Well, today was a day that I'll look back on years from now and still remember.
It started with snow. Waking up this morning for swim practice, the weather conditions didn't quite register in my brain until I was scraping a 2 inch thick layer of snow off my 1992 Toyota Corolla, a car which has definitely seen better days. Although I have only ever driven in the snow once before, I was not too worried about getting to the pool as I only live about 5 min away; however, this short treck proved to be more exciting than usual.
Driving about 20 km per hour along the snow covered road, I am forced to take a detour to avoid the traffic jam in front of me as cars with twice the power of mine are getting stuck going up a hill. Stupidly, I decide to take my chances on an even steeper hill (steeper than I remember). Zigzagging back and forth in order to not slide backwards, my car's wheels are spinning, barely gripping the pavement, but somehow (I guess luck was on my side today) I make it to the top of the hill. Getting stuck for a second at the intersection, I arrive at the pool safe, but not sound. Just thinking about all the bad things that could have happened on the way here, I wondered why I even tried driving at all (next time I will definitely walk)...but not showing up to practice was not an option.
After a solid swim with my team mates, I managed to drive home on cleared roads without too much trouble, and rest for an hour before our afternoon bike session.
Realizing that my car was no match for the unrelenting snow, I arranged a ride with Alison to our indoor bike practice at PISE (about a 10 minute drive away). Too afraid to even drive to her house, I decided to tough it out and trudge through the snow with my wind trainer resting on my shoulders and my bike rolling along beside me. About 20 minutes later, I finally turn up her street, now dragging my bike behind me as the wheels are so congested with compact snow that they are pretty much dysfunctional. Finding my way through the blizzard to her car, stage 1 of my journey is over, and I can breathe for a short while. We arrived at PISE after sliding through an intersection, and more trudging through the snow. This journey was truly epic.
After this morning's swim, and the past two days of solid training, the bike session felt tough. But considering all the trouble we went through to get here, we were not about to sit back and waste the next 2 hours. One by one, people leave the building, passing by us with looks that seem to say "You're crazy". I don't take offense to this. What some people don't realize is that we're not crazy, just committed. Committment means showing up to practice no matter what. We choose not to take the easy road.
Christine
