It’s amazing what exercise and getting outdoors can do for one’s mood. I ended up staying over a half an hour at work because para-gliders were packing up from an evening paragliding excursion. They apologized for taking so long, and were very grateful for my patience.
I didn’t really understand why I was so patient until they left. It was my Friday, it was past 10pm, and I still had a 30 minute drive home. But I wasn’t really visibly annoyed or impatient with them as they packed up their sails and equipment. I listened to my book, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont, enjoying the scenery.
Eventually, the wind started making me cold, and I started doing jumping jacks. Then I did some incline push-ups. Then I did sit-down squats. And finally, the guys walked through to put their equipment up and go home.
When I ran into my supervisor as I locked the gate behind the gentlemen, we joked about how people wanted to hike at 9pm. She then told me people would try to go out and surf at 8 or 9 pm.
I told her I should get my wetsuit and practice for the triathlon right along with them. She gave me a look and I told her I was kidding.
But that’s when I realized I really did practice for the triathlon today. In the morning, I went for a quick swim. I didn’t time it, but there was no one at the lake, so I swam for only 3 songs. I don’t like swimming for a long extended period of time when there is no one to hear me scream for help if I suddenly discover I can’t swim. It was probably only 10 minutes, but honestly, that’s only about 5 minutes under what the triathlon swim is going to be, so 10 minutes was fine.
I brought my bike to work today, too, and biked to the campground from the office. It’s about a 4 minute ride. 244 bicycle pumps up this grueling hill which reminds me how vastly out of shape I really am. I was prepared to do the ride twice, too, but luckily that was unnecessary.
I ended up having about fifteen extra minutes before I needed to close the park, so I went for a short trail run along the paths in the park. It was very short, only about 10 minutes, but I pushed myself to keep going at a slow Sloth Army jog up the hill the entire way.
3 short ten minute workouts, but they all got my heart rate up. They all made me feel great. And honestly, it may have saved two mens’ lives tonight. Who knows what I would have done to them for making me so late if I hadn’t exercised and been in a good mood.