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It was a love story and I laid in bed letting the angelic voice sweep me away. The clock read 5:06 am, I was half asleep . . . in a dream I never wanted to end.
The year’s first ride on Natchez Trace loomed and my body tingled as the woman on the radio professed her love for climbing trees. She painted a beautiful scene in nature and guided me in and out of bliss as the birds chirped outside my bedroom window.
My god it was beautiful.
After a perfect morning of making love, she was hiking in an oak grove with her boyfriend when they came upon an “impeccable” tree. She instinctively climbed while listening to his rambling joke. Then the morning turned on a dime with the unmistakeable sound of a cracking branch.
For a transcendent moment, she floated in lucid clarity while inspecting leaves and the color of the bark. Then, she fell to the ground, or as she described it, “the planet shot up and hit me.”
Her boyfriend came to her side and the first thing she said was, “Where are my legs?”
He said, “They’re right here, honey,” as he moved her hand to touch her own skin. She described it as the softest smoothest sensation she could imagine.
Then she said, “What is this?”
The color drained from her boyfriend’s face. At that moment, they knew.
She was instantly paralyzed from the waist down.
I can’t do her words justice, but they are hauntingly beautiful and include the next time she saw her boyfriend from a hospital bed. You can read or listen to the 9 minute story here.
It was all I could think of on my drive to the Trace. I was going to ride 56 miles and this woman couldn’t get out of bed. Life can change in an instant.
It really makes you think about what kind of opportunities we miss because we don’t think we’re ready. The stuff you think about all the time, but are afraid to try because some illusion is holding you back.
Last night a friend posted this one minute clip of a commencement address given by Jim Carrey. It’s inspired by his late father and centered on taking chances and doing what you love.
For me this has many implications, especially since I’m in my seventh or eighth mid-life crises.
I’ve taken 10 Days of Rest and it has rejuvenated my spirit. I have re-discovered two of my deepest passions, mountain biking and inline skating (okay, rollerblading) and they have reignited my desire to move. There are fewer places I feel more alive than on a mountain bike in the woods. Two simple rides in the last week have genuinely given me new clarity in life. And that simple departure from running onto roller blades has touched my legs and body in an almost shocking way.
When I started running, triathlon came to the rescue as a form of cross training that felt better for my body. It rounded out the running that I loved, but hurt on so many levels. Then triathlon began to hurt in a similar way. Over and over with the same set of muscles. My aging frame wanted flexibility, fluidity, life. So I will cross train my triathlon with mountain biking, roller blading and maybe even climbing trees, because this is no time to be afraid.
On August 24th, I will stand in the darkness with 2,000 others on the banks of the Ohio River as we await the cannon for Ironman Louisville. Life is too short to ignore opportunity.