Hitting the Five-Mile Mark

The first day I sat on the stationary bike at the gym I thought to myself, “Imagine how cool it would be if I could ride five miles on this thing." And, I was serious ... that would be so cool!

So day after day, I went to the gym, and tried to hit that mark in 20 minutes. Obviously, if I gave myself ALL DAY I could reach five miles, but I wanted to do it in 20 minutes.

First, I started at level one … and I thought I was going to die!!! My legs burned, and my knees ached. But then a few days later, I was bored at level one and moved to level three. Then, a few days after that, I reached level five.

Within a couple of weeks, I felt comfortable playing around with the levels and went up to level 10 for a few minutes, before dropping back to level five, as though I were on a hill. I think the words that came out of my mouth were, “You have to be kidding!” The machine suddenly lost its free-spinning feel and felt more like a rock tied to my feet as I climbed that virtual level-10 hill. But even then … I didn’t get to five miles.

And then it happened. I decided to do the “random hill” setting for my 20-minute ride. I was not as surprised when the machine went into hill mode this time and managed to keep my words of dislike inside, so as to not disturb the other people in the gym. I put on my inspirational music, thought about the young women I know fighting breast cancer, and powered myself up those virtual hills … And guess what happened? I rode 7.25 miles in 20 minutes!!!

OH MY GOD!!! I think I even gasped out loud when I realized what I had accomplished.

Now, I know that 7.25 miles is a far cry from 200 miles, which is my goal, and I am on a stationary bike. But, hey, I am proud of myself … and that is worth celebrating.

The skinny cancer girl with no muscles … is getting the hang of this workout thing … WATCH OUT!!!