Older but not wiser!!

Friday was my birthday.  So I took the day off and Marc and I and the dogs were off early – heading down to hit some trails to hike.  We spent morning and into the afternoon hiking through the woods.

Not everyone’s idea of a dream birthday, but that’s our thing, ya know? 

We stopped and got pizza – yes, pizza - and ate it on a bench overlooking Lake Ontario while the boys relaxed in the shade. 

We headed back and had just enough time to drop the boys off and then headed in to watch a huge parade they have locally every year. 

As we stood there, I looked to my left and saw some people singing to a young boy.  I realized they were singing Happy Birthday.  I snuck over after a few minutes to tell him he had the best birthday in the world.  I then realized he was somewhat challenged, and I was glad I had gone over because he was so excited to meet someone who shared his birthday and proudly showed me his gifts.

Saturday, Marc and I got up early again to participate in the annual Shelter Box Ride.  Last year, I rode on my hybrid bike and it was during this race that I decided I was going to spring for a road bike.

The weather was GORGEOUS.  Hot, sunny, with almost no wind.  I rode a full 2 MPH faster for 25 miles than last year.  And I won a door prize – wine  LOL. 

I feel like I have a LOOONG way to go when it comes to being a great cyclist – maybe I’ll never get there – but since I’ve only been riding a road bike for less than a year, I was pretty happy with a finishing time under 1.5 hours.

It got hotter and more humid after we got home, so after weeding the garden Marc got out the hammock so we could relax.

Laying there, relaxing, I asked myself who I am… Am I the Jen who hikes and runs and gets up for fun on a Saturday morning to do a 25 mile bike race?  Or am I the Jen who eats a massive amount of pizza and gets her free birthday sundae from Friendly’s and sucks it down like it’s nothing?  And that my friends, was one of MANY indulgences this weekend!

With my birthday over and done with, I want to believe that I can start with a clean slate.  I’ve fallen off the wagon – HARD – in terms of eating and running.

I didn’t run hardly at all last week – my excuse being the blisteringly hot weather we’ve been having.

So with the prediction of thunder and lighting storms all day today I went to bed with the absolute resolve that I would get my fat ass on the treadmill this morning and run.

When I got up, it had rained hard during the night but had let up and I was happily surprised to see a 2 hour break in the storms – just enough for me to head over to the trail I like to run.

With the cooler weather, I thought that Chakotay would be okay, and we headed out.  We ran it again twice – both dogs did great!  8 miles with an average pace of 9:23 per mile.

So I’ll go to bed tonight with mixed feelings.  I’m a year older.  10 years ago, if you had told me that the year I turned 44 I would weigh under 200 pounds and would ride a bike 25 miles and run 8 miles that weekend – I would be shocked and thrilled.  By the same token if you had told me 2 years ago what I would weigh this birthday and that I would only run 8 miles – slowly – I would be crushed.