I (Andrea) just discovered my new weakest link. Running is nothing now in comparison to biking. Or at least that is how I am feeling right now--5 minutes after hopping off my bike. It probably wasn't the best day for a bike ride...37 degrees, quite windy, light snow flurries, St. Patrick's Day parades, etc. But we thought that we should give our bikes a test drive so we'd know what the kinks were to have our coach help us out with.

Well it seems that one of my kinks is that my handle bars like to spontaneously spin around on their axis, leaving me with no ability to steer--happened while a fire engine was passing me on its way to the parade. And another kink is in my own head that I'll have to work out for myself, but I am pretty much terrified of being on Brooklyn streets on a bike. I'd much rather be on the sidewalk--thanks to several years of my parents' insistence that it was the better place to ride (thanks mom & dad) who were proven correct when a classmate of mine was hit by a car when we were in the 8th grade and was severely brain damaged. This rule kept me alive and unharmed for about 28 years, but now its sort of a phobia--but in Brooklyn, as opposed to West Des Moines, Iowa, the sidewalks are for people. And being one of those people often using the sidewalks to get around I appreciate the no bike rule.

But basically I just feel/felt like a wimp. I had convinced myself that it was going to be easier to be out there on the road than it has been to be on the stationary bike. Its not. For as stronger and faster that I have been feeling this week swimming and running, I couldn't make it up the hill in the park without a pit stop. It is early in the training and its good for me to realize that I need to give this part more attention. Lots of room for improvement. Now there was an award that I was always a good candidate for, Most Improved. Here's hoping.