A Tale of Two Childs

My friend Jacqui used the title quote from Doctrine & Covenants on Sunday. When I heard it, I recalled a situation I had in college where a roommate told me that, though her father was not very present in her life, she had always enjoyed the "finer things in life." I remember thinking at that time that though I did not always have the most expensive things or brand named clothes, the finer things in my life were not things, they are people.

My heart was filled with gratitude as I realized all of the phenomenal people that are in my life, have been in my life, and how blessed I am, this is truly far greater than the treasures of the earth. You can replace a car, you can rebuild a home, but you can never replace the people who are in your life. You can never remove what they have taught you.

So to all of the people in my life: Thank you for adding the colors to my world that make my life so rich and beautiful. I am so grateful for you- for the friendship and love that have made my life so incredibly worthwhile. You are far greater to me than the treasures of the earth.

There is an annual bike ride called Little Red Riding Hood, it takes place in Lewiston, UT (its by Logan). You can ride 35, 50, 80 or 100 miles. 100 miles, in biking, is called a Century... I did not know that til quite recently...anywho... Amy had done the 50 miler last year, and she talked to me about doing the 2011 race: she was going to do the full century this year. I wanted to, I thought training for it might be fun, and it would coincide with my fitness competition, so the timing was great, but it sold out in 16 hours.

The race was on June 4th 2011. Two weeks prior to the ride, a friend posted on Facebook that she was selling her registration for the 100 miler- It sounded fantastic, but 2 weeks notice to train for 100 mile race? Could I do it?

The Saturday before the race, Amy and I rode 27 miles. It felt great. Just me and the music, and a fantastic road bike that Amy's husband let me use... I LOVED IT! I have never loved exercising so much. I got to go about 15 MPH pretty much the whole time, and the bike was so lightweight.

My cousin offered me her road bike to ride for the century (when riding that long, it really is important to have an actual road bike), I really wanted to complete the full 100 miles, but they did have turn offs at 50 and 80... so I would just keep going, I thought, as long as I could.

The Monday before the ride: memorial day: Amy and I rode from Kaysville to Hooper and back. It was just shy of 47 miles- I was pretty tired and sore, but I loved it. I talked to some folks at the bike shop, they told me that if I did another 20 or so during the week, I would be fine. Well I came down with a cold... I was feeling pretty crappy, so I did not ride at all after memorial day.

Saturday came. Amy's hubby checked our tires and made sure we were all set (it is an all women's ride). We started. The picture is only at mile 10 or so, so we look great! ( : The first few miles Amy stuck with me. She had trained for this... we sang songs from Little Shop of Horrors to keep us busy. After the first stop, I told Amy she could ride as she wished. She would hit stops before I did, and she waited for me, that was kind of her.

I REALLY wanted to finish the century. Up to about mile 75 (I took my GPS watch to tell me where I was at) the ground was fairly level. It was a beautiful day and I thought- as long as the course stayed the way it had the first 75 miles, I could make it. Shortly after the turn off to mile 80 the rolling hills started... At about mile 84, my battery died to my GPS watch, and at about mile 86, ( I asked someone how far we were) my abdomen started cramp. My body was protesting my continued riding. I told it, though, that the only way to end the madness, was to go back the way we came.

I finished the full century! Overall with stops it was 8 hours and 50 minutes. Actual ride time was about 6 hours 50 minutes. And I burned about 4400 calories ( : I had so much fun! The next day I was pretty sore and tired, but I could hardly believe that I had completed a full 100 mile bike ride!

Amy helped put it in perspective as we hit the 50 mile mark. She told me: no matter how far you go, it is the furthest you have ever gone. That was a great perspective. Even if I did 50 miles, that would have been more than I had ever completed at one time. It kept me moving forward as my body protested my continuing existence. I guess that it how it is with life. No matter where you are at, you have never known as much as you do today. Even if today is really lousy, and you are not in a good place, your journey has taught you lessons that only living to this point could, and you can take those mistakes, learn from them and recognize the strength you have gained from the journey.

Thanks Amy, for talking me into this madness. I learned a lot about what I can accomplish if I just keep on pushing, even when it is painful. I LOVE road biking. Perhaps I will continue. Just another fun thing to add to my list for this phenomenal year.