“Challenge is the core and the mainspring of all human activity. If there’s an ocean, we cross it; if there’s a disease, we cure it; if there’s a wrong, we right it; if there’s a record, we break it; and finally, if there’s a mountain, we climb it.” — James Ramsey

On August 18 I will embark on a very challenging yet rewarding two-day 200+Km ride–The Ride to Conquer Cancer, which winds through the Canadian Rockies (lots and lots of hills) in southern Alberta.  I signed up for the Ride in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2018 and 5 times out of 5 I made it to the start line.  However, in 2013 something had come up and I needed to stay home and deal with it, which, in a sense, was a blessing in disguise because my mom called early Sunday morning to let me know dad had passed…but I digress…

To even get to the start line of this riding endeavor, all riders are encouraged and required to raise a minimum of $2,500 toward cancer research and its programs, which sometimes is much more difficult than training for the Ride. Of those 5 years, I finished only once…but I finished!!! I felt so strong and determined that year…even though it rained the entire duration of the Ride…OK, I lied, the sun came out 30 minutes before I finished on Day 2. I think it helped tremendously that I went to a cardio kickboxing class 3 times a week throughout the winter; I think I even did an 8-week bootcamp earlier that year…lots of hard work between kickboxing and bootcamp. Kickboxing is an awesome workout which I’m sure all of you know consists of 60 minutes of cardio, strength, core and agility…I really need to go back. (Stop procrastinating your life, Maria, and just do it. I will. I will…after the Ride in August. Gosh, Maria, you’re so pushy. lol)

My training for the 2012 Ride (the year I finished) consisted of cycling to/from my kickboxing class 2 times a week, attending kickboxing classes and then doing 25-50 Kms rides on the weekends in the river valley…there are some excellent hills for training there. I just wish the city would finish all the construction already so I can go the whole length of the trail system. 🙂

One thing I realized doing these Rides is that I can actually do them…if my mind and body are truly in it. Thank God I didn’t stop in 2012 because if you heard the internal and sometimes external dialogue I had with myself the entire Ride, I would have quit a thousand times. It literally felt like I had a devil and an angel on my shoulders telling me to quit or to keep going. My mind knew my body could handle it, but my mind also tested me every single step of the way. Funnily enough, I was not sore at all throughout the Ride and the days following. I guess I truly was fit…I need to get back to that state of mind and body.

I still remember a trainer of mine, and now good friend, had told me, “Once an athlete, always an athlete.”  She was and is right.  I have always been active…well, some months/years not as much, but it’s funny how after a few weeks, my body bounces back. Yeah I’m extremely sore for those few weeks, but then the body gets somewhat used to it and actually craves being and staying active. (I fell off the wagon after my dad died, but that’s a story for another time.) We were never designed to be sedentary. When I read or hear people saying they run but they loathe running, I think to myself, “then why the hell are your running?”. Find something that truly gets your motor running and you enjoy doing. Find your activity and just do it!

I am 50 lbs. heavier than that 2012 Ride and 6 years older and not in as great of shape (well round is a shape, right?), but I know that if I break it down to 20-30 Km manageable “days” in my mind and take those necessary and welcome pits stops, I can and I will finish this year. (Kinda have to now since I wrote this post. haha). I’m sure hoping I don’t have a mini meltdown again on Day 1 halfway through it.

So, what am I trying to say in this long-winded, roundabout post? Find that challenge that’s going to motivate you, push you, energize you and just do it. When you take on that next challenge, the next big thing, you will thank yourself when it’s all said and done!

Now, Maria, get your arse out the door and on a training ride. You know you need it!!! 🙂