Fact: When I don’t want to exercise, I think of Laura

After Tommy and I went to Whole Foods in Boulder, we took our loot and headed to a nearby park called Scott Carpenter Park.

While we gorged our pizza, “Glory Dog”, sweet tea (like the Texans we are), and whatever else we could get our hands on, we noticed this one couple. At first, we had no idea what they were doing. They were walking around like they were casing the joint with their bikes. At one point, they just dropped their bikes and started running. “What was happening?” was a recurring thought in my mind as I continued to observe them.

In the end, this is what they did. Let me try and paint a picture for you. They would ride their cyclocross bikes along a path that led to going up a hill. When they reached the top of the hill, they had to dismount from their bikes, jump over and carry their bikes over a hurdle, mount back onto their bikes, circle around, go down the hill and do the same dismount/mount on ground level, circle around again, go back up the hill- STOP- get off their bike mid-hill, carry their bike the rest of the way up the hill, and lay their bikes down. Did they stop? NOPE. Soon after, they did these leaps across their bike frame and then they were “finished”.

And then they did this another 6 times. This man/woman couple were beasts. Is this what you typically do on a Thursday night? Apparently, yes because throughout the evening, I saw cyclists, a yoga group, people walking their dogs, etc. I overheard the woman talking to another girl introducing herself as Laura.

So when I think about not exercising, I have to think of Laura. Or the guy I saw with one prosthetic leg and cycling or the athletes from the Paralympics or Oscar Pistorius or Lance Armstrong. Exercising is doable and everyone should exercise. I never took this seriously until pretty recent. When I see people do things like become the fastest man on the planet or leap and do 4 flips and land perfectly or simply finish a marathon, I think, “wow, they are incredible human beings.” But the thing I forget is that they are human, just like me. While I may never be the fastest woman on earth or be someone who can do 6-minute miles, I know if I try, I’m better off than if I didn’t exercise at all.

Today’s morals of the story:
1) If I don’t want to exercise, I have to think of Laura.
2) I learned a quote from cyclist Jens Voight while watching the US Pro Cycling Challenge on TV: “Shut up legs.” I need to find a place to put that on my bike.