Starting at the beginning

Favorite line from Alice in Wonderland (the cartoon, of course): "Start at the beginning.  Yes, yes. And when you get to the end, ...stop!"  Wise words indeed from our friend The Mad Hatter.

Today I started something one might say. Today was day 1 of my AIDS bike ride from Boston to NYC over 3 days. I also like to call it, "how much chaffing is required before hitting a major vessel and bleeding out?"  Kinda like how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop, only much nastier.

So here is what my watch looked like at 6AM this morning:

See that bottom left number?  The big fat zero. That is how far I've gone and I like that it says zero for a couple of reasons. First being I haven't done a damn thing yet and am still fresh as a daisy. Second reason is bit more interesting. It's filled with symbolism and metaphorical proclamations. We're about to get real deep up in here people. Brace yourselves.

I like what starting a journey feels like. I like the anticipation. The not knowing what the day will bring or how you are going to handle it. It feels like a pending test for your body and mind that will only be told in the moment in which it occurs. I like the not knowing. I like the challenge forthcoming.

I also like to peel the skin off of my back after a sunburn. Look at how much you're learning about me.

Something in me holds a great appreciation and respect for the unknown, and not just with athletics. Regardless of my best attempts at obsessively planning every second of my life, there are those inevitable unknown moments that you just can't plan for or see coming. Perhaps that's one piece of the reasoning of my love for endurance sports: life training. Because isn't life kinda like a race or a long ride?  You never know really what's going to happen. You could get a flat tire, get lost, catch a cramp in a muscle you didn't know existed despite your doctorate degree in physical therapy. You know, things like that.

Must I lay out how symbolic that is to what we go through daily?  Well...  I'm not gonna. But I will say this one last thing.

There is a tattoo on my left arm. If this is surprising news to you, you just will never make it as a forensic investigator. On that tattoo are a few written words, one of them being "acceptance."  Sometimes you have a crappy race. You have to accept that. Sometimes you have a crappy day. You get my point, right?

For whatever reason, aside from my clearly superior intellect and well matured soul, I love the feeling of a new beginning. A fresh start. It gives me the chance to do things better than I did the time before.

Good thing because I was slow as all hell today...