today on the bike ride, however, I got a little rush again. I got to thinking that maybe bike riding is the way to go. It’s fun, and it’s a lot easier on the knees. And geez… I rode 10 miles today! That’s further than I ran after months of training.

The really cool thing was how energized I felt afterward. I didn’t feel old. I didn’t feel heavy. I felt just right. Sweaty… but right. And with the wind whistling past my head, it was almost like being a kid in western Kansas again.

Another plus -- on a bike you can just keep riding faster to make your own wind.