The Power of Just Do It.

This morning was like every other morning. My body wakes up around 4:00AM while my mind is still asleep. I was supposed to ride my mountain bike at 6:00AM before going to the gym for my crossfit workout but, the weather had other plans. I struggled on what to do, should I clean the house?, organize my messy closet, clean the bikes or just ride in the rain. Since I can’t keep track of time; due to a mountain bike accident few years ago; it seem that the time to head to the gym flew by. My trainer killed me, as usual, and then I was supposed to do my cardio workout, bike or not bike. run or not run. I drove to the trail and only a few cars were brave enough to be there. It was sprinkling and i had only slept 5 hours. I sat in the car for few minutes (I think..) and noticed that the train was stopped there too. There was a man in the drivers seat and another man outside the train checking the exterior . And the rain continued falling. I sat in my car watching them as they were working. It was very early morning but they seemed to have been working for hours, or days!

As I took a deep breath, I opened the door of my 4Runner (Just like we as cyclists talk about our bikes, we 4Runner’ owners have to talk about our cars); pressed the “start” button of my Garmin watch and proceeded to run on the Tweetsie Trail. As I passed the train, i greeted them with my usual Good morning with huge smile like I don’t care that the drizzling is now a storm, well not that bad just yet but it felt that way in my tired cold body. I consoled myself by thinking about my great grandfather (Actually, my hubby’s grandfather). George Williams, he was once a conductor for the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Train (Or The Tweetsie). He started as the “water boy” around the 1910’s and worked his way up to be a conductor until he retired in 1945, then Tweetsie was retired in 1950. The existence of his whole family depended on the railroad. He worked very long hours for days, 16-18 hours a day. How did he do it?
I sometimes think that they didn’t have a choice. They had families, they needed to provide for and they just did it.
I feel my socks getting wet, my plan was running six easy miles; I looked at my watch and I am at .8 of a mile and now feeling hungry. I have had a protein shake at 6:30AM for breakfast with my coffee but that was long burned off by the time I finished Crossfit. I kept running on what now was puddles of water, i wanted to just head back to the car but I knew that if I did I wasn’t going to have another chance to run today. I kept pressing on, now completely soaked, one foot after the other one. I passed some ladies that were taking covered under a bridge and one said to me: “can you believe this? it sucks!” she said. Then I smiled really big and said, “at least it’s not hot!”
They laughed, I could tell they were “menopauseic” women just like me. Then while thinking about my great grandfather working for about 35 years, 7 days a week and all day, I press on to the finish line of the Tweetise Trail. In case you don’t know where the finish line of the trail is, it is where there are two big stone columns on the side of the trail holding a big metal arch with a sign that says “liarT eisteewT”. #justdoit