I officially signed up to be part of Team in Training tonight! That means I get to train for the Nation's Triathlon with a group of people, get coached by professionals, and raise at least $2,400 to fight blood cancers. My great-aunt Eleanor Shonter Van Wagner died at the end of last year after a courageous battle with several kinds of cancer (one of which was leukemia), and a wonderful friend of our family Andy Kain is a survivor of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, so this cause is near to my heart.Last weekend I bought a used road bike for $300, a 56cm Raleigh USA. I like it because it's nice enough that I can't tell the difference between it and nicer bikes, but not too nice that I worry about ruining it. My first adventure was riding to work yesterday. If you don't know this about me yet, I'm just about the clumsiest person ever. Evidence? I've broken both of my feet...at different times. So riding an extremely tall road bike with very skinny wheels seemed like an impossible task until I did it. Which brings us to the title of this post. Even though I felt like I was going to die on the DC streets at the end of the ride, it was wonderful. Apart from giving birth, I've never felt so alive. I highly recommend to everyone that you find something to do that scares you, if just a little. Extend yourself beyond what's comfortable. I may not become the best triathlete, but I can TRI (get it?).
