Motivated to Succeed

9:30 AM - Snowy, snowy, snowy. "I love that you chose me." That's how I started my morning. Last year I gave Emmy a candle in a bowl with 365 reasons why I loved her typed out on little fortune cookie like slips of paper. This year she returned the favor and each morning I wake up and read one to myself. I think the joke's on her. What she failed to realize is that 1. I am way too lucky that she said "yes"! and 2. It was all too easy to come up with 365 reasons why I love her because there's a million more where they came from! Hopped on the bike this morning as the snow came down. Read the first 130 pages of Edmund Burke and Ed Pavelka's The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling. There really are a lot of similarities in preparation and execution of long distance cycling and running. One line that stuck out to me:

"Your goals should align with endeavors that satisfy you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Never lose sight of the fact that the journey toward any goal is just as important as the rewards." (Burke & Pavelka, 2000, pg. 113)

Ride, run, and carry on, friends.

Total Time: 1:00:20 Total Distance: 20 miles

8:00 AM - Biking early. Wish I had more sleep last night. Was going to do 2 hours, but just don't want to overdo it with a long week of work and school and all. Finished The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling by Edmund R. Burke & Ed Pavelka. You really learn a lot from reading books written by people that have actually experienced everything there is under the sun, and I love reading books about endurance events. They write, "even though it's effective, indoor cycling produces too much physical and mental discomfort for many people. Their enthusiasm flows away like the swat dripping from every pore." Is it bad that I actually seem to like indoor training? I get a lot of reading done!

Total Time: 1:00:11 Total Distance: 20 miles

8:20 AM - Got up early and on the bike before homework all morning and working the closing shift 3pm to 11:30pm. I really don't understand why we're still open so late. Who in their right mind goes to a bookstore at 10 or 11 at night and on a weekday no less! Read from Team of Rivals. Was listening yesterday to Doris Kearns Goodwin talking about it and her new book on Teddy Roosevelt which should be coming out in two years. I really like ToR, but it's long and time consuming. I'm still only at page 110 or so. Eek! During my ride I did 5 x 2 minute Hard "on"s with :30 second breaks in between. Was really working up a sweat. I thought the wind trainer was going to launch off the floor because it was certainly as loud as a jet engine! Super happy =) because my friend Julian in my classes lives in Saratoga Springs and is also an avid biker (mainly Mt. biking). He is going to give me my first ever biking jersey!! And hopefully I am joining a cycling club to get the "scoop" on how to become a better biker.

Total Time: 1:00:30 Total Distance: 22.5 miles

8:40 AM - Went for a recovery ride this morning. Started with some of ToR but wasn't up for reading history that early in the a.m. Instead read the last 70 pages of Michael Connelly's 26 Miles to Boston. I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to learn about the history of such an amazing race (even if you're a slowpoke like myself and have no shot at every qualifying for it). During his own quest for the marathon Connelly reflects on joining the "cream of the crop" when you complete a marathon:

"The goal is met. The satisfaction is eternal.... A ribbon with its attached pendant provides teh runner validation for the blood, sweat, and tears that have been shed in order to participate in this event. After receiving his medal, [each runner] ponders how a fifty-cent medal could be worth a million dollars." (p. 241)

It's funny when you think about it. Of all the things I have accomplished in life, of all the things I hold on to, it is the memories from putting myself through the pain on the roads. It's pushing my body to its limit and then asking for more, and I take pride in being a marathoner. I guess even as I think back to the last time I ran pain free, I can take pride in knowing that (not to do injustice to John L. Parker or anything) "Once a runner", always a runner.

Total Time: 1:01:30 Total Distance: 20 miles

5:15 PM - Went to buy some clothes for observation hours / student teaching. It's werid every time I go to the store because 1. I don't like buying clothes, and 2. I hardly (if ever) where pants and button up shirts. I blame this on my active runneresque lifestyle which is naturally the polar opposite of slicked up, docked out professionalism :-P. Worked in my favor though. I bought a pair of dress shoes, 3 Oxford shirts and socks which would have retailed at 180 bucks, all for 94 dollars. JCPenney's is truly a great store :). Now if only I could make myself comfortable and look halfway decent in the dress clothes! That'll be the next mission!

Hopped on the bike and read from Race to the Pole by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Read the first 40 pages. You really learn to appreciate advances when you read just about the basic struggle for existence, much less for adventurers and Royal Navy expeditions like Scott's. In an age of instantcy, that is to say you can "Google" anything under the sun, hop on the internet and text message someone a world away and satellites beam down television signals, it is hard to imagine the world during 1901 and 1902 when Robert Scott was selected to be the Commander of the Antarctic Expedition. "Technology's cutting edge" was the 83,000 miles (yes miles) of telegraph cord that Britain had dropped off the boat as an underwater cable. Simply amazing.

I met my goal of 400 miles of biking for the month of February!

Total Time: 1:00:34 Total Distance: 20 miles