Adventures of Rachele

After a month of ripping out gauze, my wound has healed.  No, I will never be a "leg model."  Oh well, at least my friends think it's cool.  I'm hoping that some of the discoloration will fade over time.  And even though I now have nasty scar, it's so much better.  I no longer have a crater in my leg.

We actually rode last Sunday around the North Lake WA loop.  We started from Gasworks Park.  Because of the bad weather conditions, we spent most of our time along the Burke Gilman Trail.  As we biked along the 520 Bike Path in Redmond, the rain started.  Those rain drops hurt when you're biking through them.  That's when we decided to cut back across I-90 instead of circling the whole lake and doing our 66 mile route.  I was so nervous since the roads were slippery and I've lost a lot of confidence with that last fall.  The ride ended up being 49 miles.  Get this...at the end of the ride, it poured!  I was soaked.  And we had hail!!!  It's so funny how the weather conditions effect the difficulty of the ride.  Afterwards, I was completely knocked out on the couch.  It felt like a much longer ride.  We earned our burger that day.

This morning was hillarious.  My friends and I all follow the weather reports pretty closely, so we can prepare for our workouts.  We all thought it was going to rain today and agreed only to meet if it was dry.  Well, my alarm went off, I peaked outside and IT WAS DRY!!!  Oh no, that's when I made a bunch of phone calls and confirmed the ride.  We were all scrambling since none of us prepared for a bike ride the night before.  After we got it together, we had a nice ride along the South Lake Washington loop.  It did rain for a few minutes and it was really windy.  However, from the photo, you can see that it turned out to be a beautiful day!

I knew so many people with birthdays this week.  I only have photos from Bethany's party, though.  We had an instructor come over to teach us how to make a bracelet and earrings out of beads.  The name of the company is Hand Maiden Gifts, and it was a wonderful experience.  She provided all the equipment for us and she was so helpful and patient.  I don't think she knew what she was getting into with a room full of marathoners...we tend to be pretty picky and methodical.  We all wanted to plan out our strategies on our bead boards before learning any techniques.  It was pretty funny how serious the room got and how we took beading to a whole other level.  :)  She had to keep us moving, otherwise, we'd take all night to make one bracelet.  We were so focused, that even though people had low blood sugar from running that morning, no one wanted to eat dinner until the "work" was done. 

 

 

This Sunday, I attempted my first bike ride since the accident.  Actually, this week I've been easing back into training and it's amazing how my fitness is completely gone.  I couldn't even finish my track workout because my lungs were on fire!  That's the problem when my mind remembers what I could do, but my body hasn't caught up, yet.  This Sunday, the "JV group" cutoff and did the South Lake WA loop, while the rest of us did the 55 mile loop around Lake WA.

I've found that the rule of thumb is that after an extended time off, it takes two weeks of painful lung-gasping, muscle-burning, and waking up sore before things start falling back into place.  I think this is why New Years Resolutions usually don't stick.  Commitment and hard work fade without the faith that it's attainable in the present time.  It's the belief that "it will get better" that helps you give you the strength to stick with the training, and eventually break through.  Sometimes starting up again can hurt so badly that we can rationalize that our bodies just aren't meant to do it.  I remember when I first started running six years ago.  I was extremely out of shape from working long hours and not having an active hobby.  I read an article in Shape Magazine that said that you can go from walking to running in four weeks if you follow their plan.  No, I couldn't even imagine me as a runner, but I wanted the results I could achieve by running.  Just like a good scientist, I followed the plan exactly to prove that they were wrong.  I could barely run one lap (1/4 mile) around the track without feeling like I was going to have a heart attack.  I didn't outsmart the plan, I just did the walk/run intervals five days per week like they said.  I started with five 2 minute runs, interlaced with walking for a total of 50 minutes per workout.  The second week I had 4 minute run intervals.  The third, 5 minute; the fourth; 7 minute.  At the end of this I ran around the inside track of Greenlake (2.8 miles) without stopping.  Later that fall I ran my first 1/2 marathon.  I got stronger, fitter, and was able to complete another five full marathons.  So yes, with commitment and the desire to become fit, I was able to go from gasping at 1/4 mile to running 26.2 miles.

Yes, even though I didn't believe that I could do it six years ago, I was coachable and I learned that I can run.  Really, I had no exerperience running, it was silly for me to doubt the expertise of credible running coaches.  Now, I have the advantage...I already know that I can run, and each workout gets me closer to enjoying playing outside again.  I don't have to wonder if my commitment to hard work will be wasted.  I also have support around me to help me determine the difference between backing off/cutting short a workout because of 1) reluctance or 2) real physical damage.  Is it really that simple?  Do we just have to ask ourselves "how badly do you really want change," then roll up our sleeves?