Skip to main content

P.J.

Sunday was a massive training day. A few weeks ago, Cindy Snyder reached out to me via Facebook offering me the chance to train with her son, P.J. P.J. is 32 and has Angelman Syndrome and an incredibly accomplished athlete. We were connected through Dennis with Athletes in Tandem here in Colorado. Dennis is the guy who sparked this entire adventure idea.

We made plans to have a training ride with P.J. and to invite the local community to come ride with in hopes of promoting inclusion, showing how it's done and gaining donations to Helen & Noah's Big Adventure. It would be the most I'd hauled at 104 pounds. The trailer is 32lbs, P.J. weighs 72lbs.

I was scared sh*tless. My training leading up to this had been with a max of 45lbs. There were a few rides where I was climbing when I was like, "How in the HELL am I going to do this with even more weight. I'm going to embarrass myself in front of a group of people who are there to support us."

So, I took a logical approach in the weeks, days and hours leading up to this training ride: I didn't think about it. If it came across my mind, I'd dismiss it. No over-thinking. 

Cut to ride day. It was windy and it threatened of rain. REALLY, Colorado?! I wasn't so worried about the rain because it never does it for long if at all. The wind, though, yeah. No thanks. I'm 6'1" and become a sail when it gets windy. Add a trailer behind me and....we become a massive wall.

We had a good group of people show up. Both friends and a few customers and people who heard about what we were doing via Facebook (thanks social media!). Before I knew it, we were out on the road. The sensation of pulling that much weight combined with the wind was pretty interesting. The plan was to go up some switchbacks on bike path. The mile leading up to it was when I hit the wall questioning both my ability and my sanity. But, I'm no quitter, so up we went and, to my pleasant surprise, we went faster than 2 MPH and was even able to smile.



We did just over 16 miles in about an hour and a half. Not too shabby for a hauling 104 lbs.

There was a profound sense of accomplishment. I finished our ride confident that August isn't just happening, but it's doable. It will be hard, but it will be doable.

This whole process has been eye opening on so many levels. More importantly, though, this experience has given me a network here in Colorado. I have friends here. Supporters. People who get it, who get ME and who have encouraged me to continue on. I'm adding to my people. And I LOVE my people...

Thank you, P.J., for being a fantastic training partner and buddy. 





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye.

 “I don’t know if I should congratulate you or console you.” - Craig “How about both?” - Me This was a conversation in our kitchen earlier this week. After a year and a half of weekly therapy, I had my last session with my therapist Tuesday. Not because I was over it or because it wasn’t working or because he retired. Nope. Because we got to a place where we could both say I’ve got the tools I need to move on. I have to say that there is no timeline for therapy and every situation is unique. I moved on from intensive therapy with my therapist because that it was worked for ME. I am certainly no expert and I have a feeling this isn’t the end of my therapy forever, but I do know that my experience with the right person allowed me to heal in ways I literally never thought possible. And it gave me the experience of a healthy “goodbye”. I was never prepared for that, so when we set an end date (not-so-coincidentally my Nanna’s birthday), it was hard to process. No one talks about

November 19th

There's apparently something about November 19th and changes in my life... 2 years ago: moving out of the ex's house 1 year ago: announcing that I was making the big move to beautiful Colorado Today: planning my next big adventure! After 2 years of major life changes and constant adjustment, I'm finally feeling like a settled human being. So, I've decided that 2018 is going to be the year I push myself physically and mentally. 2 half marathons are on the schedule along with the most exciting part: a multi day bike adventure with an assisted athlete here in Colorado in support of The Kyle Pease Foundation !!  I've learned enough about myself that I will not agree to push myself hard physically for any length of time unless there is another person who is behind the WHY. Doing this in partnership with another athlete who necessarily wouldn't be able to otherwise, is enough to get my ass off my couch and get it done! Details are still being worke

Daughter.

When you're estranged from not one, but basically both parents, the heaviness of that can still be palpable. Most days, most weeks, and months even, it's fine. I've learned to navigate questions like, "Where do your parents live?" or the weird feeling in my gut when someone says, "Oh, my mom sent me this from this favorite place of mine." I've learned how to adjust to Mother's and Father's Days by staying off of social media and doing something that makes me happy like getting out into nature. Some of these times are better than others. Here's the thing: whether or not the choice to go no contact with the two people who were supposed to show you all the basis of love was good or not, is incredibly difficult. Because social media is what it is, yesterday was apparently "International Daughters Day". It didn't bother me so much yesterday, but this morning wasn't off to a great start and for some reason, I felt agitated. I