How I Overcame Lazy This Week: I Got Away From It All



Not the roughest trail, but tough enough for me!



I have taken my bicycle off-roading twice now.  It is a new obsession for me.  I love it!  I blogged recently about the value of stepping out of the box and trying new things as I did with Zumba and now trail biking.  Well, while I’m not exactly a Zumba convert, I’m certainly a new trail biking aficionado.  I definitely plan on incorporating this into my fitness repertoire!

In the past, I’ve been too intimidated by the difficulty of mountain biking to try it.  Well, that and I didn’t have a bike until a year ago.  Plus, frankly, I’m a total scardey-cat: crashes, lack of control, SPEED!  Yikes! 

Yes, for me, it is tough.  It is scary.  But the exhilaration of it all far outweighs any of that, making it addictively invigorating!

When K and I stopped for water breaks on this last outing, I would gaze back at the suburban neighborhood we’d just biked away from and I enjoyed watching the houses get smaller and smaller with each subsequent stop.  We also had a good, albeit distant, view of the Las Vegas Strip and it struck me how nice it was to be away from civilization. 



Yes, that's the Strip behind me...
Far, far away.



While I enjoy working out with others, I also cherish the opportunity to be able to separate myself and revel in the solitude of my own thoughts and feelings.  As I get away from it all, sure – I mull over some of the current stressors in my life, but I find my thoughts quickly shifting to reflect on my blessings and how good life really is.  It’s hard to be anything but positive while doing invigorating activities in such vitalizing surroundings.  I also find my thoughts becoming more ambitious as I invent and then resolve to incorporate new methods to make life even better!  I usually return from these outings ready to take the world ON!

We recently took the girls on a “staycation” to the Golden Nugget here in town for a night so we could play in their pool and swim with the sharks.  As we drove through the garish, neon-flooded downtown area toward the hotel, R – my 5 year old - asked, “Are we still in Las Vegas?”

We laughed as we answered her, “Most people would consider this the heart of Las Vegas.” 

But we know better.

Get away from it all occasionally.  Exercise isn’t always something you have to sweatily slog through as you ceaselessly watch the clock.  Look forward to it as your “me” time and see if you can solve a few world problems while you’re at it!