My Latest Love Affair: My Bike

I've lived in the city for five years now (...and didn't realize until now that it had been that long. Wow.), and had a bike for chunks of time throughout. I never really rode my bike, though. Part of it was being terrified of urban riding. After all, buses are big, and could easily flatten my bike with me on it. The other big factor was that I really enjoy walking in the city. Over the last year and a half, though, life has been nudging me toward my bike without my knowing.

The fun part is that I'm not nearly as scared as I used to be. Not just about biking, but about life. I've learned that I'm one tough [gluten-free] cookie, much to my surprise, and a little risk can actually be fun. (My big brother figured this out at a much, much younger age.) The not fun part is that I got a pretty nasty stress fracture in my foot a little while ago and was forbidden from walking to work. "What? It's only two miles each way! Aren't you supposed to get 10,000 - 12,000 steps a day? Come on. I can walk it." My uncle/doctor disagreed, and, I have to say, the man knows a thing or two about stress fractures. So I listened.

I didn't have my bike downtown at the time, but my brother-in-law came to the rescue and lent me his old, beat up mountain bike. It's Barney purple, the seat slides down, the handlebars are ridiculously low, and the tires are about three times thicker than all the swanky road bikes that cruise past me. It's perfect. One slick blue bike helmet and one heavy duty bike lock later, and I was all set.

My commute to work is a breeze, especially now that I've worked out the best route. My apartment no longer feels so isolated because I can be halfway across town in fifteen minutes, tops. I've got my blood pumping and limbs moving by the time I get work. (This is huge, especially in my new caffeine free state.) I can feel my leg muscles toning up. I'm more likely to say yes to plans now, because getting around is such a breeze -- no trying to time mass transit, no paying for a cab, no taking forever walking over there. And, I have to admit, I feel just a little bit cool with my messenger bag on and my U-lock tucked in the back of my jeans.

But wait -- it gets better. I need to have clear goals to accomplish anything, and this turn of events has helped me settle on my next fitness goal. Last fall I ran my first race, a 5k. Here's the proof:
When I finished the race, I was shocked at how good I felt and how much fun I had. I was looking forward to training for it again this year when I found out about the stress fracture. Instead, I had to come up with Plan B.

A triathlon. Nothing crazy. I'm going to look for a little puny triathlon, and all I need to do is finish. I'm taking this stress fracture as an opportunity to work on the biking and the swimming, and when my foot is good and healed, then I'll add the running back in. The biggest challenge for me is going to be the swimming -- I can get form point A to point B, but I can't do it gracefully or quickly -- but what a great excuse to finally learn to swim well. Plus, I figure it'll snap any bathing suit anxiety right out of me. After all, it feels a little silly to worry about how I look in my workout gear when I've got a race to train for.

So there you have it. Fractured foot + newfound love of biking + inability to swim well = perfect storm for training for a triathlon. Pointers, encouragement, and company for my workouts would all be greatly appreciated.