6am bike ride--10 degrees

Last night I realized that the only time I would have today to do my 20min. bike ride was at 6am. I didn't go to bed until about 1:30am, so I wasn't exactly excited when my alarm went off this morning. But I did it, I got up, I layered up, and I set out into the dark --freezing Chicago morning. Besides my face, everything actually stayed pretty warm, almost too hot. Although, I think my eyes were watering and turning into ice. I actually felt ice fall off my eyelashes. (And then of course snot freezes, which is always fun.) The nice thing about riding early in the morning is that no one is up and traffic is really light. I cruised on over to lakeshore. The view was breathtaking. I wish that I had my camera. The sun was barely starting to come up. The lake was calm and no one was around. At that moment I think I forgot how cold I was and appreciated how lucky I am. I finished my ride and came home totally refreshed and ready to start the day. We'll see how I feel around 8pm tonight when fatigue sets in.

my motivational quote for the day:
"success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."

My First Blog

Isn't this exciting! My very first blog. So, I am about to start training for the St. Anthony's Triathlon. Right now it seems like it won't be that hard, but I have a feeling even after tonight I will start to feel the pain of training. I'm nervous about training through the winter. The cold days and dark nights aren't exactly motivating. But I bought a bike, after my old bike Spirit was stolen the first day I moved to Chicago. I have named my bike Jimmy, he is an old school Schwinn World Sport road bike, silver/gray and red. I put blue tape on the handles. I am pumped to break him in, but I don't plan on traversing the Chicago streets when it is icy. I can't wait to start swimming, but I am scared because I haven't really swam in years. I don't think I could do 1 full lap without having to stop to catch my breath. This could be interesting.
I hope that I will keep the purpose of why I am doing this in my heart. Raising a significant amount of money for cancer research makes me feel amazing. I have never personally been affected by cancer and I am so thankful for that. But the incredible will, motivation, and spirit of those that have dealt with the heartbreak of cancer is inspiring. If I can push my body to its limits and build even a tiny bit of the character of people suffering from cancer, then I will feel proud.
Thanks for being a part of this journey with me. I can't wait to see what happens.