In Real Life

In fairy tales typically the hero always wins, the princess finds her prince, the cute talking animal turns into a beautiful person, or the bad guys falls or realizes his own demise and changes from antagonist to pro. id like to say that real life is the same way. But in all reality the only constant that we have is that God is the Hero that wins, He is the prince of peace, the true beauty in every living creature, and is the only on capable of turning bad into good. I am none of these things, but am redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

I learned a very valuable lesson this past weekend, and am still taking notes on what it is that i learned. Forgiveness, mercy, and the ability to see someone through eyes of love.

I wont get into any details, but my wife has shown so much compassion to me the past few days. I had put a lot on the line for us, and despite how much i had messed up and how very upset and hurt she was with me, she swallowed sadness and showed me love and mercy and forgiveness and in doing so we have started to grow closer together. again, i wont get into it, but i love her with so much ferocity and intensity and i will never forget who she is and what she deeply means to me. i owe my life to take care of hers.

Anyways, the lesson i have learned have been taken to heart and will not be forgotten. i had stepped aside briefly and she found me and brought me back to her, despite the hurt, despite the heartache, with prevailing love and kindness. she fought through the suffering to see the good in me and love me for who she knows me to be; sounds a little familiar to Jesus does it not? Samantha, you mean the world to me. i will never forget what you mean to me and what you have shown me the past few days. I will love you for all of time.

lazy day

so i literally sat inside all day except to take zoey out once or twice, the rest of the time i watched the veulta, then just now stage one of tour of Missouri. Cav one, and i got excited to start racing again. something about seeing circut races gets me fired up.

my riding wasnt what i thought itd be. i got about 40 miles in on me day off; 35 in on my planned 80; 64 in on my planned sprint interval day, and then 56 on me planned century. and today where i figured a group ride, i didnt nothing but sat in my pajamas all day.

so i still got about 280 miles in, but not in what i wanted to do. so now i am super tired and glad that i stayed in today. but it was rainy, so i didnt use "im tired" as an excuse, but rather the rain.

i dont have to be at work until 10 tomorrow morning. which is really awesome, but at the same time makes me wonder what time im gonna get off work... i am amping myself up for a really long and painful week.

i started looking at routes and cabins for the feb-march cycling training camp trip thing that andrew and i are planning... its gonna be relatively cheap and a lot of really good riding. im so super excited about it... really, im so anxious.

last race weekend is coming up on sunday, so i am excited about that, but the first weekend of spirit of america is this weekend...so ya.. hopefully im not too tired for it.

much love

derek

long weekend

well after a short 3 day week at work, capped with a 24 hour shift on wednesday, i am enjoying a 5 day weekend. much i believe is well earned. yesterday i slept pretty much all but 5 hours of the day, and today sam and i have hung out a lot and ive been wandering around thinking its saturday all day. i got out and road about 20 miles today, mostly pretty big hills, so, 1hr 45min of hills, pretty decent.

Tomorrow through monday im gonna hit it hard, hopefully with 80 miles tomorrow, some sprint intervals on sunday, and then a century on monday. My last ditch fitness effort before next sundays turkey day race.

Sam works all weekend so ill be mostly alone and on the bike. Im still bummed my PS3 is busted, so im trying to work that. um other than that, there are no other updates.....

well there is one, but i cant talk about it until next week. let the suspense build.

lata

d