We rode together for the first time yesterday.  Our first $5 Friday Ride. And though it wasn’t the first, first time together… it was, for me, the first of many rides toward RAAM 2012.

I am excited about our Friday afternoon rides, and I can’t wait for the next one on June 17th. A chance to celebrate friends, fitness and team building.  $5 Fridays are, for me, a step away from my “normal”… and that is what I love about RAAM.  As an endurance athlete, I spend all, seriously all, of my training time alone.  I put my gear on and I go.  I focus on the task at hand, do my work and then I move onto the next part of my day.  Little time for chit chat and little time, quite frankly, for distraction and “taking in the moment”.

When we finished RAW 2009, I told Julie that I wanted to prepare for RAAM, but that I wanted to do it differently.  Not that I would change my personal preparations for the event, but that the next time, I wanted to “bring along” others in the training process.  $5 Fridays are a part of that process.  We ride together as a TEAM… not just 4 women and 10 crew… but everyone who has even the smallest interest in what we are doing, is invited to come along for the ride… and to be part of our team.

In preparing for RAAM 2012, I’ve made a promise to myself that even when I am training alone, that I will never really BE alone.  THIS time, our training, our cause, our journey are bigger than each of us individually… and that is also what I love about RAAM.

One year from now Rocky Mountain RAAM will be leaving Denver and heading to San Diego.  The preparation, the training, the fundraising… will be done… and the RAAM 2012 Start Line will wait for us on the pier at Oceanside.  Maybe the “start” will be on a Friday… or maybe not… but it will for me, be another “$5 Friday Ride” shared with friends and teammates… a “first” ride toward the Finish Line in Annapolis.