In my last post I talked about our upcoming move. We have since survived the moving process, with enormous thanks to Josh’s step-parents and my parents for going above and beyond in helping us get the new place ready and organize the move. Everything from putting in closet shelving, wiping down walls and scrubbing appliances, to directing the uhaul loading, and unpacking the whole kitchen. Then we also owe huge thanks to a dozen or so amazing friends for loading, unloading, and hauling boxes up two flights of stairs in the new townhome. It was a huge team effort, and it mostly went smoothly. I say “mostly”, because there was a small issue when water started leaking through the dining room ceiling from the washing machine above, and people were scrambling to turn off the water, and madly trying to find the box labeled “towels”.  Other than that tiny issue, everyone made short work of the move and we were unpacked with pictures on the walls by Sunday night. With that, we were off to a good start in the new place.

About a week later we started noticing a board in the kitchen floor was warping. A couple days later it was several boards. You know, the boards of the beautiful, newly refinished, hardwood floor. Turns out the dishwasher had a slow leak, and so now, after two weeks in our new home, we are having a new dishwasher installed, and repairing the newly refinished hardwood floor.  Hopefully, we are now done with water leaks. Yay home ownership!

With the stress of remodeling, packing and moving, I was back napping twice a day, and getting daily migraines. Thankfully, that stress is easing up and I’m finally getting out a bit more. One of the perks about the location of the townhome is the proximity to the Boulder-Denver bike path. It is very easy for me to hop on the path, riding east or west and get in a good ride without having to worry about traffic. Until I get my gravel bike set up, it is really the safest place for me to ride when I’m alone, and I’ve been trying to get out a few times a week. Sunday though, I got brave and hit the roads of Boulder County for 35 miles, my longest ride since my crash in 2015! Granted, it is a far cry from the 200 miles we are registered to ride in roughly 91 days, 18 hours, and 42 minutes, but that is plenty of time…I hope.

Preparations are in full swing for the three day Ramble Ride, July 18-20. I spent an afternoon last week getting some measurements taken by Chris Jacobson, the Product Manager for bikefitting.com and PRO bike gear for North America, to make sure I would get all the right parts for my new gravel bike. Thanks to incredible support from Shimano, I’ll have all the components and gear I need to attach to the new frame that Donnelly was kind enough to help us with. The new rig should be up and running within a couple weeks, and I’ll be sharing more information once she is all built out.

Before anyone freaks out, yes I’m still running. In fact, I’m training with a friend to help her run her first trail marathon at the beginning of May. Collegiate Peaks 25 miler isn’t a full marathon, but it is 25.7ish, and I’m running an extra half mile with my friend to get her to her first full marathon distance. It has been so fun to watch my “I’m not a distance runner, I could never run that long” friend log the miles and contemplate tackling a 50k next. Now I just need her to stop training before she starts beating me at every race, because she will.

My brain injury recovery continues, and it has been great to see those improvements. I’m not as disoriented when I get off the bike. On good days I’ve been able to drive short distances at night, and I’ve even started being able to make decisions on the fly while at the grocery store! This might seem like a silly thing to get excited about, but given there was a time I couldn’t even go to a grocery store without getting lost and panicked, this is a really big deal. I’ve always been an advocate for celebrating all the small victories and milestones along the road to recovery. Recovery from brain injury is sort of like an ultramarathon with no end. There will not be a day when I have reached “recovery”, and so instead of focusing on the finish line, it is easier to focus on getting to the next aid station, and the one after that.

It can be fairly daunting to think about riding the 200 miles of the Ramble Ride. If I use my ultramarathon strategy and break it down though, it is three days of riding, 75/75/50 miles. It isn’t a race, and we can take our time and stop for brain breaks as frequently as needed. The first day is 75 miles with a lunch stop. So really, with 35 miles under my belt, I’m almost to that lunch stop, and off to good start on my TBI to 200!