I’ve been dragging this week. I haven’t been sick, but I haven’t felt myself either. I think the blahs I’m feeling are diet related (not as in weight loss but as in what I eat).  It’ll take me another week or so to test my theory. Those changes are not always for the better, however well intentioned they might be. So this morning, when my alarm went off early enough to get myself dressed and up to the north side of town to bike the 45 mile dam loop with my friend Fred, I made the decision to go back to sleep. No early morning bike ride for me, but would I ride at all today?

When I went back to sleep, I knew that meant I’d miss my planned ride. I also knew that I needed to be at my mom’s around 12:30, so sleeping in meant risking blowing the day as far as a ride goes. Less than a month before St. George, I can’t be blowing rides. I need the time in the saddle. But I also need to feel well, so I rested today. Mostly.

I read, finished my laundry, cleaned out my workout clothes drawer, lunched with the family, powered through some of the magazines that had piled up on my kitchen table, practiced the guitar, and at 5:00 p.m. this evening, decided to head out for a bit on my bike. I could have skipped the ride altogether, but I didn’t want to. I prefer to workout – even do a short workout over no workout at all. And I’m so glad I did.

I rode out my driveway onto the nearby Creek Road. It was only 18 miles total, an out and back on a country road. I saw very few cars, except at the baseball field near my turnaround, which is always packed. I did see two peacocks, some guys working on an automatic gate, and a big truck for a local party rental company. Otherwise, it was just me on my bike enjoying the cool air and the little bit of exertion that I could muster today.

Getting out on my bike today was a little victory. Sometimes little victories are enough.