How Far We've Come

Yesterday, I did not have the day I was planning or hoping for.  We had a 65 mile ride on the calendar and coordinated a ride from Benecia out to the Jelly Belly Factory near Fairfield.  However, on Friday night, I started experiencing a lot of knee pain.  I get lots of aches and pains that come and go with training, but I could tell this was different.  I didn't say anything about it thinking it was nothing.  By 10pm, it hadn't subsided.  Nick assessed the type of pain and told me it was probably my IT Band.  I immediately got on the roller and it was excruciating.  I woke up on Saturday morning still in pain.  Knowing I had a Half Marathon on Sunday, I opted out of the Jelly Belly ride.  I stretched and rolled until it started to feel better and headed out for a 45 mile ride from the house on my own.  

Holy Headwind!  Once I got out to the "rural" part of the ride, there were so many cyclists out from the Meals on Wheels fundraising ride.  And they were grunting and groaning through that wind.  I didn't feel so bad anymore because I could share my pain with 200 other cyclists out there.  Unfortunately, the wind makes the knees work even harder.  So I cut my ride short and headed home getting only 20 miles in for the day. 

So windy that this "out of service" windmill was actually turning!

Although I didn't have the day I wanted, it was a time of reflection.  In February of 2010, long before I was ever training for anything, I did that same 20 mile route with a few friends.  I remember yelling to Nick way in front of me, "I thought you said this flat!"  And, I had to stop at the water tower around mile 8 "to rest" for a few minutes.  Note: it's only 200 ft of climbing.  Yes, I'd now agree that's "flat"!

So despite cutting my ride short (although I did end up getting a last minute massage to work out the IT Band issue and got taped up), I couldn't help but think about how far I've come.  Which is why I have this song on the pre-race list.