Been back in Connecticut for almost a week, and I’ve got to admit that it feels good to be home. It still strikes me pretty much every day at lunch that my mother is gone, but I suppose that’s the way it’s gonna be for a while, and I’m dealing with it. I used to call my mother during my lunch breaks at work, usually while strolling around in Manhattan somewhere. When the weather’s nice, Manhattan is a great place to walk, and lunch is pretty much the only time of day that both and my mother both routinely had free. So now I get sad whenever I head out for my afternoon walk, but like I said, I’m dealing with it. Now that Mom’s gone, it’s a little easier to focus on the positives of her life, and for that as much as anything, I’m grateful.
Training’s been going okay. It was a little tough getting back on the horse when I got back from Tennessee—I ended up taking four days off while we were down there—but I finally went for a 25-mile ride on Sunday last week and did intervals, and they were awesome. Still, that ride left me so sore that I had trouble sleeping for two nights, which sucked. Since then, I’ve been trying to do basically easy aerobic work to keep training my heart without exhausting myself in advance of this weekend’s Westpost 10K race. Still, it’s been nice to be back on the bike every day, riding through Manhattan and doing my thing. And it’s not like I’m really going to race this weekend. Running’s not my best thing by a long shot. So I’m kind of working through the race while hoping to use it as a guidepost to how my approach to run-training has been this season. Long story short, I’ve been doing A LOT more intervals this year, and I feel like they’ve been helping. But I’d still like to see it in numbers this weekend.
Meanwhile, as of this writing, I’m up to $280 in sponsorship for this year’s New York City Tour de Cure, an annual bike ride done to support the American Diabetes Association. And look, it’s true that I don’t have diabetes, nor does anyone in my family have diabetes. But still… both my parents are dead, mostly from self-inflicted causes, and this is a ride done in support of what is in many cases a self-help health issue. That, more than anything, is what makes it important to me. I mean, yeah, maybe it would be a little more apropos for me to be riding in a no-drinking, no-smoking ride, but there isn’t one of those. What there is, is a ride that supports better health and—with any luck—better nutrition and better lifestyle habits for the millions and millions of Americans who have diabetes. Diabetes sucks, and if that weren’t bad enough, Americans are becoming ever fatter, ever lazier folks. We’re making it worse! So the question isn’t, “Why am I riding?” The question is, “How can I not ride?” Or maybe, “How can I not support what is so obviously a worthwhile cause?” Honestly, the fact that it’s a charity bike ride is just icing on the cake.
And while we’re on the topic, if you’re interested in sponsoring me in this year’s Tour de Cure—and you know you are—you can do so by clicking here. As I said above, the ride is done in support of a GREAT cause, and I could certainly use your support.
Speaking of bikes, I want a new one. Y’know what I mean?
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