Back in the Saddle... For the First Time

Maybe you've been around long enough to remember when I got a bike for Christmas. Well, it pretty much sat and collected dust for almost 4 years while I focused on my running. Then my friend, Jenn, suggested that I move it to her house and meet up for evening rides. She decided we would start with an easy 20 miler through the city. I felt confident I would bonk, possibly die, and embarrass myself.

View of the city from the Hot Metal Bridge

Amazingly, I survived and even kind of enjoyed myself. We made it 20 miles and averaged 10MPH or so. It was nothing spectacular but I was very happy that I completed it. We made a stop at REI and also at the OTB Bike Cafe for some dinner. It was a great way to spend an evening with some of my favorite people.

A cafe for cyclists? Right on!

I guess I enjoyed it more than I would like to admit because we did a 20.5 miler on a slightly tougher course just a couple days later. And then followed that with a 16 mile ride the next day. Ending up with 56 miles of cycling in 5 days, and a good number of running miles too, was completely unexpected. But it lit the fire in me that has been missing for some time now. 

Where's the pot of gold?

I don't know if I'm training for anything. Jenn thinks I should sign up for Pedal Pittsburgh's metric century (100k). Someone else has suggested doing a Spartan Ultra Beast in the not-so-distant future. And I've been eyeing a marathon or ultra early next year. But mostly I'm enjoying feeling stronger and healthier than I have for a long time. I'm enjoying spending time with the people I care about the most in the beautiful city I love. It's enough to just be back on the path of my six year journey to fitness for right now.

Cooling down along the North Shore Trail

On My Skin

I finally got my fifth tattoo today. I've been waiting... and waiting some more. Why? Because I hadn't finished a hundred miler. And when I did finish BR100 my life began to fall apart. Maybe you remember this post when I wrote about the compass rose necklace I bought myself when I first started running. I told myself I would mark it on my skin permanently when I ran my first one hundred. Little did I know how long that journey would be!

Today I walked into my favorite tattoo place on a whim thinking I would get it drawn up and make an appointment. The guy asked, "Want to do it now?" I began to hesitate and then thought to myself, "What's the point in waiting for anything? Just do it!" So I said yes and we began the process of laying it out and inscribing it on my body forever.

And here is what I walked out with an hour later:

 

It's a representation and a celebration all in one. It represents the path I've travelled and the path I'm on as my life changes direction again. It celebrates the end of my journey to travel 100 miles on foot. It represents my moral compass and my desire to stay my course when it seems the entire world is against me. It will hopefully be a good luck charm for finding my path out on the trails when running and racing.

Life is never what we expect but so long as we raise our sails and chart a course we can follow the stars to where we are meant to be. The journey begins today...