Thankful...(oops) Sunday

So I'm a little late this week for my Thankful Thursday...what's new right?! This week I'm thankful for music. It is amazing to me how different styles of music and different songs can affect me in such different ways. The right music can bring the right emotions to any situation...slide shows set to music, music in movies, hymns at church, and holiday music.

Yesterday I really realized the value of music while exercising. :) When I go to the gym I usually have a friend to chat with that makes the time on the treadmill go by faster and I'm done before I know it. But yesterday I thought I would go for a long bike ride by myself and thought I was ready for more of a challenging course to ride. My first mistake was to ask my marathon-running husband to map out a "somewhat challenging" course for me. About a third of the way through I realized that my idea of somewhat challenging and his were VERY different. As I came around a corner and saw the hills he was leading me to my first thought was "CRAP", and my second was "I need different music". Enough of that "feel good" music...I needed something with a lot of drums, bass & electric guitar and I needed it loud!! So I cranked it up and dug deep and made it up the first hill. Then I had a little reprieve to get my heart rate back to where I couldn't actually see it pounding out of my chest at heart attack rate. I was okay with the random music playing as I rode the flat surface and noticed that some of the songs that came on really made me appreciate the beauty around me. The best part was cruising down a long downhill part with a fun upbeat song playing in my ears. But about 45 minutes into the ride, legs are starting to get a little tired, I came around a corner and was facing about 1/2 mile (it seemed like about 10 miles) of a steady incline. I changed songs to one that would motivate and pound in my ears and tried to get up as much speed as I could. That "speed" lasted about 5 seconds into the climb and I slowly started shifting down, then down again, then down one more time to where my legs were having to pedal about 100 miles an hour just to be at a slow crawl up the hill. The music was loud and pounding and I was trying not to look up to see how far I still had to go but instead I focused on the pavement right in front of me. As soon as my great song ended the next song was a slow little fluffy song and I lost all momentum and realized I had come to a stop...realizing I was only about half way up. So I pretended I had to fix my sock, kept looking behind me like I was waiting for someone else to come around the corner and catch up with me and checked for texts on my cell phone that I brought with me while I figured out how to breathe again and get rid of the burning in my lungs. Once I did that I found the right song to get me through the rest of that climb and I made it...barely!

So I was very thankful for music that day and as I collapsed on the couch with my worried children wondering if I was going to live I decided I am determined to master that "somewhat challenging" course. :)