Rocky start to the day but strong finish

This machine is an engineering marvel. I had my first cup of coffee before preparing my breakfast. As I was microwaving my food, I loaded the Kcup into the Keurig for a second cup. I added the flavor syrup to the coffee cup and pushed the button to brew the coffee. The microwave finished. I got the food and put it down on the bar next to my coffee cup which was empty. I was confused until I realized I had forgotten to put the cup in the Keurig, I turned expecting to find a mess on the counter. But there wasn’t. The drip chamber holds exactly one cup of coffee. I emptied the coffee into my cup and had my breakfast. In that moment when I found my empty cup, I went from being totally confused to being totally amazed.

It was a glorious day for bike riding today and unfortunately, I forgot to take my phone with me so I don’t have any pictures. I took the camera out of the back pouch in the jersey to put a couple of mandarins in for a snack and then forgot to put the phone back into the pouch. When I do things like this (2 in a row, no less), I wonder if it is too late to blame it on Covid.

I rode 27 miles with my friend Bruce and IT FELT GREAT. My longest ride this season and I was not that fatigued. We rode from North Bethesda into DC through Rock Creek Park; took a break on the Georgetown waterfront and rode back to Bethesda on the Capital Crescent Trail. On a Tuesday morning, the pedestrian traffic on the trails was light which made it a perfect ride.

After the ride I met up with 3 friends over the course of the afternoon. One of my meet ups was with KP, the young man who kept me entertained and training for 3 years. I started training in July 2017. I hoped strengthening muscles would help knee pain, that I could lose weight and I needed a reason to leave the office before 8 PM. From previous experience with a trainer 20 years earlier I knew if I paid ahead I would do it. I started out with 2 sessions per week, increased to 3 and then to 4 sessions per week after I committed to cycling 444 miles over 9 days to celebrate a friends 80th birthday the following fall (2018). KP now had a tangible fitness goal to get me ready for and ready I was.

While KP says I initially intimidated him, we quickly found a easy rapport that kept me coming back. While I got stronger and fitter and the knee pain improved, I didn’t lose weight. KP kept telling me I would have to change my eating to lose weight. I finally committed to weight loss in December of 2019 with a goal of losing 40#. I lost 20# before Covid and 20# during initial 3 months of Covid isolation. It was great to see KP today to tell him again how much joy and health he brought to my life and get my “atta girl” for keeping the weight off for almost a year.

My day ended with a massage by Heather who has magic in her fingers and elbows. While the day had a shaky start, the rest was awesome.