When the body needs rest, the body should get it.. The most basic wisdom of effective training is that rest is and integral part of it. Too simple a concept for yours truly who decided to take a hard “Burn” class at the Gym last Wednesday, my rest day, and paid for it with aches and soreness in muscles I had forgotten existed. By Thursday. I was so charley horse I had hard time climbing the staircase at home.. The short easy bike ride i did with Jeff that day. deluded me into keeping to my plans for the Friday, long awaited, 98 miles hilly ride to Bear Mountain. Escorted by my fellows Team Goyim Member and the enthusiastic Ilana, we headed out from our usual spot at the Hudson river Boat Basin in Englewood Cliffs. Although the body was aching, the legs at least seemed fine. For the first 20 miles out, I climbed well. Unfortunately, a sudden unwanted pressure in my stomach alerted me to a nasty debilitating bout of diarrhea and precipitated an emergency stop at the nearest welcoming local deli. Although that pit stop provided relief it put a term on both my desire and my capacity to complete the ride. Jeff and Jimmy escorted me back to base, crestfallen and feeling dizzy and weak. Our trip reduced to a mere 51 miles . Ilana, courageously kept going till she conquered Bear Mountain top alone.
Perhaps it was befitting that I was atoning for my excess on the day we planned to remember Michele’s passing on Yom Kippur. Today our little family and some friends joined our sorrowed hearts and marched to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Preserve: A place of natural beauty that has survived the wrath of Hurricane Sandy and still stand as a peaceful shelter for the birds and the people who visit as Michele did so often during her life. In the striking light of a mixed windy day, with the sun piercing through the majestic clouds formation and with birds flying all around. we each dispersed through the air. a little handful of her ashes. She is now part of the soil and the landscape she so loved, cradled by the birdsongs she knew so well to recognize
