For our latest monthly challenge, we're asking you to get healthy, from your feet to your teeth to your brain.
Try an alternative workout.
About a month back I made a truly stupid bet. Never having lived in Los Angeles before but excited to try it out for 12 weeks, I bet my wiser, three-years-plus-in-the-city friend that I could, and would, bicycle to work everyday for at least two weeks. The prize: a free meal. Which is nothing to scoff at, considering how wonderful free things are.
What I didn’t know: Los Angeles sprawls. To live two neighborhoods away from work is to actually live eight miles away. I should have checked Google Earth prior to gambling.
Lying in a bed of my own making, I had to try the ride at least once. A creature of habit, I see no appeal in trying an alternative workout. Biking is not really my thing; I only bike to cut walking time in half, and the idea of biking without a destination is, to me absurd. I’ll gladly go on a run, up and down a beach, in circles, up hills. So running, yes, but biking for fun? No thanks. The thing about bikes, and more specifically biking in Los Angeles; they’re tippy and the cars you share the road with are more than happy to see you eat it if it means you’ve learned your lesson and are off the roads for good. Plus, California, if you were unaware, is on the edge of certain tectonic plates. These large crashing things create ground ripples called mountains and hills.
Two weeks later, I’ve officially earned my free meal, but I'm still riding. Biking is meditative, it’s calming. There’s something about the sounds of the wheels, the glide atop the pavement. Am I a converted cyclist? Probably not. But it sure is a good way to get to where you’re going.
\n
Ready, set, go! Good luck completing today's challenge. Share your experience on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook by using the hashtag #30DaysofGOOD, or let us know how it went in the comments section below.
Tomorrow's challenge: Keep a diary or log of your day.
Share on Facebook
