The virtue of good pudding

I wrote to my coach, Kele, that I've returned from the other side of the world and that - not too surprisingly - I got my ass kicked on our team ride up Squak Mnt outside of Issaquah and around Lake Sammamish yesterday. Besides my ass not being on friendly terms with my Brooks, my legs had no muscle to push or pull the cranks around the hilly route. It took an enormous amount of fortitude to keep up with these chicks who have been training like mad the past 5 weeks. I finished with the team, but my body let me know how unhappy it was with me by relegating me to the couch for the rest of the day.

What Kele wrote back was music to my ears, "Yea, don't sweat the team ride...and don't push it too much....gradually build, my child, GRADUALLY!! I'm sounding the "Take it easy" alarm....REST and build..."

I was worried that I'd get a "Well what did you expect being gone for 5 weeks?" but she gave me the perfect mix of encouragement and humour. I know I'll get my legs back in a few weeks and will be able to rock that route with the other girls and then some.

But for now I took her words of rest to heart and celebrated with mass amounts of Belgian chocolate pudding that made the day even brighter. Hey it's only January....