Monday, June 12, 2006

I'm at my best when I play

Today was my "long ride home from work - heat training day" and while I was on my way home I kept looking at my brake pads thinking "I really need to get a new set of pads" just like I've been thinking for the past two weeks. Well, I went in to my favorite bike shop to pick up some pads and while I was in had then take a look at my chain and cassette because I've been having some gear slippage recently. While I was sitting around at the back of the shop one of the guys rolled in an old Schwin one speed and it had this huge headlight and attached to the rear of the bike was a little generator that flips over to press against the rear tire. Does anyone remember these?!

If you have ever seen one you will remember exactly what I'm talking about. My big brother had one of these on his steel frame Ross three speed bicycle. I used to borrow my brothers bike and take it out in the dark and ride as fast as I could because the faster you wnet the brighter the light became. I was awesome! This sight at the bike shop immediatly taransported me back to a time when the only thing I think I ever thought about while engaged in physical activity was just the sheer thrill of being active.

I have always been active in sports of all kinds whether I was any good or not. When I was in third or fourth grade I played basketball and I was very overweight as a kid. To make matters worse our uniforms were red and if you ask my Mom, Dad or Wife they will all confirm that I have a tendency to become red and sweaty during vigerous excercise. Anyhow, my Dad went to most if not all the games and much later in life he told me he loved it primarly because I would just run like crazy up and down the court red as a tomato with little indication that I knew what the hell was going on.

I still tend to do pretty much everything with gusto and I still get lost in play during the heat of competition. Perhaps I just don't reflect on that fact enough during training and need to spend more time reminding myself from whence my passion comes; play.

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