The first official ride home

Well, I made my first official full commute today -- using the bike to go to work and back home again. I had a nice ride in, quiet and slow. I saw Sara's car at the gym -- that always warms my heart -- and ran into Hanna on Tom McCall Waterfront Park. And, I didn't walk anything on the way there. Woo hoo! 27 minutes! 3 miles.

On lunch, we walked for an hour, to Jill's apartment and back. We were moving pretty good, and it was lovely outside. I figured out yesterday that I need to do 126 minutes of walking to make my 15,000 desired steps. Of course, I didn't do any more than the single hour, but that's a goal I'll be working towards.

Riding home was tough. I walked the bike A LOT, and rode very slowly on the last mile or so. Traffic was crazy, lots of cars, lots of bikes. By the time I got home, I was fully soaked with sweat, and totally in the middle of an endorphin rush (which I didn't realize until I sat down for a few minutes). 35 minutes. It's hard on my ego to walk my bike up hills, and to move so slowly -- at least with walking, I can tell myself I am a long distance walker. And, all the cyclists I saw easily weighed a hundred pounds less than me -- I'm sure it's easier to propel the bike when there's less weight involved.

I wanted to walk after dinner, but it's already dark. I'm glad the temperatures are getting cooler, but the whole shortening day thing is a bit much.

I am currently reading Slow Burn, which is supposed to be about long slow distance running, but so far it's been a lot of positive thinking, your thoughts are shaping your reality stuff. While I do believe that, my hooey button gets pressed very quickly with that sort of groovy talk, and I have a hard time reading more than a couple pages at a time.