I'd Like to Say I Am A Fitness Buff...

but mostly it's the cows.

Meet my new animal friends, who posed so nicely for my cell phone camera a couple days ago.

I learned a very interesting thing recently when I read The Gifted Adult.  All these years of wondering why a woman with two black belts and years of participating in one sport after another can't seem to stick with any physical discipline anymore have now reached a conclusion.

I really just like to check things out.

The truth is, I live in service to my brain.  I'll move my body, a lot, if it makes my brain happy. It has nothing at all to do with fitness. I don't think it ever has and I don't think it ever will. This is why all my past attempts at disciplined exercise have failed when I have tried to commit to routines. And that is how with absolutely no thought of cultivating better health or a superfine bod, I was able to bike forty miles yesterday after an entire summer of sitting on my tush. 

I was fueled by curiosity.

In the space of twenty miles along the Illinois Prairie Path and the Fox River Trail, I pass wetlands, an equestrian event center, a cement manufacturing plant, these cows, a riverboat casino, an outdoor festival area with adjacent waterpark, long undeveloped sections of river that you can only see from the bike trail, lovely Victorian homes in quaint neighborhoods, snakes, kingfishers, deer, miles and miles of woodland.

I even discovered, much to my amazement, that the place I feared the most along the trail, the town of Elgin, was not the gang infested, industrial wasteland Mad Max scenario that the white people in my head had led me to believe about this largely Hispanic community. It is just lovely. The loveliest stretch of developed land on the trail in fact. They have a big cultural center/theatre right on the river (Erin, Gaelic Storm is going to be there, and Ralphie says hi) and the stunning prairie-style library overlooking the water pictured here. Made me wonder what else fear was keeping me from discovering. (Ah, a fine question for my brain...ahhhh...yummy)

And speaking of yummy, just when I was considering turning around I spied a Dairy Queen where I stopped for a small chocolate dipped cone and totally got chatted up by a six year old who was explaining stunt bikes to me and how now that he has his training wheels off riding his bike is waaay funner and that he lost his two front teeth when he was 5, not 6 and that yesterday was his 12th day of first grade and the words they are giving him to read are too easy. I hope that boy comes out of his shell some day...

So now that I know the truth, that I am a brainiac who gets to see really cool stuff while engaged in self-propelled locomotion, I have been seeing without question over the last two weeks that any whining I want to do about muscle soreness or fatigue goes out the window as soon as I round a bend and...

Oh! Cows!!

The next thing you know I'm 20 miles from home with only one way to get back.

Comments

[Kristie]

DQ - it now explains why on my way home yesterday I suddenly started salivating for a soft custard cone. My brain was racing to track onto a GPS running and waiting for Ms. Garmin to light the way for me. Unfortunately, while I'm scanning potential towns in my own mind that may house a fountain of creamy de-LIGHT, I passed by a real DQ but was in the wrong lane to turn in! I never did get my cone, but I'm glad you got yours and after all that biking you did, the calories wouldn't even count. Next time I have an urge for something, I think I'll ask myself, "Is this something I desire, or is it Laura's thought?" :-)

Sounds like you had a fun day and I love the pictures! Cows remind me of yin/yang........and in one dream book says - symbol of Divine Mother's unending source of spiritual milk or food......that could also be an ice-cream cone in the physical world!

[Laura Young]

Oh sweetheart, you have no idea what this comment just did for me. Okay, I'm off to go check on my lovely ladies...

[Di]

I could so relate and had never thought of that as my reason for failing to stick at those things.

I consider exercise a waste of time if I'm not strolling past Ottoman palaces or walking along NZ beaches ... there has to be something there for the mind and so far, Antwerp hasn't given me too many reasons to go out and exercise and still find things that stimulate my mind ... and quite frankly, I need that.

[Kate]

Wow, cows - and with earrings, too. Tres chic. and a wonderful post.
still love you.

[Laura Young]

Right on, Di. Figuring that out just is making such a difference for me. And Kate, oh so nice to see you here. Love you, too.

[Cindy]

I was in a DQ a few days ago for the first time in years. In Texas, we said that a town wasn't really a town with out the DQ Stop Sign! But, I drove, downed a yummy Hawaiian Blizzard with the Kiddos and headed back home. It's definitely time for that walk. Thank you for contributing your article to Fitness for Moms Blog Carnival.

[attract more money]

I found your post really interesting and it has really improved my knowledge on the matter. You’ve assisted my understanding on what is usually a hard to tackle subject. Thank you!