5 isn't really a lot, is it?

That awkward moment when you are having a conversation quietly in your head, then you say something in response out loud and then realise that your kids in the back of the car are looking at you funny...  I tell you some days I'm sure I'm losing my mind...

My legs and I aren't on speaking terms right now.  I'm getting pretty fed up with them not playing nicely when I go out for a bit of a running session.  Yesterday I thought there was hope.  I went out, it started off sore and then it was suddenly all better.  I was all hopeful that finally my legs would give me a bit of a break, but no.  It seems they were merely using that moment to "catch their breath" or perhaps "get over the shock" or something because they suddenly decided to punish me and "complain loudly" and I finished my run with pretty sore legs.  So no, we're not speaking to each other right now...

Paul suggested last night that I really should consider doing some hills when I go out bike riding considering that the running isn't working so well right now.  Now if you haven't yet "met" Paul, Paul loves the hills.  And not just any tiny little hill, no, he means business when he does his hilly rides. If you haven't yet, this blog entry he did is well worth a read (click here), but you might want to sit down when you read it because it is a pretty exhausting read...

So the suggestion was that I would go up and down our street and do this 5 times.  And I have to say it was great!  I was certainly flying faster than I thought I would.  I was amazed at just how little effort I had to put in.  What a great idea!  Going down the hill was simply amazing!

The uphill bits...not so much!  My goodness, what a lot of hard work!  The words sheer hell popped into my mind several times and Paul did warn me I might curse him during the session and I would have if I had enough energy left over and wasn't worried I might just fall off my bike.

Going down the street was amazingly easy!

Up the street, not so much...

 Even Prince Charming thought I was absolutely nuts...

"Humans sure are crazy!"

Now 5 doesn't seem all that much.  Certainly in monetary or chocolate terms the number 5 is not a lot at all, but let me tell you going 5 times up the street was a lot of hard work for me.  By the end of the session I could hardly stand up straight and walking down the steps to get back into the house was nearly impossible. 

I distinctly remember the first time I tried to ride up our street.  I just got my bike and went out to give it a try and I was going really well until it was time to come back home and I turned the corner into our street and came to an almost dead stop as I was trying to cycle up our street.  And as I struggled to keep pedalling and seriously considered just getting off the bike and walking the rest of the way pushing the bike back home, this lady came past me with this massive big heavy double pram or buggy with 2 kids strapped in as well as a baby seat on top with a third child strapped in and she was walking faster than I was cycling at that point...  Now that is rather embarrassing I tell you. 

But no, seriously I do respect and appreciate Paul's advice because he has a lot of running (and now cycling) experience.  It is wonderful to have his support and interest in my fitness adventures.  So I'll keep going even though I do feel like I'm half killing myself in the process.  Even though I have to work extra hard at this and even though right now it doesn't ever feel like it will become any easier or that I'm making any progress (which is daft because I know I've made progress)

Just recently I saw this quote and I thought how incredibly true this is:

"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."  George Sheehan, runner and author