Oh, Mah Achin' Mmmhmm.

Here it is: my 100th entry, and it's neither political nor inherently snarky. AND it only took, what, four years of intermittent blogging to make it happen? That averages out to a post every other month, and I think that's something that we can all be happy about. You haven't gotten bored with overposting, I haven't become annoyed by the need to write. It works. We'll just ignore the whole binge-and-purge bulimic blogger reality that it's five posts in a week and then three years off. That bit's irrelevant.

So my only resolution for 2010 was this: choose health. I reiterated that during Lent: make healthy choices. It's not so much about losing weight, though that's a great side effect. It's not about getting in shape for the wedding, though that's a good one, too. It's about the way I feel when I'm eating better or working out. My whole spirit is lifted. It's about not spending my life trapped in stationary hobbies because, much as I'd like to hike or run or play with my kids, I can't because I'm too big or out of shape. It's about someday being able to bear healthy children. It's about not losing a single moment with Jeremiah--about saving even one more day of my life to spend with him. I want them all--I'm greedy for them.

This has been an amazing year, too--Jeremiah gave me a gift of health in the form of a membership to a gym. and I've been really good about making it to the gym or doing something at least three times a week. It's actually getting to the point that I notice the days that I don't go more than the days that I do--case in point, I was thinking that I only went twice this week, checking, and noticing that I went to the gym twice and biking once. And therein lies the ache.

Jeremiah took me bike riding last week, and it was the first time I've been on a bike that actually moves (vs. the stationary ones at the gym) in probably five years. No lie. It may even have been longer. And I am here to tell you that they bike at the gym is a liar. "Let's do a hills workout," it says. "Sure," you say, convincing yourself that it's actually getting harder the more bars show up on the screen. "I must be pedalling up K2," you think, sweat rolling down your forehead. You huff and puff to the summit, and 45 minutes later leave satisfied that you could totally ride a trail for 45 minutes with no problems.

HAH! Lying stationary bikes with your lying stationary bars.

We borrowed my dad's old bike for me and drove up this killer hill (huge, huge hill--literally climbing out of a river valley in 50 or so yards) to park at the dump and ride a wonderful bike trail along the "highway" (big for us, but it's really only 3 lanes each way). Riding wet was great--going with traffic and the wind, pedal pedal pedal, get used to having to balance and look and what is this hard thing on my head?  It was a lot of fun, and we rode 6ish miles to the Ft. Richardson exit. Then Jeremiah gave me some BS about how we have to ride back. Excuse me? I mean, I knew that when we started, but you want to talk inconvenient truth? That was it. Because now we're riding back to Eagle River against the wind and against traffic, which is creating bonus wind. That's right--bonus wind. Wind in addition to the stuff that's down the mountains and along this lovely man made wind tunnel.

On the way back, I had to learn about this thing called "gearing down." It's where you click some stuff and pedal like you're fleeing the Devil himself, while in actuality you're moving slightly faster than a geriatric sloth and barely fast enough to stay upright. The faster you pedal, the more the quads burn, and yet you're still moving practically backwards. (I'm not just being a wuss; we were going 2mph slower on the way back than on the way out, and I was pedaling faster. I know. I told Jeremiah and he didn't argue. That's almost like agreeing.) In the end, I had to send Jeremiah the last 500 feet alone, because my legs just weren't going to make it.

I didn't realize that my legs weren't the only sore bits until Tuesday, when I went to the gym to lecture the stationary bike about the evils of lying. I got on the seat and almost hopped off--bum bruising! What is up with that? And the same thing happened yesterday--Jeremiah showed me the best route to to work last night so that I can bike to work on (what else?) Bike to Work Day and I had so much fun (no wind resistance!)  but dang! My rear is still sore, and that's not good when you sit at a desk all day.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that my butt hurts but it's worth it--so worth it. I had a ton of fun. I conquered a couple of hills and my fears of moving quickly down a hill (I'll get to "fast" next week). I even started speeding up to go over some culvert humps, and coming off the seat. All those bike-riding things started coming back. More than that, though, I did it anyway, even though it wasn't entirely comfortable, because I need to do it. And I wanted to do it. Because the other choice was to sit on the couch and watch TV or blog, and for the first time in a long time that was less attractive than doing something active. This weekend: another bike ride. Next weekend, maybe a hike in Hatcher Pass. I've always had those ideas, but I've never actually done it. And now we're doing it.

Yeah. We. There's the difference, and it's the whole world.

Ok. I'm good. You can go puke now. I won't look. I know it's jealous puke, and that's ok, too. ;)