It's a New Year

I know, I know. It's April. I'm a little slow. I finally realized that I needed to get off my butt. I broke my shoulder back in September. It's time to get back in the saddle, back on the road. Slowly.

I got back on my bike a week and a half ago. I started back running this morning. I'm doing a BOSU Ball workout a couple of days a week. My core is shot. Amazing what months of inactivity will do to you! I am tired of hurting. So I am going to slay that dragon.

This time there is no weight loss goal. I had dropped nearly 20 pounds a year ago due mostly to better sleeping thru science, (temazapam, 15mg) and stopping the HRT I had been on for 11 years. I just want to feel better. 

I want to feel good when we go back to St. Maarten in June!

Here is a 10 or 11 year old me… on my bike then! I dug this out when Terry Cycling called for old photos of readers and their bikes on their Facebook page.

Onward…

Life 2.0

One Day at a Time

Today is June 14.

My very dear friend C is moving to Bali today.

I've known this day was coming for a long time now. Even before she announced at dinner last September that they would be going. She has been talking about doing this for years. I know it's not forever, but I have to come to accept a new normal without her and our nights on the deck and crazy weeks on the Outer Banks. She and her family are a very big part of my family. I am incredibly sad and empty, yet happy and excited for her and J and J. I know that this is a huge step for them and I hope that they stick to the "5-year plan" and come back to us in 2017.


C, I will miss you. More that you, nor I, know yet. Technology is our friend and I am so happy that we will be able to stay in touch through email, texting and skype.

Somehow it's the end of September…

Wow. It's been a while. Quick recap.

June brought us to St. Maarten!! What a great trip!! It truly was paradise!


July brought a family vacation to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. And Moka learned to swim!

August brought Hurricane Irene and a washed out friend vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We went, instead, back to Deep Creek Lake. All dogs had a great time. So did their humans.

September brought a very quiet house. DD went off to college after a year at Northern VA Community College last year. She is now a sophomore at VCU in Richmond, a Sorority girl and loving every minute. Her brother is a "Super Senior" also at VCU. We are hoping he will graduate in May. (5 years is our max for tuition payments!)

SO it's just us and the dog… and cats.

September 24th, I went with 7 friends to ride the Rappahanock River Ride yet again. In the rain, yet again! It was a blast! We rode in a double paceline for the entire 63 miles and finished in just over 4 hours. Fastest Metric Century I have ever done! Lots of great food, great laughs and great views!

O.M.G.

I am just back from my mountain climbing expedition!

No, really! I rode my bike in the hills/mountains around Blacksburg, VA for the first two days of Bike Virginia. It was epic. I have ridden in a LOT of organized rides. From the really flat - Seagull Century - to Lake Tahoe and Solvang, California. But this was unlike anything I have done before! All I could think of while climbing those hills was "builds character, right?"


The gorgeous views almost made up for the pain of the climbs!

Here I am at the lunch stop, after almost 40 miles on day one.

To paraphrase Mary, "This is the New River. The name of the Bike Va ride this year was The New River - Roll Through Time. It really should have been The New River - CLIMB Through Time, and don't die while you are trying."

Or from Suzanne, "Dicky named it the "5/30" ride; you're either riding 5mph up a hill or 30 mph down the hill!" Very appropriate too.

W5R3

OMG!! A twenty minute run this morning! It was good, and now I'm on to week 6. With a two day Bike Virginia Ride in between. I hope the hills are manageable. :)

Where Did Week 4 Go?

I'm almost through week 4 - with a 42 mile bike ride to Bethesda thrown in on Sunday. Week 4 has two reps of run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min, walk 2.5 min. No shin pain and no IT band pain. I'm feeling good about this program! The ride was great! Even though I had not been on my bike in well over a month! And it is a 7 mile climb to Bethesda. Week 5 will get a little more challenging, and my schedule will be off, so I'm thinking I might stay with week 4 a little longer.

I have acquired 3 more balls of Noro Silk Garden for the Blanket. This makes for great travel knitting, and I needed more colorways anyway…

W4R1 and it Didn't Kill Me!

I was really a teeny bit apprehensive about the 5 minute runs, but it turns out, they weren't that bad! I wish I had gotten out a little earlier in the day, though. I went out at noon and the temp was over 80. So much for Spring.

There was rhubarb in my box from the Green Grocer. So I made a Rhubarb Raspberry Crostata. It's in the oven and smells yummy!