Bear Lake Ride

Today I had an incredible experience! I rode around Bear Lake. To me, that sounds pretty awesome! I rode about 50 miles in just over 4 hours......3:30 hours was the riding time! Just a break down of how the ride went for me and some of the feelings I felt during the ride. First off, I was riding with some amazing women who do races all the time and are just good at riding. There was another group of ladies who left about an hour before we did and I decided that I wanted to challenge myself  and ride with the "faster" ladies. We started on the Utah southeast side. We went around counterclockwise to get the hills over with at the beginning. I fully supported this idea and was glad we got them over with. The first little while I was keeping up until we got to the more steep hills. As the distance grew between my and my more experienced friends, I thought to myself, "Oh man, what have I done. I am getting further and further behind and I should have gone with the other group." My knee was hurting a little and my bum was holding on pretty good with my new biking shorts. I was able to catch up every little pit stop they made for a drink or snack....but I'm pretty sure they were just waiting for me so I wouldn't get too far behind. I let them know they didn't need to wait for me, but were so nice anyway!

So when I started feeling my knee hurting and the feelings of being slow....I decided to change my pace and since nobody was around, I was really comfortable yelling things like, "Shayna you are amazing, you can do this, your body is strong and you will finish this adventure." Many other things came to mind and I was singing uplifting songs to not focus on the "bad" things that I was feeling. For me, it really helped. I even changed the phrases to, "You can do this," to "You ARE doing this." After time, I stopped worrying about how far behind I was getting and was focused on my own journey. Probably from mile 20-30 my legs were screaming and I had a difficult time. I went back to singing my songs and saying my words of affirmations. It was sprinkling off and on with rain up to this point...nothing too terrible. All I could do was to just keep pedaling........but I was really singing, "Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming!" Naturally right because I am a swimmer, I couldn't help it. We stopped at a store around mile 30 to take a break. At this point I was pretty wet and my glasses (which broke a few days earlier and were being held together by tape) were making it difficult to see. My helmet was a little too big so between that and my glasses I felt I had to jerk my head up pretty far to even see ahead of me. So at this store, I decided to ride the rest of the way with no glasses. That changed everything for me..... I was able to see so much better (maybe not at a distance, but as far as I needed too) and the last 20 miles I did not need to stop once for my legs. I felt great! And it was down pouring for most of the time. I had lost sight of everyone in front of me and everyone behind me. It was just me and my bike now! I was going to do this and I was determined to finish with pride. I lost all thought of where I was compared to everyone else and I just cruised along at my perfect pace for me. When I hit the turn for the last 2 miles I went as fast as my legs could pedal. I was freezing (even though I wasn't really feeling or focused on that) and soaked and my whole backside was covered in dirt. I rode into the driveway and was so excited to meet the other ladies who had finished.

Maybe to them this ride was something not out of the ordinary, but for ME this was an incredible experience! I learned so much about myself during this time. I remembered that I am a Daughter of God and I am blessed with amazing opportunities. I choose to only attract the best in my daily life, and I am so fortunate to have met these ladies who are all so funny and great to be around. I remembered that my body is capable of doing great things and I am excited that I will get to assist other people in remembering that for themselves. I also thought about my husband and kids! How I missed them, even if it was for a day. It was a nice time away for myself and I am grateful for my parents for taking them overnight so I knew they were being taken care of and loved. This ride made me think about how much more of a better mom I could be and want to be and get to be! Also the time I get to spend with James just makes me so happy and the ride reminded me how much I love him and I am excited for our future together with him and our beautiful kids! I really am so blessed! It is amazing how taking just 4 hours to ride around a lake can bring all this stuff to the surface for me! I am excited for all my future adventures.....one being this weekend doing my first triathlon! I am happy to be alive and healthy and have an amazing family and awesome friends! Thanks to everyone who supports me everyday!