celebrate the good days

I am a bit pissed off. Last Tuesday my Cancer surviving friend got hit by a drunk driver who was texting. She broke her hip. Running career ended. Another friend broke her collarbone in a bike crash. 2 others had very close calls.

I was riding my bike through Mendon Ponds Park. In the middle of a 90 minute tempo effort embedded in three hours. A guy and a girl were riding their mountain bikes ahead of me, not helmeted. I pulled into the middle of the road to pass and the guy takes a u turn. If I were aero I'd have crashed.

Thank you God...... I thought to myself as my heart rate hit 300.

Here's the thing. When it comes to bikes and cars...... and I know this isn't the crowd who even needs this kind of reminder........ bikes will lose. Cars are bigger. And faster. And heavier.

Manslaughter is one hell of a hefty charge. So go ahead and hit us. But you be the one to tell my son that my riding in the white line would have made you 5 minutes late for Happy Hour. And that because of that his Mom isn't coming home.

Irritations aside I was so happy to have a solid 4.5 hour training day. A 3:30 trans brick and a good 60 minute swim. It's the best I have felt since the end of May.

I feel guilty saying I feel good when my friends are broken and my heart is with Wee. I know what they would tell me. I know they'd all slap me.

Truth is we all have our up days and our down days. Our victories and our defeats. The defeats always hurt more but that is what we learn from.

You think Peter Reid learned more from the three times he won Hawaii...... or the several times he did not win Hawaii?????

The lessons that are important are the ones we learn the hard way. But we also can't forget to celebrate the victories. Some days the victories are getting to the starting line in the first place. Some times the victories are a pair of fresh legs, knowing when to stop, knowing when not to stop, coming home from a bike ride at all.

Be open to all of it. We can't shield ourselves from the bad. We won't shield ourselves from the good. We can however realize the importance of both.

Stay safe.