My friend Marie commuted from home (~40 minutes away) last year, so even though we both knew that we loved biking and running, we didn't really start doing either together until she moved here in May (with a few exceptions).

Yesterday we popped my bike in my trunk, and Marie's bike on my roof rack and drove 15 minutes away into Illinois. I had passed this lake once when I was riding after church. We revisited Horseshoe Lake and rode around it. We rode 20 high quality miles, at a pretty quick clip. Mentally and physically, I'm on the up and up. Mental grit makes such a difference when it comes to physical functioning. I am someone who is capable of completely detaching myself from thoughts of doing any less than 195% in everything. That was me in track, and throughout my years of running in college. I would push myself to my absolute max every workout, every rep that was supposed to be hard/all out. It was all in the mental outlook.

This year I enjoyed being a softy for a little bit, but two weeks ago, I decided it was time to snap out of it. It's nice to know that Joyce who competes to reach the best that's in me on a given day is still there. I like intensity and toughness. I like exceeding expectations (hehehe...just ask anyone in my cognition class, who witnessed me solve a math problem on the board that a teacher told me was "way too difficult, you're not going to get it and she was just using it so the class could practice a cuing technique, since they had the answer"--I solved it in two ways...neither was her way --aka I went rogue:) And that often comes when running to your max, and if it doesn't, well, you couldn't have asked anything more of yourself anyways, so just be happy!

Good health is a blessing, and I know it. And I know that if I could stage a comeback in high school, I certainly can now. This is completely doable. It feels so good to move closer to your limit, to test boundaries, and then to defy them. To have guts everywhere, all over the track. It feels good knowing that I will never have to wonder what I could have achieved if I had worked harder.

I'm a fan of balance, too, so the easy workouts I do easy (that's part of the whole gig). I spend time at parties, and I spend time reading books. I spend a good portion of life laughing. I work hard and I rest hard. It's just been a good two weeks of running. And a great time riding/chatting with Marie. It's so nice to have that extra-incentive to grab my bike and go outside.

I'm so lucky to have all sorts of good friends in my life! And I'm so, so lucky to be able to have this time to run and bike (and then eat as much as I want:). Air. Air. Air. Wind. Life.