Squats and Lunges

(Springfield, IL)

In the past few days since I first started writing, I have gone to the gym once. 

 On Wednesday (February 2) Chesapeake (the Seafood Restaurant where I find myself serving tartar sauce and lobster butter 5/7 nights out of the week) closed due to the previous day's winter storm. So I changed out of my ever-so-sexy tuxedo shirt and bow tie into my workout clothes and headed to the gym to work out with Ron- who if I haven't mentioned is my fiance, best friend, and fellow rider in the upcoming bike trip.

I love spending time with Ron, and honestly one of the reasons that I am most excited about this trip together is that it gives us something to work for together- giving us a mutual hobby (because camo and the 22-gauge weren't working out for me). However, if I had forgotten why I don't like working out with him, I quickly was reminded. We were doing cycles of backward and forward lunges, dead weight lifts, squats, one leg lunges, scissor lunges, God-knows-what-kind-of lunges. He warned me that I was going to “feel it tomorrow.”

Translation: “You are going to wish you were dead instead of walking tomorrow.” Saying that my legs feel like jello doesn't really do it justice. I have had trouble putting my pants on, sitting down at my office, sitting down at the table, climbing out of bed, climbing in bed, even sitting on the toilet. That is how much my lets hurt.

I told my dad on the phone how much my legs hurt and he said, “Lauren, I want you to remember how much you legs hurt now. Remember, because that is what they are going to feel like after riding all day and you are going to have to repeat it again and again and again.”

…....and again and again and again for about 72 days. Every day we are going to average around 60-70 miles a day (sometimes as little as 40 miles per day or as high as 100 depending on the terrain.)

107 days and counting...