Stretching - It Works!

I have many overdue entries to post in here from the past few weeks, but just a quick one for now...


Today's lesson is to never underestimate the power of stretching!


I am regretting my decision to not stretch after a 90 minute spin yesterday.  It was a tough spin -- 10 minutes in Z3, recover, repeat 5 times, and then 30/30s at the end.  Plus a short run.  It was late.  I wanted to get dinner started.  I said, "I'll stretch later" and never did get around to it.  I'm paying for it today.  I wanted to tell Coach Dave how I'm feeling.  But he ran 73 miles in the mountains over the past three days as part of the Western States training run.  My soreness is nothing compared to his.  Plus, it's my fault for not stretching.  So I'll own this one.  And, remind myself no matter how busy I think I am, to just take five minutes sometime before the day ends to pull on those muscles.  

The Obligation of the Cured

Last night I returned from the annual Sapphire Now and ASUG (America's SAP User Group) conference in Orlando.  The conference was fun, educational, and impressive, as usual, but I'll be glad not to hear anyone mention HANA or the cloud for a few days.  I read a statistic that the average ASUG attendee walks approximately 72 miles over the course of the 4 days.  It's no wonder I'm so tired and my legs are shot.  

I typically skip the keynote speaker, but this year, it was Lance Armstrong.  What does Lance have to do with SAP?  Nothing.  But, the whole opening session was about service.  I guess ASUG is technically a service organization to IT dorks that play with SAP.  However, it is quite a stretch to put ASUG's service anywhere in the same league as raising funds for cancer or building a house for a low-income family.  I think they were just looking for a big name to speak so people would actually attend the keynote.

Anyway, I am not a Lance junkie.  I think he has amazing talent, but I definitely do not "follow" him so to speak.  However, thanks to my relationship with Team In Training and LLS, I really appreciated his message.

What I took away from the keynote is what he called the "obligation of the cured."  He said that when he was released from the hospital after having had testicular surgery and brain surgery, plus chemotherapy to attack 10 tumors on his lungs, the doctor told him he could go out the private door where nobody would know he was ever there, or the public door, to share his story.  We all know which door he chose.

He talked about starting LiveStrong Foundation and how Nike approached him with the idea to make 5 million "ballers" in yellow and to sell them for $1.  He thought they were kidding about the name.  He assumed he could sell about 200K and then would have to throw away the rest.  But with the help of Nike putting a bracelet on every Olympian in Athens, those first 5M bracelets have now turned into 85M bracelets!

Lance talked about how the bracelet crossed cultures and religion while we were in a very unsupported war in the Middle East.  Hicham el Geurrojj winning his 2nd gold medal.

He also talked about how when someone asks him how LiveStrong is doing and he says, "It's great" that he feels like he is lying.  Because he doesn't want to keep raising money to help patients.  He wants to be out of a job.  He wants LiveStrong to not exist anymore.  Because he wants cancer to disappear.  And, I've heard the same about TNT and LLS. It's amazing how much money continues to be raised by the participants.  It's just a shame that it has to be done.  Perhaps one day LiveStrong and LLS will no longer exist.  Simply because they don't need to anymore.

What Really Bugs Me

Springtime weather in northern CA is great on the bike.  It's finally time to ride without a base layer or a jacket.  Maybe you can even lose the arm warmers.  And, it's time to wear the sunscreen again.  But, it's not so hot that you sweat it all off.  It's perfect, right?  Almost.  Except for the bugs.  Lots of bugs.  I wish I could say I ride so fast that the bugs die upon impact.  But in reality, it's more like they get stuck to the sunscreen and are trapped or poisoned by the chemicals.  Sometimes bugs manage to fly right in the small opening between your face and sunglasses.  Or into one of the holes of the your helmet.  Or worse...right into your mouth.  The other day I could literally feel one grabbing both sides of my lip.  Not fun.

I remember last year making a comment about riding into all those little light-colored gnats that swarm together.  Nick's nonchalant response was, "Oh those?  I eat those for breakfast."  Lovely.  

But, what's worse than bugs?  Bees!  A few weeks ago, I happened to be watching the news (an activity I rarely do thanks to DVR) and there was a segment about all the bees out.  They mentioned something about the queen bees just had their babies and all the bees are looking for new homes.  

A few days later, I had to run to Target and I felt like I was driving through a swarm of tracker jackers.  What was happening in that picture above, was happening in the Target parking lot.  It was crazy.  Because the news said it was "normal" this time of year, I, thankfully, did not have a panic attack.

I know bees are good.  But, bees freak me out.  I have an irrational fear of them.  I've gone ballistic when they've landed on my arm or my leg.  But, I learned pretty quickly that I was putting my life in jeopardy with all that flailing while on a bike.  I've since learned to stay on my side of the road and politely ask the bee to leave.  I know several people that have been stung by bees while riding.  I don't even know what I would do if that happened to me (besides cry).  But I will gladly take the innocuous bugs over the bees any day.