First of all, I went to bed around 12:45 last night after being out and about drinking beer and eating pizza with my roommates and other friends. (I drove, so I didn’t overdo it!)
I decided I would sleep in this morning… just wake up whenever I naturally woke up.
That happened to be 7:45 — what’s wrong with me? — and it was too sunny and beautiful out to stay inside.
I had breakfast, applied loads of sunscreen and packed everything I needed for a safe ride — water, Larabar, cell phone (my roommate was on call to save me if I needed help!), ID, debit card — into my fuel belt. I clipped in and I was off.
I had no distance goal or anything — I just decided to ride until I felt like turning around. I thought that would be somewhere around the University of Washington campus (GO HUSKIES), which is only 4-5 miles away.
But I felt great and got really comfortable on the bike, so I kept going… and going… and going… until I hit 11 miles. I COULD have kept going, but the trail was closed up ahead, and I didn’t feel like doing the detour route. Plus, I had passed a nice beach park and wanted to head back there to rest and eat my Larabar.
The 11 miles back went by very quickly. I LOVE RIDING on the Burke-Gilman trail with no cars to worry about!! Since I went fairly early on a Sunday, the trail wasn’t too crowded with other cyclists and runners, so it was a very low-stress ride.
22 miles. All by myself. Wow.
Maybe I need to get a bike version of my “Run now — wine later” Bondi band?
(Obviously I wore a helmet, but I took it off while at the beach park.)
This was such a confidence-building ride. I feel like I could go so much farther!
The bike portion of my super-sprint tri is only 9 miles, so I’m not worried about it at all. Just have to work on that swim!
Dev on Running 