Bike ride? Curses...foiled again.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

This was scheduled to be a busy day. I had to get Heidi to work, drive to Lordstown to pick up some furniture from John, drive it back and unload it, get in a bike ride with John, move some mulch from the neighbors yard when they weren’t looking (they had some left over and didn’t need it) and be ready to help with family dinner preparations by 5 p.m.

Oh…and of course I HAD to run. In fact, it was long day.

Something had to give and with the way I was feeling about my eternal soul, I decided that thing was church. I did at least pull into the parking lot to drop Jack off for his baby sitting job there…and return to get him afterwards. I also planned to have biblical type thoughts while running. I had that going for me.

It was warm and very muggy. I knew I’d be dropping big amounts of body fluids and slipped a stick of gum in the pocket in my running shorts for the cotton mouth I figured I’d be getting. I had an hour – that was it – because I needed to return to church to pick Jack up. I popped out of the car and into a jog with little hesitation. I was on the trails about two minutes when I knew I’d be making a stop at the port-a-john at the bottom of the hill where the parking for the horse trailers was located. Coming up that same hill were 10 riders on horses. I slowed to a walk to keep from spooking them and said my friendly hello – strained by the need to poop.

I reached the bottom of the hill and quickly completed my mission, but losing valuable running time. I didn’t spend much time in that sauna – those things can really heat up in the sun – and was quickly out the door and back on the trail. By the 20-minute mark, I needed to stop and wring out my sweat band – it was that muggy. The human body has around 3 million sweat glands and I was pouring sweat from every one of them. I…was…soaked…and I’d forgotten to apply the Vasoline so I’d likely be chafing before this was over.

I was stopping every 15 minutes to wring out the sweat band, but was quickly getting back into the run because I was feeling great. John had told me people are getting sick of reading that I’m feeling great during exercise, but…well…I am. Normally, hot, humid weather would be kicking my ass, but I must be well acclimatized because – no problems. I returned to the car in 60 minutes and began the process of wringing out all my clothes so that I could get into the car without totally soaking the seat. I had three towels with me to help in this pursuit and used them all.

I made it back to the church with a few minutes to spare and drove Jack home. I was in the car for Lordstown in 30 minutes and there in a little over an hour. It takes me longer to get there because I refuse to get on the turnpike and pay the $1.25 they charge for the short ride on the toll road – taking I76 instead. John and I loaded quickly and headed back to my house for our bike ride. It was beautiful out and it appeared that I would finally be getting in a ride, though short.

We arrived back at the house and with only an hour to ride, hurried into our gear. I hadn’t been on the bike since my exhausting ride to see Dan and pick up the jeep three weeks ago and the bike was still in the jeep. I reached in to pull it out. Nothing could stop me know.

And then I noticed the flat tire. I can get flats anywhere. I’d gotten one on my trainer in the family room earlier this year and now I had somehow managed to get one while riding the bike around in the back of the jeep. Well…no big deal. I’d just reach into my bag on the back of the bike and pull out the…shit…no spare tube.

So…no bike ride…again. It’s been over four weeks and I’ve been thwarted on every attempt. Maybe there’s a message coming in and I’m too dense to decipher. I suggested we go for a run, but John would have none of it. He was going home to ride and to hell with me.

Well…this isn’t over. I am GOING to ride again. For now though, I’m just a runner.

Run duration: 60 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 140.

Calories burned during workout: 975.