Climbs and Recoveries

Yesterday afternoon was the only time Debbie and I had to do some Christmas shopping for all the events that were coming up. At 5:00 pm we headed for San Antonio which is about an hour and half away. (See we do live in the boonies now!) We were careful to hit all the stores in order of their closing times and found ourselves leaving Wal-Mart at 12:30 am. It was late but 98% of all our shopping for presents and food for the holidays was done. So with a huge exhale we headed down Interstate 35 to Cotulla.

By the time we got home and had everything put away it was around 2:00 am. After getting clothes out for the coming day and getting settled in I can remember seeing 2:53 shining on the ceiling of our room. It really does not seem like long ago I could do that night after night and not be affected much. Not any more! Four hours of sleep, which was actually an hour longer than usual, was just not enough to recover.

I have noticed the same thing on bike rides. You can have equal distance in climbs and descents and the downhill just isn’t long enough to recover from the energy expended getting up the hill. I used to look forward to the crest of the hill knowing that soon I would be able to recover from the effort in the climb. Now at my age and physical abilities I don’t recover fast enough to get that excited about the top anymore. It is the end that I smile at now.

You know, actually I do enjoy the climb. Both on a bike and in life the climb is an accomplishment. Yet, after last night’s climb and the short recovery I am now looking forward to finishing today and coming out of my responsibilities and crashing!

I am sure you can find some eschatological/spiritual value in this real life parable. But I am too tired to explain it!