I ran on Thursday for the first time in more than a year.  It wasn’t anything special, I ran with my wife and a friend and it was only a 5k.  I also put in a couple of miles on my mountain bike to test out some changes I made to the setup (inverted the stem, then lowered it two spacers so I could add some reach to the cockpit) and then a couple of more on the road bike to test out the new crank…

Yesterday I went for a quick ride with my wife, we had a small window through which to fit sixteen miles before she had to hurry off to a board meeting.  Afterwards, I had a pile of work to get through after which I took my father-in-law golfing (a quick nine holes – we walked it).  Today I’ll be riding with two of my friends, a fast fifty before taking care of a lot of yard work.  Then, tomorrow morning I’ve got an easy century planned (yes, there is such a thing – we’re planning on an 18 mph average so I’ll be staying up front for most of it) with a few other friends.  So in four days I’m looking at north of 170 miles on top of work.  The trick, of course, is the 5k and walking the golf course – neither of which I’m used to.  My legs are pretty sore.  I’ll push through it though.

Now, some folks who follow this blog will rightfully say that this isn’t all that big a deal.  On the other hand, there are others whose jaw will drop.  Personally, I’m just happy to have the desire and ability to do all of that.  I remember my first days of trying to get fit to lose weight thirteen years ago when I couldn’t even run a 5k let alone walk nine holes the next day.  I remember the first week of cycling, when four miles at 15mph on a mountain bike was kind of a big deal.  I remember my first century, when an 18 mph average was something I hoped for with help.  Today that’s an easy day, one to look forward to as a fun ride with friends.  I like to look back at my first club ride, where under perfect conditions (decent temp, no wind) I managed 19 mph over that 33 miles.  I’m 2 mph faster today in rough conditions – almost 3 mph faster when the conditions are decent, with a seven mile warm up just for fun.  I can remember, not too long ago, when 100 miles in a week was a big deal.  Today that’s more like 220 miles (240 this week).

Better yet, I remember the bad old days, when I hated what I saw in the mirror.  “Dumpy” would be the best way to describe me back then.  I remember how I used to think it would be a lot of work to get healthy again.  I used to think it would “suck”.  I used to think I would hate every minute of it.

I like to look back on the bad old days and chuckle about just how wrong I was calling it work.  It makes me laugh that I thought I’d hate it.

Sure it was rough at first but I wouldn’t want to do without my daily workout.  In fact, I’d be quite miserable without it.

Funny how the perspective evolves.

Have a great day on the road.