what i learned at the collin classic 2011

today i rode in the collin classic, a rural bike ride rally here in, well, collin county. it seems that every time i take on a challenge like this, i end up learning a lot about myself in the process. how can you not? you spend the whole time pretty much alone. well, i do anyway. i'm the girl everyone else passes on their way up the hills. it provides me a lot of get-to-know-me time.

what i learned at the collin classic 2011

i'm in no shape whatsoever to do the collin classic. well, i might be in a little bit of shape, but not for the ride i chose to do. my girlfriends and i decided we would shoot for the 48 mile ride. i only pedaled 38 of them. if i'm going to continue attempting these rides i'm not only going to have to be biking more regularly (which means riding more than saturday mornings to and from breakfast with said girlfriends. and let's face it, those rides are really about the breakfast, know what i'm sayin'?) but i'm also going to have to build up my sad little muscles with * gasp! * exercise. [do NOT tell lisa i said that. she'll hold me to it.]

i'm really allergic! i took my claritin this morning, but all the pollin in the wind still made parts of my skin complain. i brought along some benadryl cream for just this very thing and had to apply it several times to the insides of my elbows to keep the rash down.

my dad died from a heart attack, but that was the final result of what started as an allergic reaction. he couldn't breathe, tried to open up his pipes with steam from a shower, but it wasn't helping. he was rushed to the ER where he turned blue, collapsed, and passed away. i take allergies very seriously, and commit to doing what i can to stay reaction-free. this was a good reminder that i was prepared, but still oh-so-susceptible.

i understand my body. i rounded a curve and looked up. there was a big hill in front of me. a big one. with several smaller ones between me and it to get me all tired up first before i reached it. my body spoke up. i listened and pulled over, grabbed a protein bar and chomped it. turns out, it was just what i needed to fuel me up that hill. i've always been kind of sensitive to my body's voice. i know when i'm about to get sick. i know when something is just slightly 'off'.

this fleshy wrapper i come in, it's a unique machine. God's incredible creation! and i get to know it personally and wear this miracle every day. i know my body, and that kind of amazes me.

i can usually do more than i think i can. even with such a small ride, i had moments were i was ready to give up early. it was hot, i was tired, my muscles were angry. and i would still ride. i wonder why. i don't think of myself as someone with stamina. i'm physically very weak. but i have found that when it boils down to it, i don't give up so easily (that's not to say that i don't ever give up... just not right away. HA!).

it helps when i'm lost in my thoughts and praying and next-thing-i-know another mile is behind me.

it also helps being stubborn.

i'm steady. this was the one that seemed to be the theme of the ride. when all the others were passing me up those hills, i just kept pedaling. it was the slowest pace, but i just kept pedaling. and when everyone else's coast stride was greater than mine and they were still benefitting from the downhills and not having to pedal, i just kept pedaling. i would look over sometimes and see the riders with the really cut calves [as they were passing me] and i thought, 'you know, i'm not strong. but i am steady.'

at that one point when i pulled over for that protein bar, another rider came up alongside me and chatted with me, making sure i was ok. and he had a misting cap on his water bottle and misted me with it while we talked. he encouraged me by saying that i was doing well and that i was steady. and i thought, what a confirmation. thanks, God!

then later someone else mentioned it.

and even later, a hawaiian-looking man that had passed me after every rest stop before beating me to the next one, resting longer than me, then passing me again,.. said, "there you are again. you're steady."

"steady," i repeated out loud. and kept pedaling.

i may not be strong, but i am steady.

i am the tortoise in aesop's fable. i will just plod, plod along. laugh and dance around me if you want, rabbit, but i will keep plodding and i will get there. i don't have to be first and i don't have to be best. i'll just be steady and get there.