Don't have a heart attack, I'm back!!

Hello everyone!! Everyone has been asking me to start blogging again, so here I am. Part of the reason I haven't been blogging is because I have been insanely busy since getting back from camp, but to be perfectly honest that is not the only reason. I have had a setback since getting back from camp. I have basically stayed the same weight since getting home without losing any. I have been up and down a few pounds since getting home. I have been getting to the gym, but not as regularly as I had hoped and my eating has been a little off since getting home. Part of this has to do with the busyness in my life, new job, kids back to school and AWANA starting, but those were starting to become excuses. This past week and this morning I got the excitement back that I have been missing.

This past Thursday I decided to do a little shopping for a bike for my Triathlon, which I am still planning on doing. I was just going to look and price things. I went to one shop where the Manager, a lady, was not that friendly, not that helpful and when I told her what I was looking for in a bike made a comment that kinda hurt my feelings. When you do a Triathlon normally you would want a ROAD bike. That's a bike that you would only take on the road and not on any trails. If I wanted to ride on any of the trails around here I would need a second bike because you could ruin the tires on your ROAD bike. That sounded like a lot of money and space in my garage. I did my research and found out that their are HYBRID bikes that are made for going on trails or the road.

I told the lady that I wanted a bike that I could use in a Triathlon and also that I could ride on the trails and she said, "Why do you want a hybrid that's what an old couple rides around their subdivision. You want a road bike." I asked her what if I want to ride on the trails and she said to buy a second bike. I was asking her about cycling shoes and she got someone else to help me. (These are cool shoes. They click into your pedals so you are locked into your bike and use more of your leg power and have a better ride. I am a little afraid to click into a bike. I envision myself clicking in and falling right over. The shoes ended up being more than I could afford for now.) I also asked her to fit me for a bike, so I could know what size frame I should be buying. I told her I wanted to be sized, but not buy a bike today. She got really huffy and said, "If your thinking of buying used good luck. You never know what you are going to get." I explained to her that I was new to the sport and not sure if I was ever going to do another Triathlon, so I wasn't sure what route I was going to go and just wanted to know what size frame I needed. She eyeballed me and said a 17 1/2. There is actually a device that is used to measure what size you are, but I never even saw that. She told me if I bought a bike they would size me. The guy that helped me with looking and trying on shoes was very helpful, but I had already decided to take my business elsewhere. I feel that if I was thinner I would have gotten better help.

I went to another bike store and the gentleman was very helpful. I told him how I was treated at the other store and he knew exactly where I had gone. He says she loses a lot of customers and also employees. Some of her employees have come to work for him. I explained to him that I was doing my first triathlon and wanted a bike that I could do my Triathlon with and still ride on the trails with my family because I couldn't afford a road bike and a second bike. He told me that he had the perfect bike for me. It is a hybrid, but it is made more like a ROAD bike. It was awesome. It is a 2005 bike and they are making room for their 2006 line, so I got $100 off and I'm making payments, so I will physically have my bike by Oct. 20th. I'll still have time to ride before it gets too cold. Also, his store carried some NIKE biking shirts that fit, which is very exciting because it is hard to find workout clothes in my size. Here is a link to check out my new bike. I'm so excited. http://www2.trekbikes.com/en/Bikes/City_Bike_Path/Hybrid/FX/7500_FX_S/index.php

The next bit of encouragement came this morning. I had just finished my 1 hour 1/2 spinning class. For those of you who might not know a spinning class is like an aerobics class, but on a stationary bike. I didn't spin around in circles for an hour and a half. I told Jeff, my instructor about my bike and he encouraged me to get the shoes you clip into the pedals. I told him I couldn't afford them for now because of the bike. What's cool is I can clip these shoes into the spinning bike during the winter and get used to riding with them and then transition to using thme on my bike in the spring. Sorry, back to the point. . .

I've been part of a contest at the gym for losing weight and was ready to quit today. This guy I know that works at the gym told me not to quit, but come weigh-in and see how I did. It didn't go well and I got upset. I was even crying. I told him I couldn't be a slave to the scale anymore and needed to drop out. At this point my spinning instructor walked in and was very encouraging. He told me not to drop out, but to weigh-in tomorrow and to weigh-in before I work out and gave me great advice. He also told me to keep me motivated he would buy me my clip in shoes this week as long as I came to the gym tomorrow and Monday. I tried to tell him NO, but he told me his wife wouldn't care and he had the money and he wanted to do it. He told me that he knows how motivated I am and how far I've come. He said he doesn't want me to lose my momentum. Then I started crying from gratitude. These two guys are going to probably run the other direction when they see me coming next time. :-) This is the boost I needed in my morale. I'm pumped up again and ready to go.

Next step is swimming lessons. I will be signing up for those soon and will keep you posted. Well, it feels good to be blogging again. Thanks for your patience and understanding. It was hard for me to be so honest on here today, but knew that I had to be to get going again.

Blog more later,
Melissa