My Most Challenging Friendships...

I know I haven’t blogged in two weeks, but I simply didn’t have the inspiration.  However, I am more inspired today (and this week in general) than I think I have been in years. 

Last weekend, my friend Jacqui and I went out to attempt the Usery Pass, again – determined that we could do better than the 1:42 we had pulled the week prior with Matt.  Jacqui has become, interestingly enough, one of my favorite people.  Ten years my junior, there is simply something about her that is utterly enjoyable.  She begins every conversation (with me) with a huge smile and we follow it up with hours of laughter.  As we headed out at 7:15am (should have been 7, but she failed to remember her helmet and had to go back for it – and she knows I am safety-girl), we talked about the ride and how we struggled to get up the mountain on the backside the week prior with Matt.  We both agreed that there is an intimidation factor when riding with a seasoned cyclist. 

Interestingly, we conquered the huge, hard, back-side of the Usery Mountain area with strength.  As we pulled into the park we started from – I looked at my watch: 1:37:52.  We beat our last time by nearly 5 minutes.  Jacqui and I felt great.  Our friend, Sue, was there waiting for us to kick out a run – and she knew Jacqui and I had no idea if we’d be able to pull it off.  The run was lousy – but we all laughed it off at breakfast 30 minutes later.

The very next morning, I went out again with more of my co-workers for a 20 mile ride, after I had already completed a 1500 meter swim an hour prior.  Matt led the group of us (yes, Matt from the “Holy Crap” post the week prior).  I followed and allowed the remaining group members to fall in line behind me.  Naturally, that didn’t last long.  As we crested the first substantial hill in Ahwatukee, Jim flew passed me like he was on a motorized bike (sigh).  My thighs were on fire from the Usery Pass the day prior, so my confidence was dwindling.  It was moments like that one that really put things in perspective – Jim is 60 and absolutely kicked my ass on that ride.  I should also mention that while I was swimming, he, Matt and their friend, John, were crunching out a 20 mile ride (yes, prior to our ride).  So humility be damned – Jim is pretty effing amazing on a bike.  Fortunately, I ended the ride strong and enjoyed breakfast at Jim’s before heading home.  I certainly felt accomplished last weekend.

On Monday (President’s Day), I went to my gym and happily pushed out another 2000 meters in the pool.  I am pretty slow at this point, but getting stronger and faster each time I get in the pool.  I know I can get through the swim part of the Triathlon, now, so I just need to really focus on my bike to run combination.

Tuesday – the Triathlon Team (of my co-workers) and I all left for St. Charles, Illinois, for a work academy.  I pushed out a 10K before getting on the plane – for fear that the Chicago metro area would be too cold to do anything while we were there.  But, fortunately, as we all checked into our hotel (which was more like a dormitory than hotel), we learned about a 13 mile trail just feet from the entrance and along a beautiful lake. 

Wednesday morning the temps registered 37 degrees in St. Charles, with some snowy residue on the ground – nothing substantial – so Jacqui, Matt, Brian and I all went for a run.  We had planned 3-4 miles, but I was feeling so good in the humid temps, that I pushed us to go a little farther.  In the end, we’d completed 4.5 miles and were ready for breakfast.

Thursday morning was more of the same – but Matt was less inclined to run at 630am, so Jacqui, Brian and I headed out for a couple more miles along the lake.  It was colder and super foggy (we saw no lake), but we chatted and laughed for a couple of good miles and enjoyed the time together.

As we all waited for our plane in the airport on Friday evening, Matt piped up, “Usery Pass on Sunday – followed by a trail run?”  Jacqui and I agreed.

Saturday I pulled another great workout in the pool – over 2000 meters and never felt the need to really change strokes.  Up until this point, I had been alternating between Free Style and the Breast Stroke.  I simply could not keep up Free Style for the entirety of my swim.  But, Saturday was different.  It was as if something had significantly changed – I found absolutely no need to switch out my strokes.  I realized I was really getting somewhere with my swimming.  (grin)

So when my alarm went off this morning to join Jacqui and Matt for another torturous ride through the Usery Mountain Pass, I was actually excited.  The excitement was more about seeing them, again, and doing it together than it was able the ride/run.  I have trained for a marathon only once with two of my best friends – and it, too, was one of my favorite experiences.  This certainly rivals that time in my life.

Matt and I parked in the Usery Mountain Recreation area, this time, and were meeting Jacqui and her husband a mile or so into the ride.  It was a “first” ride for Aaron, and the poor guy really struggled.  I remember our first ride a few weeks ago and I remember thinking it was among the most difficult workouts of my life.  Now I acknowledge the difficulty knowing I am able to conquer it without dying.

After we crested the backside of the mountain, Jacqui stayed back while Matt and I finished another 10 miles back into the recreation area.  Matt is a MUCH more seasoned cyclist than I and I am so appreciative that he is willing to work with me to help me become a better rider.  I feel humiliated a lot of the time as he glides up and over the hard hills and I struggle behind him, but he glances back often to make sure I haven’t tipped over or given up. 

Interestingly, we finished the ride and were raring to do the trail run.  By now, there were hundreds of people in the recreation area hiking and mountain biking.  The first couple of miles were actually downhill – so naturally I was worried.  Matt asked how I felt about a mile into the run and the only things bothering me were my shins.  Having never experienced shin splints on a run, I was not terribly thrilled.  But, I hung with him for a little while.  Truth be told, this was my first ever trail run and I learned a lot about myself.  Even though running is VERY much my thing, cardio-vascularly, trail running is completely different than running on the roads.  My heart rate would elevate and then need to come down – over and over and over.  It’s a lot like cycling, actually – so this kind of exercise is totally different for me.  I felt like a failure and decided to take it slower, allowing Matt to go ahead of me.  Just under 3 miles into the run, I told Matt I was walking to remainder of the way.  He was kind enough to stay with me – and we moved at a decent hiking clip back to our cars.  (Sorry, Matt.)

I mentioned at the beginning of this blog that I am feeling more inspired than ever, now.  I have developed friendships – really good friendships – with a couple of fantastic people: Jacqui and Matt.  And, while I look forward to our work time together – I completely prefer our challenging rides and runs.  They push me and help me realize a lot about myself.  I am capable of a lot more than I realized and I am relishing it.  I will likely spend the remainder of the day on the couch thinking about tomorrow’s swim, hoping I can do as well as I did, yesterday.   I remain hopeful that these friendships continue and even though I know it will bother Matt enormously that I quoted Garth Brooks in my blog (since he lamented our friend Craig’s play list on the plane on Friday) – this is genuinely how I feel, today:

Yes my life is better left to chance 
I could have missed the pain but I'd have had to miss the dance

Thanks Matt and Jacqui – I (heart) you both!

HOLY CRAP, MATT!

Sunday is usually run day – but the best laid plans were utterly destroyed by my good friend Matt’s trek up the Usery Mountain area.  On Friday, I mentioned (at work) that I would like to do a 20 mile bike ride followed by a 5K, just to see how my legs would feel after the mileage on the bike.  So, Matt graciously volunteered to play guide to my friend Jacqui and me on Sunday morning – 7am sharp. 

When I awakened this morning, I was excited about the ride.  It would be my first long’ish ride, ever.  I thought a 20 mile ride might take somewhere between an hour to an hour and 15 minutes to complete.  But, I evidently had NO idea what Matt had in store.  Our starting spot was at a Park in East Mesa – a good 30 miles east of my house.

Matt was already in the parking lot with his bike unloaded when I arrived ten minutes to 7am.  I got my bike out and put my gear on just as Jacqui arrived on her bike.  Astounded, we realized that she had already ridden a good 8-10 miles to get to the park from her house.  So, I think Matt and I were both worried about how she would feel on this ride.  He did mention it would be hill work, but Jacqui assured us that she really took it easy on the jaunt to the park. 

Before we headed out, Matt re-explained my gears to me (and Jacqui) – which was incredibly helpful.  He explained that I would probably spend much of this ride in a very low gear, if not the lowest – so to make sure I was definitely comfortable going between all of the gears.  I cannot tell you how much that helped on this ride.  Within the first few minutes of the ride – we headed up over the 202 overpass and I was already ½ way down my gears.  But, I had no idea what was to come. 

My Garmin beeped at me about ¾ of a mile into the ride to tell me that I had failed to start it.    I was disappointed, but knew there were still nearly 20 miles left.  We turned left onto Ellsworth and everything started to go up…and up…and up.  It was a gradual climb for ~5.5 miles.  Jacqui was quiet for a lot of these miles, trudging ahead of me learning to shift between higher and lower gears.  I was doing the same.  Just as my watch read 6.67 miles, Matt pulled off and stopped us from riding.  He told the two of us that this was the Come-to-Jesus moment – there would be several miles down and fast and then the same number of miles (3-3.5) back up…STEEP!  Jacqui and I were already sore and tired, but we agreed that we could do this.  Matt smiled, turned his bike around and flew down the hill.  We were all three flying.  The warmth I had felt climbing up to the top of this hill immediately went away and I was FREEZING cold all the way down to the bottom.

Note the elevation change

Matt arrived to the bottom first and then Jacqui and I followed.  I admit, it was the first time I was scared on the ride – there are just too many opportunities to make a mistake while going that fast.   But, I’ll be honest, that was the least of my concerns.  The whole time I was going down I was thinking “F***!  I have to go back up THIS?!  I cannot even explain it, but here’s a snapshot of my Garmin.  1200+ up, down and up again – but a much shorter distance on the way back – nearly 2 miles shorter, this time. 

Those 3+ miles were BRUTAL!  I kept my head down and chunked it out.  I worked out distance math equations each and every time I looked at my watch.  At one point it was so steep, I wondered if I could simply run faster than I was riding – so I looked at my Garmin.  9:18 pace.  OMG – I could absolutely run this as fast as I am chunking it out up the hill.  I knew I couldn’t stop – I couldn’t wait for anyone, I just needed to get back to the top and get this over with.  And, so I did. 

Just past the very top, I stopped and waited for Matt and Jacqui.  Matt was in front of me for the first ½ mile, but smartly decided to make sure Jacqui would be ok up the mountain, so he went back for her.  A few minutes later, I saw Matt approach, so I quickly grabbed my phone so I could see Jacqui begin the descent. 

Jacqui, just beginning descent!

Ready to head back down!

Our fearless leader (Jacqui and I both hope he wasn't bored).

The last 5-6 miles were uneventful except to say they were a lot easier than the previous 3-4.  Additionally, I completely forgot to turn my Garmin back on after I had stopped and waited – so I don’t have a total picture of the ride.  I’ll also admit, that for that first ½ mile ascent with Matt, I told him that the 5K run was NOT going to happen.  I just wanted to finish this without dying. 

The three of us arrived back in the park 20.5 miles later in 1:42 (Thanks, Matt, for having another device with our stats).    1:42!  I laughed at myself – never in a million years would I have guessed it would EVER take us THAT long to complete a mere 20 miles.  Holy crap!  That 1200 foot climb was unbelievable!  I will do this ride again – I have to.  It was so hard that I know I have a lot to work on!  

I just hope I can swim tomorrow.