Timing: Good & Bad

Timing is everything. We have perfect seeming days; things run smoothly, workouts are nailed, traffic isn't a nightmare, and the family gets along beautifully. Then there are other days. You know the kind. Where timing is just, well, off.

For yours truly, it hasn't been bad days. Thankfully not. But I've noticed that with a few things, my timing just isn't quite right. You may be able to understand.

Good Timing: Long bike rides along the coast, and inland through Elfin Forest (that magical place that Liz once described)
Bad Timing: Hills at the end of Elfin. Because what did I do? Per coaches orders, I rode backwards of how I normaly ride. Meaning hills that never let up, even though I had already climbed an insane amount before hitting the forest (through Rancho Santa Fe and up dos Dios. I think I saw an El Diablo Blvd, but I can't be sure).

Good Timing: Talking to Mom - I LOVE my mom!
Bad Timing: Answering my cell phone on Pacific Hwy after I've come this close (me with fingers together) to chucking my bike in the lagoon because of too many damn hills. The phone rang twice and no message - surely an emergency, right? Not this time. I think I was curt. But it was the I-am-so-done-with-this-workout-8-hills-ago-Marit, not the usual Loving Daughter.

Good Timing: Biking through forests. Being at one with nature.
Bad Timing: Going so slowly up a hill that you swear you're about to get eaten by a Mountain Lion. 4 mph doesn't give me much hope, eh. Again - this was in Elfin. After Canyon del dos Dios. Backwards from what I normally do.

Good Timing: Making all the lights on the way out! Green lights baby - watch me GO GO GO!
Bad Timing: Just when I really wanted off the bike, and was making great effort to not throw the thing in the water, I hit EVERY RED LIGHT from Leucadia to Tamarack Ave in Carlsbad. I tell you, I was impressed with my will power. I still have the bike.

Good Timing: Drinking and eating on schedule.
Bad Timing: Loosing BOTH water bottles off the back of my bike after passing under The 5 on Lomas Santa Fe. There was an unavoidable bump, and before I knew it, I heard the Thunk Thunk of not one, but two water bottles hitting the pavement. No big deal if I was by myself. But I had an audience of traffic in all directions. And construction workers. And office workers out for their lunchtime stroll.

Good Timing: Traffic waited for me as I retrieved my water bottles from the middle of the road (there must have been a few kindred hearts who took pity on me with my bottle mishap).
Bad Timing: I looked like a complete Nerd. And held up traffic.

Good Timing: I hit the White Church at the half way point - right before Elfin Forest.
Bad Timing: Was this a sign that I needed saving?

Good Timing: Bottle refill at said church (thankfully I had bottles)
Bad Timing: No port-o-potty. Is it a sin to pee on the bike while exiting a church parking lot?

Good Timing: Rolling into the house after 3+ hours on the bike
Bad Timing: I should have been done 30 minutes ago.

But you know what? I made it. I got through the ride, survived the timing – good and bad. It’s so true: we can’t control the external circumstances; but we CAN control how we choose to look at them. Sure, they saying grew old after the fourth red light, but I made it home. And so did the bike. And that’s good timing all around.