Sunshine and Rain Part 2

The day our bikes were stolen was difficult from the get go, the proverbial “I got out of the wrong side of the bed” scenario. It should have been raining, to match my mood.

Really, we argued about dumb, unmemorable stuff and spent vacation time vacuuming and scrubbing the van at a fabulous car wash in Florida. Even the airy freshness of our newly cleaned van as we headed to Starbucks for a Skinny Vanilla Latte was fraught with bickering between me and my love.

The next morning after working out, I sat in my stinky, sweaty workout clothes and obsessed over Craig’s list and other Bicycle pawn shop websites, looking for our bikes.

I was sitting indoors feeling sadness, bitterness, disappointment and some forgiveness.

Finally, around noon, I decided to take a redemption ride to the beach.

I would use my mom's comfortable Schwinn Voyageur bike, for  my ride.

mom's bike

On the ride, I found myself looking in every garage that was open and scanning the back of pick-up trucks as they passed me by, looking for our stolen bikes.

My mind was so wrapped up in yesterday’s news.

It does not feel good to be stolen from. I remembered that the enemy of my soul comes to steal, kill and destroy.

I felt these words deep in my spirit as I was cycling along…

…do not let your joy, your peace of mind, your love for others, your belief that God is generous, anything that is of eternal value, be stolen from you… 

I stopped riding. Then I heard…

… if you look for what is lost or stolen too long, you will miss the LIFE that is happening right in front of you.

Enough time and emotional energy had been given to stolen bikes.

I wanted to notice what was right in front of me.

I wanted to notice what I did have.

I wanted to notice LIFE.

On that ride, I had an awakening. I would have missed the sound of the birds, the sight of the beautiful houses along the bay and the sound of the wind in the palms (one of my favourite things) and the lightly scented salt air as I neared the beach.

When I finally arrived at the beach, I tripled locked my mom's bike, enjoyed a delicious fish taco with mango chipotle - yum!- and had a nap in the sunshine.

post nap - love the blue water too!

It’s amazing that when we awaken to life, we can truly REST. 

Thanks for reading and keep moving,

Kelly

PS. I wrap up the Hot Yoga Tales (new title) with Rogerstv Newmarket and Bradford Hot Yoga this week. 

Quitting

Spin Bikes

I felt like quitting the Tri Club this morning before I even entered the change room.

Yep, quitting.

Living athletically must be like this. This has got to be normal from time to time.

Next week, I hope to find out. The plan is to  interview Jay, a member of the leisure centre who can jump from the floor to a platform that appears to be at least three feet in height. To me, that's impressive.

So impressive, that I approached Jay (a complete stranger) and told him I was writing a blog to discover how to live like an athlete. (For those who are getting to know me, I approached him with my man and asked if he was married and if his wife would mind us meeting to discuss fitness.) I am all about maintaining and building happy, strong marriages. I digress. He happily agreed to an interview, we exchanged contact information and I am looking forward to hearing his story.

You know what's funny to me? I even struggle to correctly spell the word "athlete" and "athletically", thank goodness for spell check! That's how far this concept is from most of my adult life.  In case any of you were wondering, I do not have a life long history of participation in athletics.

My Year of Living Athletically is challenging physically and emotionally.

Working out most days is the plan and I have injured myself a couple times by going to a class or lifting weights, when I should have incorporated a rest day. Rest day = self care = less injury. I am learning.

In other news, I had my first adventure in hot yoga this past week. For those of you who are new to yoga words..."Hot" yoga is not "sexy" yoga; it's heat panels in the ceiling, making the room extra warm.

I had an authentic person jokingly, yet seriously ask, "are you trying to spice up your love life? what's with the hot yoga?" Good question! If this person is wondering, the law of questions would dictate that there are others wondering as well. Mystery solved.

My second taping at RogersTV Studio, Newmarket for the Yoga Monologues, the stories of 3 ordinary people who have never practised yoga before." (working title) went well. I felt less nervous, although somewhat quiet. Turns out I have pretty good, "downward dog" pose and I was not self conscious at the yoga studio. I was able to follow the verbal cues and was more interested in following the instructor than anything else. 75 minutes flew by and my eyes were shiny and my skin looked great. I felt very relaxed the balance of that day.

Spin class was a struggle, lots of hills, my calves got a work out.

Grateful. I have all this energy; left over or freshly created? Not sure, an athlete would know. :)

So, for today, I am not quitting. I am going outside in 40cm of snow to soak up the sun with my wool hat, mittens, snow pants and favourite big and little men.