I have a new friend.

Her name is Shiny Green Bike.

She is not THIS bike

though the bike shop HAS that bike and I did stroke it lovingly while saying "shiny" to myself.

But my bike friend is the bike that's been making the rounds with me for years. It lived in my storage cubby in Medford (and survived the theft of our wedding gifts we'd stored down there!), in my basement in Melrose, in my garage in Tucson, and now, in my shed in Chelmsford. How many times had I ridden it? Zero times. It needed a tune up and realignment and I am... lacking in skills. At the time I bought the bike, I was also lacking in funds. And then I forgot about it and would see it every time we moved and go, Oh! A bike! And then, in the course of unpacking, I would forget again.

But! Now I'm in the midst of my half marathon training, and every week I see the days that say "40 minutes cross train" and I look around, briefly consider walking on my hands or pretending that the Wii Fit is useful, and go for a walk and feel like I'm cheating. I don't belong to a gym. (We are On a Break, the gym and I.) Then, I remembered the bike! I'd bought my husband a bike rack for his car for Father's Day (He doesn't have an actual bike, it's all very O. Henry), so we loaded that up with my bike and brought it down to the shop for a tune up. One week later and one embarrassing pickup ("Do you have the tag?" No. "What brand is it?" Blank. "What color is it?" Blank. [It's green. I just forgot.]) later, it's back in my arms. And, spanking new helmet on my head, I put the kids to bed, wave a wobbly goodbye to my husband, and take off.

I LOVE IT. So much faster and easier than running, so I can cover way more ground and spy on So Many More people. I am coveting gardens way out of my normal running range, now! And there's a new contender for favorite neighborhood and little house that I want to maybe steal and live in on my own for one 24 hour period per week.

So! Cross training solved. I rode 15 miles this weekend, on top of an almost 7 mile run, and now I feel vaguely dead. But happy anyway!