Zen on Two Wheels

I left the house with plenty of time and no expectations. I hadn't ridden in 8 days; meetings, out-of-town seminar, showing property, walking the dogs, sorting my receipts and shredding old papers -- the list goes on and on.

So I needed some peace of mind and an endorphin fix bad. After spending the morning orgazing the loft/office (loftice? Offloft?), shredding a couple reams of old documents, and a couple loads of laundry I decided it was time to ride. The sun was bright, the sky blue, with big puffy cumulus clouds floating overhead.

I gave the dogs a bone to chew and rode out shortly after 1, when it was about as warm as it was going to get.  I spun out the first couple of miles to warm up.  I noticed when I hit the small rollers how much stronger my legs felt.  Thanks, TRX!

There was little traffic, no wind, just sights, sounds and smells.  The shady parts of Cantelow, still smelling freshly wet.  The burbling of the seasonal creeks under the bridges.  The brilliant exuberance of mustard in still-dormant orchards, with the bright clean green of the hills in the background.

Uphill, downhill, rollers, smelling the sensual honey essence of almond trees in full bloom, then back to crisp clear air.  Fresh-cut grass in the face, then wet road in the shade, more gurgling small rapids of a creek alongside the road. Clean air in the face, sun on my back. Effortless pedaling over smooth road, rough road, avoiding gravel, dancing up the hills, standing and sprinting because that felt like the thing to do. I didn't anticipate anything but the next turn of the cranks.

35 miles later, having spent every moment in the moment, I arrived home.  Refreshed, renewed, energized, feeling like the world was right again. Grabbed a snack, cleaned up, downloaded the data from  my Garmin, and was pleasantly surprised to see a 2-mile increase in my avg. mph and  a decrease in my avg. heart rate.

There's magic in taking each pedal stroke as a gift, appreciating the open road and views to sate the senses, and enjoying a ride for just that -- a ride.

A Momentous Month

Our daughter scored a job, teaching ESL in Georgia -- the country. She had 10 days from acceptance to liftoff, and she had plenty of obstacles to overcome:  Lack of diploma, Macbook misbehaving, etc. I shifted as much of my workload onto my partner as I could, reasonably, to have the car available to her.

In the end it all worked out, and we're all thankful. It could've been far worse.

Her copy of her diploma arrived 4 days after she left SFO.  Her county medical benefits card arrive 5 days after she left. Oh, the irony: Two months off the meds and she was more like the kid we remembered vs. the drugged kid who couldn't function much.  My belief is that had she still been on the meds she wouldn't be in Tbilisi, ready to launch to a small village.

And our son, after 4 months, 3 interviews, a 3rd-party background check, and innumerable phone calls, scored the job. I'm so proud of him for persevering in spite of the odds.

My loving husband got the promotion on which he's been working for over a year. And a pay grade bump.  He's one of 4 inspectors in the entire C-P  organization to be where he is now.

I'm so proud of them...they rock!  My investment as their support is paying off, and that gives me huge satisfaction.

It's a good life!

February Already

By 1/30 I'd taken 5 TRX classes, logged nearly 500 miles on my bike for the month (not counting trainer days), and a dozen sessions with Chris on the ellipticals and weight machines. Down 4 lbs. and up to a power of 10 in enthusiasm.  


We did some gym-shopping because Chris will be gone when our 30-day trial at Gold's is up.  Sunday was rainy, left over from Saturday night, and we opted to pass on the shop ride.  But once we were up, we were UP.  


And after talking to Lisa at Gold's, we signed up.  Nobody else in town could match what they offered.  We paid a year in advance and received 2 mos. onto the contract, plus t-shirts, towels, and water bottles.  We left, worked out and happy.


I rode my bike on Monday and accumulated another 47-miler with intervals and a 5-mile time trial thrown in; bonked shortly after the TT and had nothing but water and guts to get  home.  Ugh and ugh.  


Son rolled into town Tues. night late. He went for a bike ride with my TRX instructor and fellow teammate. They didn't exactly tell me I couldn't go with them, but after I heard what they did, I realized they were better off without me. Sad. But true.

Meanwhile, I attended a funeral for a well-loved, well-respected man whose wife & daughter are agents in my office. I met him in '06 and had no idea of his impact or history until today. I found him charming, quiet, intelligent, and dedicated to his family. I haz much training to do to be race-shape.

The funeral was a full-on Catholic mass, and there were over 200 people in attendance. The opening hymn had me teary and lo, the weeping never really stopped. Dammit. And it was a lovely service.  

Then they had a fully-catered luncheon and over 150 attended that. Nice chance to meet the other daughters, hug the wife and daughter I know, share with some mutual friends his memory. He would have wanted that.

Still, for those 3 hours, the emotions were right on the surface and I found that draining. Had no "oomph" -- and my friends/colleagues were right there -- we all were feeling sapped -- and we used humor and anecdotes to bring us back to center. 

So coming home to a daughter cooking some tasty veggie soup, son still endorphin-filled over his bike ride, husband happy to be home, and dogs excited to see me was a fulfilling experience that made today worthwhile. 

The fine point: Daughter weighed all the ingredients for her soup so we could log it into the Livestrong.com software we use. As a recovering bulimic who has difficulty with our levels of detail re exercise and food, this was huge. After 14 months of living together as adults/family, she gets us (we figured her out a long time ago, but that's what parents do). And we get the dynamic.

As we ate the delicious dinner I had an epiphany: I don't need a damn thing. I have everything I need for a great life.

How life has changed with a vegan in the house

Meave is off on a date, and Chris is in SLC on business.  I watched the SOTU and cleaned the kitchen, texted with Chris, did laundry.  Ho-hum, right?

Rewind to 4 a.m., when for no reason my eyes popped open. I tried to go back to sleep for the 30 min. before the alarm was set to go off.  So I had plenty of time to feed dogs, make bed, drink coffee, and get to the gym in time for TRX.

So another challenging workout on the heels of 36 bike miles of intervals and tempo = fried tonight.

I'm glad to be working on strengthening my weak areas, even though the process is painful.  It's like selling real estate; it hurts and then the reward (check) makes it all worthwhile.

Back on topic:  Chris and Meave are both gone and I'm having a rare night alone.

I was going to finish off the ahi steak Chris grilled the other night, and I went to the spice cupboard to find something to sprinkle on top.  I found Porcini Salt, Tequila & Lime, Cilantro &Chipotle spices.  Wait, what?  Who uses that stuff?

Then it occurred to me that I've been eating this for months, without knowing it.  The way Meave has cooked her dishes the spices weren't readily apparent.  I can identify smoked paprika, but these spices are much nore subtle.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how tasty vegan dishes can be.  I also don't have a problem having a vegan dish with a side of fish, chicken, etc. I'm impressed by the assortment of new spices in my cupboard, and how they make food so tasty.

New Intentions

In November I was given a 30-day free pass to the local Gold's Gym.  Chris was away on remote inspections for much of December, and when he was home it was raining, so we got our tree and gift-shopped in the rain.  December was a rainy month.

We didn't put up outside lights, although a brief respite allowed us to get the door wreath up.

Our daughter, for her own reasons, didn't help with decorating or undecorating, although Christmas is her favorite holiday.

I was working right after Christmas, so Chris took down the tree 1-2 while I was writing an offer, cutting it up so it fit in the recycling bin.  That bin has never smelled so good.

We finally took advantage of Gold's 30-day free offering.  We joined 1-8 and have been 4 times.  I tried a TRX class today and really enjoyed it. I will hurt tomorrow but I expect as much.

And I have 2 deals in the pipeline, 3 new buyer leads, 3 new listing leads, so to me January is looking like a kick-butt month.

New Year, New Goals, Been There, Done That

A long time ago I viewed a year as a top-down journey:  NYD was the top, and NYE was the bottom.

So if I didn't achieve my goals in the top1/3rd of the year I'd just give up and beat myself up for not achieving those goals within  that timespan.

Fail.

Now I view time as a line, with no beginning or end.  It continues, and I choose to jump in and set time goals or not.

My goals this year are less specific and more global.  When I've set more specific goals I've failed, mostly, and am tired of the self-loathing associated with failure to reach one's goals.  I'm going to make my goals and
 then some.  Ride more, race more, enjoy more, loath less.

Let's see how that plays out.

Birthdays

Today marks my husband's birthday.  The man of my dreams.  My King of Hearts. Mr. Romance.  He gave me a birthday for the books. On second thought, he's given me many birthday gifts for the books.

In 1982 I outdid him forever. I delivered our firstborn, our daughter, on this day, November 21. If I'd had my druthers I'd've delivered her Nov. 11, as my first OB called it.  Chris knew our baby would be born on his birthday, and I scoffed at his prediction.  As the day grew nearer I scoffed more. I was ready to have the pregnancy done by the 1st due date, but no, that wasn't the case. Chris was working a turn-around (refinery lingo for scheduled maintenance) in Nov. and right after he left for work at oh-dark-thirty on the 20th, I went into labor; after a few hours of feeling weird I called him and home he came.

Long story short, the home birth didn't work & we went to Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi (where the late Farrah Fawcett and my husband were born) and voila!  There she was!

So Chris has given up many birthdays so that we could celebrate hers This year, as in previous years, he's working.  My plans for his special day were thwarted.  I'd hoped he could fly his hang glider, or ride his age, or get a massage and enjoy a fabulous meal.

Instead, he worked late, we bought our daughter's gift, I gave him his, and we ordered Amici's East Coast Pizza delivered.  Drank some local Cabernet Sauvignon, watched a movie we DVRd and called it good. Part of me is very unhappy that I couldn't spoil him rotten.  And since he's OK with this, I guess I get to be OK with it, too.

Just wait 'til he's retired...I'll spoil him every day.