Tomorrow morning I ride in Bike MS. I will be riding from Westminster Colorado up to Fort Collins and back. It will be a two day ride and about 120+ miles. Due to severe wild fires through out the state and especially one thats been going on near Ft. Collins for the past few weeks, the original 150 mile route had to be changed for the health and safety of the participants, volunteers, staff and spectators. Still, it's going to be a good ride.
The ride this weekend marks the halfway point in my activity schedule. Since April when I ran the half marathon, I competed in two triathlons, one sprint distance and one olympic distance. The olympic distance kicked my butt all though I did finish in the end. I will concede that I may have bitten off a bit more than I could chew this summer loading on as many events as I did, but there's no going back now I just gotta grind through. It's been a learning experience, each and every event has taught me quite a bit.
Boulder Half-Marathon: Heat + Running = Badness, but it's okay to know what your limit is and throw in the towel when you feel your health is at risk.
Plate River Half-Marathon: When at first you don't succeed, try again. It was a grind, but I made it!
Summer Open Triathlon: Just keep swimming... The waves on the reservoir were insane, I must have drunk at least half of the res, but I pushed through and ground my way through to the end.
BolderBoulder 10K: Competing is fun, but running with family is more fun. I throughly enjoyed spending time with Calvin and running through Boulder. I can see the BolderBoulder becoming a family even next year with the four of us running through Boulder.
Boulder Sunrise Triathlon: It doesn't matter when you cross the finish line, just cross the finish. It was my first olympic distance triathlon and it occurred one week after BolderBoulder. This race was brutal and by the 10K run I was sorely tempted to quit, but I pushed through and finished with an epic last minute sprint to the finish line that had the crowds cheering.
After Bike MS this weekend, I have two more triathlons to go; a sprint distance and another olympic distance. After that, I'm going to rest for a while and plan for the next racing season. So far this year I've had more MS related symptoms than I've had in a while which is directly related to how hard I've pushed my body. This has been both good and bad. It's been good because I feel like it's making me stronger against MS, that just because I have symptoms it doesn't mean I have to give in, but it's bad because with every symptom that pops up there is the risk that I relapse entirely.
I need to respect my limits, but at the same time if you don't push them a little you never know how far you can go.
