Realizations

Today was a FABULOUS day!!  I woke up incredibly early (3 am) and ran Dam to Dam (12.4 miles) and had a great run!!  It was a perfect day for running...relatively cool, mostly cloudy and I had a great amount of energy, which was surprising after last week's really hot race!!  When I came home, I did a bunch of work and then went for a bicycle ride with my husband.  This wasn't just any bicycle ride.  We took our cross bikes out on grass trails and gravel roads and had a BLAST!!

I had multiple realizations on this ride:
1.  I LOVE to ride my cross bike!!  I LOVE to experience new locations and new terrain.
2.  I LOVE the focus that off road riding requires.  You have to be mentally "on" with every move you make since the terrain is constantly changing.  On the flat open road it is much easier to lose focus. 
3.  I definitely need to work on my bike handling skills.  This was proven on the multiple climbs and descents since I had to use my brakes much more than I wanted to on the descents and I experienced lots of different terrains to maneuver on the ascents.  I need to work on the bike handling skills!!
4.  I LOVE exercising outside...I already knew this, but this ride only reaffirmed my feelings for exercising outside :)