Words, Music, & Outdoor Adventures

I’m reading Truth and Beauty, a memoir about the friendship of two writers. “That is one thing that I’ve learned, that it is possible to really understand things at certain points, and not be able to retain them. To be in utter confusion just a short while later. I used to think that once you really knew a thing, its truth would shine on forever. Now it’s pretty obvious to me that more often than not the batteries fade, and sometimes what you knew even goes out with a bang when you try and call on it.”*

Triathlon is Arbitrary, and Not Even Imaginatively Arbitrary.* Triathlon is silly because it takes three random events, pins them together, and calls them a different event.* Why three events? Why not five? Or eleven? And why always the same three events, always in the same order? If you absolutely must cram multiple events together, why not get creative about it, from time to time? Here are some suggestions:**

*

• Bike, football, poker*
  *

• Bike, horseshoes, log-rolling*
  *

• Bike, snowshoe, line-dancing*
  *

• Road bike, mountain bike, velodrome, cyclocross (as I type this, I suddenly realize this would actually be a really interesting event)*
  *

• Bike, nail-driving, yodeling*
  *

A Heartfelt Plea Triathletes, please. Stop it. The rest of the cycling world would happily welcome you into our arms if youill only join us. Weill teach you how to draft. Weill teach you how to pedal circles. Weill teach you how to ride a bike thatis both comfortable and efficient. Just admit you have a problem. Weill do the rest.
Sincerely,* The Fat Cyclist**

**

I love running to this song. I’ve strategically placed it in the play list*at about the 20 minute mark*when I need a pick me up.
{*}*The words between these brackets are what I thought the lyrics were when I hear the song and I like them better. *

This ain’t a song for the broken-hearted
A silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain’t gonna be just a face in the crowd
You’re gonna hear my voice
When I shout it out loud

It’s my life
It’s now or never
I ain’t gonna live forever
I just want to live while I’m alive
{I just want to live where I’m alive}
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just wanna live while I’m alive
It’s my life

Type A personality - A temperament marked by excessive competitiveness and ambition, an obsession with accomplishing tasks quickly, little time for self-reflection, and a strong need to control situations. May deny emotion or not know they have any. Need to be on time, they need to avoid running out of time, they need to have a watch or clock handy so they can measure time, they invest time, measure the value of time spent and time left available.

I have become Type A! I used to be Type B.

Type B personality -* The type B personality is relaxed, uncompetitive, and inclined to self-analysis. B person is patient, noncompetitive, relaxed and is considered to be less hurried and friendlier than a type A person. Can cope with stress effectively by controlling their anger.*Are believed to be creative, imaginative and philosophical.

A boy told me
if he roller-skated fast enough
his loneliness couldn’t catch up to him,

the best reason I ever heard
for trying to be a champion.

What I wonder tonight
pedaling hard down King William Street
is if it translates to bicycles.

A victory! To leave your loneliness
panting behind you on some street corner
while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,
pink petals that have never felt loneliness,
no matter how slowly they fell.

From trifuel.com: When I run my nemesis is inside of me - all around me, it takes the shape of missed opportunities, and the fear of becoming what I dare to be. It speaks in thundercloud growls and threatens to wash me away, but I lift my eyes to the sky and cry, iI will not be moved, I will not break. Not by you, and not today!i Yes, I need a nemesis - something with which to play these superhero games.

I need little wars and epic incidental, incremental accomplishments like choosing Cheerios over a cheese danish. I need to don armor and unsheathe a sword at the ominous, fire-breathing red numbers that glow in the distance upon my dresser at 3:30 a.m. everyday. I need to be a conqueror n a liberator of my potential, kept prisoner all these years.

I am on a quest, a journey, and I have defeated so many nemeses along the way. Keep them coming, for then I can see the good Iive done, and there can be no disputing who I am, or what Iive yet to become.