On my bike ride yesterday I saw my first batch of brown leaves on the road. Where the hell did summer go? I was passing by the town pool
, and realized I had only been there once this season. Fran was ‘down the shore’ for girls weekend, and I realized I hadn’t spent a single night in the beach house nor a single day on the Jersey Shore, playing in the waves. Where did the summer go?
Most of it went the way of IM training. Not a lot of time left to do summer stuff after a 6 hour bike or 3 hour run. Sandy repairs kept the beach house closed until very late in the season. And the pool? We just never ‘got ’round to it…’
So I had a bit of a downer moment when I realized my favorite season was coming to an end, and I missed out on some favorite activities.
But I realized that the missing out was a conscious choice to do OTHER things that I enjoyed. The routine of IM training, & racing, travelling to OBX with friends, a trip to Portland OR for an inspiring weekend of workshops and fun, and simply hanging out at home reading a book in the cool air conditioning. The trips to the beach house, while not spent on the beach accomplished a lot and provided a great deal of satisfaction.
Instead of whining about a ‘lost summer’ I’m choosing to reflect on the good stuff that happened and remembering that conscious choice played a big part in those happy times. In that positive mind set I can look forward to the seasons to come and some of the choices I’m making for that season. I’ve got an olympic triathlon in a few weeks with the Team NRGY Basebuilders group. I’ve got the NY Marathon in November, which is a MAJOR bucket-list race for me, and I can start taking Tula out with me on my runs again as the weather starts to cool off. I’ve also made a commitment for a long hike in the Adirondacks that will push me a good way out of my comfort zone.
The shorter days
, longer nights and long slog through winter aren’t my favorite parts of the year, and it could be easy to fall into sloth and depression with the waning daylight. But I’m going to choose to fill the time with fun activities and embrace each day as a new adventure.