Riding with Mark

Mark bought me a cookie this weekend.

After almost 30 miles of riding hills he was feeling bonkish, passed a bake sale, stopped for a treat, and got me one also. This was his first long ride in more than a month—since he hit a pothole, went down on his bike, and separated his shoulder on March 29th.

The bake sale was located after about 7 miles of sustained climbing, on the inside curve of a short, flat area, just before the road banked right for a turn onto a steep uphill.

I was a half mile behind Mark, struggling after another week of yet again being sick—a “spring cold” as my sister put it—and still having difficulty with my lungs due to a lingering congestion in my chest and a cough that just won’t go away.

Coming up the hill, going into the flat, right-banked stretch of road, I always move into my big ring to gather momentum for the next (steep) uphill stretch. I was exceptionally tired. Too many workouts missed due to illness, too many hours on my feet at work, feeling drained, I just wanted to get as much speed as possible, and get up that last, danged hill—so I flew by the bake sale, and just as I was passing I heard a chorus of children’s voices, “Naomi? Are you Naomi? Mark bought you a cookie!”

Huh? It took a moment to process all the yelling. Are they talking to me?

I was already moving into the uphill stretch, and just wanted everything to be over (even though I was only half way through the ride) and didn’t want to stop.

So, I didn’t.

But I also didn’t to want to disappoint Mark.

And, I couldn’t stop thinking about that cookie.

So on the way back down, I stopped, and picked up TWO cookies.

And 20 miles later, I was glad I did. Sun-burned, wind-blown, struggling with fatigue, concentrating to just keep turning the pedals--one of those sweet, chocolate laden confections of sugar, flour, butter, and eggs, got me through the last 8 miles of riding.

AND,

I still have another left,

For whenever I need a boost,

And a really nice memory.

On the flip side of this weekend, I did the Run 4 The Zoo 10K on Sunday. It was another struggle-fest due to the muscle soreness I could feel with each step--but it was over a whole lot quicker. 56 minutes and change quicker. Bleah. Not my best, but certainly an exercise in pushing through fatigue.

In a nutshell, the morning temp was extra cold, my legs hurt and my hands felt like ice until mile 2.5, the mile 4 split was too short, so I felt like I was on target for my estimated time--only to find out later that I wasn't, it was very nice to see Pirate, Bones and his main squeeze (thanks for the hug!), and Miguel but the large crowd was disconcerting, and I followed the 10K with a slow 5K without replenishing myself after the 10K, and ended up super dehydrated.

Still, it's nice to have a 10K benchmark, since I haven't done one for awhile.

And, my legs are now super sore this morning.

I feel like I had a good weekend.