Day Two

Wow, my butt really didn't like that! Last night, I told Payton that I would ride to the store to pick up his breakfast drink mix. I figured if I told him I would do it, I had to follow through and do it. It's all about accountability! :) I checked my map and the shortest route to HyVee is 3 miles.

I noticed today that it's like I've come out from behind my walls. There is no bug splattered windshield between me and the world. People walking and running don't pay attention to people in cars, but they smile and say, "Good morning," to a fat girl on a bike. :)

There is a lot of uphill road on the trip to HyVee, but I thought it should be OK because most of it is gradual with the path I chose. Boy, was I wrong. :( The second half of the trip started with a quarter mile hill . I'm still learning to shift gears, so I'm hoping it will get easier in time, but this time was not so easy. About half way up, I got off the bike and walked the rest of the way up.

Once I got to the top of the hill, I rode the rest of the way and I DID make it to HyVee. I walked into the store and the thought of coffee at the little stand just inside the door didn't sound yummy to me like it used to. I'm pretty sure that's progress. I left my bike near the door with my helmet and my bottle of water. I called Dan to make sure there wasn't something else important and light that I needed to pick up and had forgotten, but there wasn't. I made him promise to stay close to the phone in case I needed to call him for a ride on the way home. I visualized the return route in my head several times. I was trying to make sure that it had been as uphill as I thought, because if I was realistic, my ride home should be mostly downhill. I was really hoping so and I was a little reluctant to find out, in case I was wrong.

After I checked out, I saw Kathy. She is super nice. Her son is in Payton's class. She asked if I had been walking or running to get all sweaty. I told her that I had just ridden three miles from our house on my bike. We chatted a little, which was nice, and then she told me that she was proud of me. That made it a lot easier to hop back on that bike and head home.

I discovered that coming home really IS mostly downhill. I was smiling so big on that big yucky hill! I felt like I was ten again. There were no worries. It was just me and my bike, flying down a long hill in a pretty neighborhood. It was amazing! What a rush! It's ok that my butt hates me. Really. Because when I'm done, I'll have much less butt to argue with. lol

After I made it home, I posted my six miles on facebook. I chatted with a friend from high school about bike shops. Jayna said that her goal is to do the "Ride Across Kansas" next summer. I'm not sure I'll be up to that yet. A hundred miles a day! That just seems insane when I'm struggling with 6. I know it WILL be doable, I just don't know how far off that is. Maybe not next summer, but you never know. It's worth having a goal. I like that one. :)

Vitamins
I took vitamin D, magnesium, fish oil, b complex and a multivitamin again. Check out Day One if you want to see why I am taking what I do.

Breakfast: 32 ounces of water (through out my ride and breakfast), an orange and a handful of raw cashews.

Lunch: Taco salad. I should have had guacamole instead of sour cream, but I forgot. Baby steps. :)

Snack: Banana and an orange.

Dinner: Rib eye with the fat trimmed, cantaloupe and Momma's apple walnut salad.

Evening snack: Walnut salad with almond butter and a swizzle of honey.

I think I made some pretty good food choices over all today. It was a really good day until I went to a meeting at work. We spent 20 minutes going over an issue that was already resolved. Then we discussed several other issues in a way that made me feel that everything I said had to be double thought before spoken. I didn't leave feeling as if we had accomplished something. I left feeling drained. I was not just drained of energy, but of all the good feelings that remained from this morning.

I really need to leave this job. I have no control over it. I cannot limit the amount of stress that I am dealing with. I do not have time to keep my friendships strong. I cannot build my business. I don't have any quality time with my kids even though I see them all day long. We'll just have to see how soon we can make something happen.