Outdoor Adventure #1 for 2010!

So my friend, Liana, and I were planning to go for a bike ride on Saturday. I was just thinking a nice little one along the Jordan Parkway. Or in the neighborhoods. But noooo, that is not what Liana had in mind. Saturday at noon she says "Let's ride to Antelope Island!"... uh.... dead air. :) She tells me she'll research it and call me back. For those of you not from UT, Antelope island is on the Great Salt Lake. There is a cause way that goes out there and then you can ride around on the island. There are lots of Antelope (hence the name) and buffalo out there. Very fun! Anyway... she calls me back and tells me it's 7 miles to the island, but it's completely flat. And I think to myself, "It's flat, how hard can it be?" so I say yes. Mike's physical therapist told him to exercise, so he decided to come along since it was flat. So we got our stuff together, and headed out.

This is from the island looking back at the valley.

The water from the cause way.

Liana, isn't she a doll?

Yep, that's my hubby!

Well I did pretty good on the way out. I plugged in my current audio book (If you need a good series to read check it out! The Summoning, The Awakening, and The Reckoning. SOO good! It's a teen read, yes, I like them best! Guess I'll never grown up! :D) and away we went. The hardest part was the smell, and my butt. The smell out there is AWFUL in some parts!! Think sewer! YUCK!! But once you get to the part where there is actually water, it gets a little better. The other problem being my butt... on a bicycle seat... a small bicycle seat.... for the first time in two years!! Yes, that's right, this was my first ride in two years. I guess if I'm going to go, go big! :D So I was doing pretty good until we hit about mile 5, and I started getting really tired, out of breath, my butt was KILLING me, and my thighs were burning. Mike asked if I wanted to turn around, and I thought "NO. This is the time to really dig deep and find it within myself to do this". So we kept going! I changed from my book to my "motivated" songs and I was off!

My cheesy "I did it" self-taken picture at the end of the cause way!

Some pictures taken along the way...

Once we got to the end of the cause way, then we decided to go to the visitor center.

These are the antelope we saw on Antelope island!

It was another mile UP HILL!! I did it... most of the way. At the very end my hip flexor started to spasm, so I got down and walked to the top. This part was really hard, not because of the hill, although that was TOUGH, but because of the bugs! I sun burn really easy, so I had put sun screen on, but I forgot the bug spray. They were eating my face off, it was so annoying and painful. When we got to the Visitor Center, we bought bug spray and that was much better.

Some pictures at the Visitor Center....

Well... it was time to head back, and it was downhill from there... sorta. :) The ride back to the cause way was easy. And the cause way had a very slight incline, so now we were going down (a very slight) hill. Mike was a real trooper because we put him in charge of the camera. I wanted proof that we had gone that far, so he took pictures of each mile marker.

Haha, this is what you get when you put a man in charge of the camera, pictures of your butt! :)-

We did it!

As you know, I've really struggled this last month with my belief in myself. I've doubted my abilities, I've challenged my thoughts, I fought off depression, etc. It was a really rough month on top of other things going on. As I rode the last few feet to the car, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of power and gratitude. In that moment I knew that I could (and can) do hard things. I knew that if I put my mind to something, I can accomplish it. I knew that if I really dive in and work hard, I can lose this 100lbs. It may be that it doesn't all come off in 2010, but I am going to do my part in getting there!! It was a GREAT day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Liana for the idea!! At the end of the ride, we had ridden just over 16 miles. Whew!!!