Training

I have to admit something, I need to get it off of my chest once and for all.  Training everyday for this bike ride is killing me!!!!
Honestly I feel like I am a broken record that has a lot of skips.  I get up in the morning at 5:40, I let the dog out, I leg the dog in, I feed the dog, I fold the laundry, I get dressed, throw on some extra deodorant and brush my teeth.  I drive to the gym, turn on Pandora, turn on the kindle and I bike till even my wrists are sweating.  I don't go anywhere except where ever my books take me, and those places have been some very scary  lately.  I go home, shower, fix the kids breakfast and maybe pack a lunch, rush mathew to band practice, take john to school an hour later and then go to work.  Here is where the skipping comes into place, I do it all again five days a week and on the sixth day I just add an extra twenty minutes to the bike ride.
I am sooooo sick of the snow that I think I am going to scream in frustration soon.  All I want is to buy a new bike, go out and ride all over the country side.  I don't think I can survive much more of gym riding.  I want to feel the wind on my face and the adrenaline of riding faster as a dog comes out and chases after me.  I want to dodge the post winter pot holes and maybe feel a bug splat against my arm, note I did not say the face.  I need fresh air and I need a change of view, I am desperate.


As the song goes by the Byrds:
To everything, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

Well its time for spring to come and for me to turn my wheels on the ride with my bike. So if anyone out there has a direct line to mother nature could you please call her and let her know we are done with winter and it is time for spring to come for a visit. 

On the bright side I was finally able to wear two sneakers to the gym this week,  woo hoo after three weeks I am so glad to finally be able to wear two sneakers.  This week is already looking better, now if only the snow would stop falling.

Back to the beginning

Last month I was very fortunate to travel out to Staten Island and visit with my family.  It has been over 20 years since I last drove out to see them, and this time I did not get lost, woohooo.  Alright we got a little lost but nothing that was too scary.  I was blessed to meet Sandy's future husband, he is very talented artist by the way, and to have dinner with the entire family.  I don't know what it is about the City but they have some of the greatest diners in the country, and thankfully they took us to one. :)  Over dinner Sandy preceded to tell me about our family history and how she traced us back to the first Hebner to settle in the New World.  This is where it got interesting.  Come to find out the first Hebner settle, are you ready, just north of Toronto Ontario in a small town called Markham.  He was a blacksmith and he lived a very full life and had many children. 
Now you ask where am I going with this little history lesson?  Well  I have considered my bike ride this summer not only to be a mid-life crisis event but also a pilgrimage.  A pilgrimage to help me get focused on myself, my strengths, my weaknesses and my growth spiritually.  Even as I get up everyday to go to the gym, kindle and iphone in hand it is a journey for me to escape the busy schedule I have with the boys and to just focus on me and my weaknesses.  I am finding I can pedal faster, stronger and longer each week and I am confident that at the end of the ride I will raise my hands up and shout and triumph.  And now knowing my family history I can raise my hands up and say I am home, I am back where it all started and just like the first Hebner I fought my weaknesses and my challenges and I made it. 
After the ride is over, after the workshops I hope to attend, and a few beers have been consumed, I will be traveling up to Markham.  I look forward to finding the first Hebner's stone in the cemetery and saying to him, " Thank you for making it against the odds, for facing your fears.  I hope the determination you showed in the beginning is still being seen today through my journey."