I read a great story in the PD about Mr. Fauja Singh, a 100-year old man who completed a marathon in Toronto in a little over 8 hours. He became the oldest person to have completed a marathon – a distance of 26.2 miles and one that has brought me to my knees every time I’ve tried. He didn’t run his first marathon until age 89, taking up the sport when his wifed passed away. He runs 10 miles a day and owns the fastest time ever recorded by a 90-year old at 5:40. “Mr Singh, who was a torchbearer at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, now hopes to participate in the 2012 London Games torch relay. He attributes his extraordinary stamina to ginger curry, cups of tea and ‘being happy’, adding: ‘The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free. Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running.’” I’ve read worse advice. This guy doesn’t need to read ‘Younger Next Year’, he’s the poster child for the book.
Though a little cold, it was sunny afternoon and the roads were dry…and when would this happen again? My gut…and the Weather Channel…said it would be awhile. I HAD to ride and it needed to be long. I headed out on Pekin Road with the intent of swinging through Chardon and Dan’s place to see if he was up for a trip to check out the condition of the Jeep I had stored with my nephew. I figured with the way things had been going recently with my vehicles, it might be time to get it ready to run. I was out there about two hours and the sun was setting. It was getting colder and so was I. It occurred to me that I might need to borrow a long-sleeved t-shirt and some socks from Dan when I reached his place for the remaining hour’s ride home. I had my head down and was riding on Bass Lake Road when I noticed something red, white and blue in the storm ditch to my immediate right. Those colors belonged to a United States flag and they should not have been in that ditch. I didn’t know what I was going to do with the flag, but I knew I wouldn’t be leaving it there. I swung around, dropped into the ditch with my bike soaking my shoes and already cold feet, and pulled it out. I’m not a military man and don’t know how to correctly fold a flag…and it was a big one. I tried compacting it so that I could fit it in the bag I carry under the seat of my bike…but that wasn’t happening. I saw no other option, so I bundled it up and stuck it under my shirt, climbed out of the ditch with my bike and rode away. It was a little uncomfortable against my chest and stomach but over the next couple of miles I began to notice that I was no longer cold.
I arrived at Dan’s to find that he wasn’t home…which was no big deal since I really just wanted someplace to ride that wasn’t the same old ride. I called him and told him about the flag, which I deposited in the front seat of his Jeep so that I could pick it up later. I’d had a strong tail wind on my way to Chardon, but now, with the temperature in the low fifties, I found myself riding into a very strong head wind and heading downhill. When I reached the hill on Wilson Mills that drops to River Road and where I often get the bike over 50mph, I wished instead of going down I would be climbing instead…that would have warmed me up.
I made it home in the dark and walked back in the house on frozen feet. It was time to consider serious gear for cold rides if I was to continue my pursuit of riding until the snow begins to fly. The hot shower helped, but I was still cold after dressing. I needed to work harder on the Paleo Diet and had baked some chicken breasts to put on a good spinach salad, which I washed down with a large smoothie. A long bike ride and a good Paleo dinner was the right move for me to jumpstart my quest to getting back on track.
Bike workout: Three hours.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.Calories burned during workout: 2,500.
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