June 12, 2008

Birthday Surprises


All good birthdays are filled with surprises. Usually, these surprises are in the form of gifts or fun, unexpected experiences. But for me, I had a series of frustrating surprises as I tried to go about my day. I woke up and had a very limited amount of time to get to the pool. But this was OK, I was riding my bike today for the first time. I was all set to go when the surprises began. First, my fancy Kryptonite lock was way too big to wear around my waist. I've lost about 15 pounds over the last 6 months and I'm guessing that's the reason. I wrapped it around my seat post and went on my way. Next, I didn't think about what I would do with my perfect mesh shoulder bag. I guess I thought I would keep it on my shoulder, but as soon as I started to ride, it slipped forward and became a nuisance. Of course, I'm now in NYC traffic so no changes can be made. Nice planning.

My once-perfect mesh bag was scraping along the spokes with every revolution. I just could not keep it behind my back. And then that damn lock. It hit my leg every time I tried to pedal. I did my best to ignore it. Oh, and there was one more problem. At home, when I was getting ready to go, my bike computer threw me a curve ball. It's supposed to come off easily. But regardless of what I tried, it wouldn't budge. I was prepared to rip the damn thing off when I finally gave up and let it go.

I had a pretty good swim. It was really crowded so I ended up switching lanes a few times, but I felt I was doing well. I'm still not thrilled with how I breathe - I lift my head all the way out of the water and look forward, which makes your legs drop and makes everything more tiring, but I don't know how else to do it. I have tried and tried again to breathe to the side, but it just hasn't caught on. Everything else is going well so I can't complain.

Today was my birthday so after the pool, I wasn't sure I wanted to do more. I came home and killed some time, then decided "what the hell." I got on my bike and headed up to Central Park. It turns out my bike computer was still not working so I was unable to track distance or time. But hey, it was my birthday and I wasn't out to set any records. I rode up to the park and did a couple loops. But seriously - did the rest of New York not get the memo that today was my birthday and that they should all stay out of my way? I was surprised by how crowded it was and after two laps, after a random old lady called another cyclist a "dirty son-of-a-bitch" and told him to drop dead, I'd had enough. It was a nice ride, but it was very leisurely, as a birthday ride should be.

I headed home and made my way out to my usual bar for my b-day celebration. As said before, I'm not big on birthdays, but if you're going to celebrate it, do it with the people you most like to be with. And that's what I did tonight.

Sport - Swimming
Distance - At least .5 miles (lost count at 43 laps)
Time - 45:00

Sport - Biking
Distance - 20.02 miles
Time - Not sure

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...