What I would give for a normal average week. Seven days with no highs and no lows. No drama…. ahhhhh wouldn’t that be nice. Just peace and quiet and no worries.
Earlier, a few posts back, I spoke about the possibility of having leukemia because of the symptoms that I had. I am elated to report that I do NOT have leukemia!!!
It is true. I have faith that God will not give you more than you can handle. And while I have learned that I am stronger than I originally thought, I know deep in my heart that having to deal with leukemia would have been too much for my father to handle. He lost his wife, his son, his sister in law… and he hasn’t seen or been able to speak to his grandsons in almost a year. God would not do this to him. Maybe to me, but certainly not to him.
The news came to me on Friday afternoon. That made the earlier part of the week pretty chaotic for me. While I was scared and worried about the unknown future, it did make me very very VERY grateful for my present. The number of notes and texts of encouragement were overwhelming. *I apologize for not being able to respond to each of them. My time on the internet and phone is becoming more and more limited.
What I have noticed – extremely evident – this week was that with every compliment, every achievement, every well wish came a comment or hurtful action from a couple of people close to me. I was hurt, betrayed and blindsided.
No good deed goes unpunished. But I’ll do it anyway.
My usual suspects that I’ve leaned on over the years are no longer close by and too far for me to cry on their shoulders. It sucks growing up let me tell you. Tired of crying and worrying all night every night, I’m glad I was smart and strong enough to put it all in God’s hands, finally.
On a lighter note….
Training seems to be taking shape. I completed the 60-mile McAllen Crime Stoppers ride this weekend. I was able to incorporate the speed intervals I missed out on Thursday in the first half of the ride. There is one road, Jarachinas Road, notorious for the rolling hills that most Valley cyclists are unprepared to conquer because of our vast flat lands, that I was looking forward to. The last two weeks I had prepped my legs for the big ring on this road. I did it. I did the whole stretch on the hardest gear. My legs burned like crazy but I had to prove to myself that I could do it. While I fell back in time and lost my place in the pack, my purpose for participating in this race was to have a safe ride on this road with a sag vehicle and water/safety stops and build up my legs for the upward climb at Viva Bike Vegas.
After tearing my legs apart on that road, I took it down to a foundation pace and found company with the women of RGV cycling and Sebastian, the son of a phenomenal woman who encouraged me to continue running when I wanted to quit. during the ride, he bent over and grabbed a sunflower, stuck it in the back pocket of his jersey and rode up by me and said “Erica is watching over us.”