one way to get your bacon fix

On the weekend Mark and I should have been doing yard work or sorting out the jumbled shed but the weather was just too good to not go for a bike ride. So Carpe Diem we did. We decided to ride out along Naramata road for a while and see how it went. Well we got to the first hill, not too far from our house, and I was struggling with my gears a bit and I looked down at the front ring, the handle bars followed my gaze and the wheel caught and edge… knee meets concrete. I felt pretty silly since I was at the bottom of a hill when I bailed, but kind of grateful that I wasn’t going 60km downhill when I ejected from my bike.

I sat there for a minute and pondered the sheer misfortune of an injury at the beginning of the bike ride. Mark was kind by suggesting we go home to either clean it up or wait for another day. Somewhere inside myself I found the internal fortitude to say “no, let’s go on”. We rode all the way to Naramata, down in to the village and stopped for a snack and knee clean up, then we rode all the way home. It was a total of 32 km. Not Ironman distance but pretty good for my second ride of any consequence.

The best reward for me was Mark’s comments. The old Betty would not have gone on after an injury, in fact the old Betty would have found every reason not to start the ride in the first place.  New  Betty sure has a lot more energy and spunk.

I find since I have lost weight I am less intimidated by things. Less scared. I have even fantasized about sky diving. Rollercoasters I might consider now, whereas before there was no way. I was too fat and too scared. Is it a chicken or an egg thing? Was the fat making me scared or was the fat a protective coating because I was scared?

Now that I do not have the weight to insulate me I am open, exposed to the world like a fresh wound. Some days the word is exhilarating and some days there is a bit of a sting. I need to continue to get more comfortable with feeling things and not trying to keep a barrier between me and the sensations.

The knee scrape has made exercising this week a challenge because the swelling makes the knee difficult to bend and the scab is painful to kneel on. I bought Jillian Michaels’ 30 day Shred DVD and I have been aching to try it. I  finally tried it today and it went pretty well. I wasn’t able to do the push up because of the knee but I modified and did wall push ups. I think this will be a good workout. It only takes 20 min and it gives you cardio, strength and core.

my new master

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