Fall

I know many people love this time of year, but not me. First it starts getting colder, I hate cold weather and don't like having to worry about putting on a sweatshirt before I go outside. Then what do you do when you want to run? You have to put on warm clothes at first because its chilly and you don't want to get sick, only to find yourself working up a sweat and peeling off your layers on the trail and now trying to run with a hoodie tied around your waist. I would rather just run in 9o degree weather wearing a T-shirt (I learned a long time ago to never run in my sports bra after I saw the same red truck pass me three times within a mile!) and shorts and sweat it out. Some people swear that fall is the best time to ride (the wimps that can't handle the heat of summer) and although I agree my track is in excellent condition with all the rain, it gets dark too early now and by the time my riding buddies get home from work its too dark to ride. I am stuck riding by myself. Another sad thing about fall to me is my schedule slows down. I know that this may seem like a good thing, and for the first two weeks after steel city it was great. But I haven't been on an air plane in a month now and I'm having a hard time staying in one place for too long. I have rested up and recovered from a hectic race season, now I am ready to go again, I just don't have anywhere I have to be right now. But the biggest problem I have with fall is with it being the off season it is also contract time. Even though I have an agent who handles all of the hard work, it is still a very stressful time for me as it is for a lot of riders. Racing isn't always fun and games, there is a business side to it and it is something I don't necessarily enjoy. Its an awful feeling not knowing what I will be doing next year yet. And I hate to admit that this time of year I am usually a little cranky due to lack of sleep. Unfortunately obsessive worrying is something my father passed down to me, along with his big nose.

So even though people might think that fall colors (a northern thing) are pretty I look at the orange and yellow leaves and think of cold weather and stress. Before long winter, my least favorite season will be here. The only upside to that is I should have all of my contracts signed by then and the new race season is just around the corner.