quite the weekend

Sitting here, waiting for my clothes to dry, exhausted from the weekend and yet no closer to sleep than normal. I had hoped to get all my laundry done earlier, but instead of lying around comatose all day, I decided to keep my promise and head up to Bethany's for a cookout. Certainly am glad I did (more on that later).

Also glad I kept my other obligation for the weekend. Sometime early this summer, Steve began asking me if I would be up for taking a ride over Labor Day weekend from Columbus to Cincinnati. At first I was all for it, thinking I would get the chance to ride plenty over the summer and thus would be in good shape for the ride. Unfortunately, I didn't ride as much as I hoped and the closer we got to Labor Day, the more I began to feel perhaps I had cashed the proverbial check my body couldn't keep. Sure, I had done a century before, but that was three years back after a summer of riding. I hadn't been riding since my trip to Colorado back in July. I probably should have told Steve I wish I could, but my body just isn't up for it. But either ego or fear of confrontation (most likely both) kept me from saying anything.

So there I was, Friday night, after a tasty meal at Buca di Beppo, hitching a ride with our friend Mandy to be dropped off somewhere near the OSU campus to begin our adventure. Trepidatious doesn't begin to describe how I felt. But I had made a promise and I intended to keep it, even if it meant my corpse lying somewhere on the bike path between London and Cincy (I figured I'd make it at least to London, though as it turned out, I was almost wrong). Sleep stayed away, per usual, and even as we got ready at O'Dark Thirty in the morning, I wondered if I'd made a huge mistake.

I'll spare you the details for now, mostly out of respect for Steve (without whom I would have indeed ended up in a fetal position on the path), who is writing an article for CityBeat. But I will say we did indeed make it, 124.44 miles in two days. And other than some excruciating spaces and a brush with heat exhaustion, I had a great, great time. Two thoughts:

1. Just because you could doesn't mean you can; and just because you couldn't doesn't mean you can't.
2. Sometimes life turns out far better than you could have hoped, even if it's quite painful at times.

As for the other promise, I spent the afternoon with some old friends and acquaintances from college at my friend Bethany's in Mount Sterling (yes, I drove all the way back up to the Columbus area. Question my sanity at your leisure). I had every intention of not going - my body ached and I had other things I needed to get done (like laundry and grocery shopping). But when I called to check on the details, I decided I wanted to go. Turns out they were meeting at 11:30 and since I waited to call until 10:00, I was going to be a little late. But turns out, not too much. Arrived around noon, well before food was served. Jonna was there and we all had the chance to reminisce a bit about Dave and laugh. We lived the cliche - we sat around and talked about the old days and how much everything had changed since we were in college (which we had started 20 years ago - oh dear Lord when did we get so old?), but also shared our current lives. 'Twas a wonderful day spent with friends. Big thanks to Bethany for once again being the perfect hostess. We always talk about doing more of this - here's hoping we do more than talk this time.

OK, laundry should be done and then I need to get to sleep. Practice OGT for the students tomorrow - should be really, really, really boring. Maybe I'll jot down my thoughts on the ride for later sharing. Betcha can't wait... Æ

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