What I Know For Sure Thursday: Training May Not Lead To Perfect, but It May Provide the Opportunity to Run With the Big Boys!

Biking Crew

So, I am writing this post later than normal, because I have been hanging with the Big Boys....

You know that I have completely fallen in love with cycling, and I do it as often as possible.

Every Tuesday that I can, I do this ride that is 16 miles of hills. It is extremely challenging, and it wipes me out, literally.

I started doing the ride last summer, and I use to have to walk my bike up some of those hills, but with time, I became stronger and stronger, and I was able to shorten the time that it took me to complete the ride. Also, I would do other rides often to prepare for this Tuesday night bike ride.

This season started, and that Tuesday night bike ride is still my toughest ride, but I never have to walk it, and I normally finish strong, but completely wiped out.

I do this Tuesday night bike ride religiously, and What I Know for Sure on This Thursday is that if you train hard, you can eventually run with the big boys...

I am currently in Columbus, Ohio participating in a biking summit, and the Big Boys are here. There are about 100 cyclist here, and about 94 of them are men and the other six are us women. These guys look extremely intimidating when they have their biking gear on, and I felt a tinge of fear on our first ride yesterday. However, I was able to ride with The Big Boys yesterday. Those tough Tuesday night training rides are paying off.

A few kids are starting to train young!

Today, we did another ride that included a few climbs (Hills). Because of my training rides, today, I really was able to hang with The Big Boys, and it felt so good.

Tomorrow and Friday are our big rides with more climbs, and they will be longer, BUT because of my training, I think that I am ready.

Whatever it is that you enjoy, if you always train to get better and better, you will get better and better, and you will be the person that people are trying to catch up with......

So, if you train to be the best, you may not ever make it, but you will be able to hang with The Big Boys, and this I know for sure on this Thursday!

Find something that you love to do and train, train, train....... 

I got to go...I'm on the way to hang with The Big Boys!!

What I Know For Sure Thursday: Ain't No Bond Like The Tuskegee Bond....

(This post is about the Historically Black Colleges and Universities experience. So, if you went to a HBCU, Enjoy. If you didn't  go to a HBCU, learn.)

People who attended Historically Black Colleges or Universities, typically LOVE their schools. The love runs so deep until people will almost come to blows if you talk to much trash about their schools. I vividly remember one of my friends, whom I met at Michigan State, saying something about Tuskegee that I did not appreciate, and I will not even repeat the things that I had to say to her. We happened to be visiting Cincinnati at the time, and I was driving, and she almost got her butt left right in Cincinnati while I made my way back to Michigan. You don't talk badly about Tuskegee.....

All TU People!

Now, I have seen the bond among people who attended other HBCU's, but Ain't No Bond Like The Tuskegee Bond. For some reason, our bond runs deeper than most.

I saw Sabrina while driving in DC, and I had to stop traffic in order to speak to her:
Three TU Women

Many people who attended Tuskegee feel that this tight bond exist because of the location of the school. Tuskegee is located in a very small town and the only thing in the town is The University. There are no outlets for fun except what the students create, and boy did we create a lot of fun. Many are convinced that the fun that we created caused us to bond and bond deeply.

Two TU graduates and an adopted member!

I have heard others who think that the Tuskegee bond is spiritual. They believe that something about the founder, Booker T. Washington, being buried on the campus, caused us to bond with the University on some type of spiritual deep level that we just can't shake.

Four TU graduates

I'm not really sure why, but Ain't No Bond Like The Tuskegee Bond....

Brandi with three TU ladies

When Tuskegee people run into each other, even if they did not know each other in school, there is some sort of excitement in the air. We will hug and normally scream and talk like we have been knowing each other forever. And, if there is a lot of us together, we will talk and reminisce about Tuskegee and forget that there are other people in the room. The love is real and genuine. Also, if you marry someone, or date someone, or hang around someone who went to Tuskegee, you will get adopted into our family and the bond, and you really don't have a choice about the matter.

TU Grads

Many people, even those who went to other HBCU's, do not understand the Tuskegee bond, and many think that we are some type of Cult. This always make me chuckle.

For instance, in DC, we are fortunate to have a TU graduate who is an event planner. And, this weekend for the Delta's Centennial celebration, Chee Chee, the TU event planner, threw two parties. Now, if you went to Tuskegee, you would definitely try, with all of  your might, to attend one or both of these parties, because Skegee folks would be in the house, and we were. At the parties, all of the TU folks gravitated to one part of the room and we hugged, reminisced, sang Tuskegee songs, and literally forgot that other people were in the room. Man, it was literally like a mini homecoming. Love was all over the place. 

Two TU graduates!

I know other folks who went to HBCU's, and their bonds are deep, BUT...

What I know for sure on this Thursday is Ain't No Bond Like The Tuskegee Bond!

It's CRAZY and not easy to understand, but IT IS GOOD!

Peace, My People.

I'm going to leave you with one of our FAVORITE school songs: Ball and Parley!

What I Know for Sure Thursday: Nothing Just Happens; We Need a PLAN, and We Must Implement It!

Last summer with all of my free time that I was extremely Thankful for, I posted a blog every Thursday that was called Thankful Thursday, and I wrote about things that I am Thankful for: Coworkers, Change, Weekend Getaways, Where I Live, Words, People, To be a Girl Sometimes, Peaceful Runs, and on and on. I know that many of my readers appreciated Thankful Thursdays just as much as I did. Those post really helped me to focus on the many things that I have to be Thankful for, and I hope that it helped my readers to do the same.

I have lived on this planet for 40 plus years, and there are times when I feel unsure about some things. However, Zora Neale Hurston stated in Their Eyes Were Watching God that “There are years that ask questions and years that answer," and I think that I am in the years that answer questions phase of life. There are still things that I am unsure about, but there are sooooo many things that I know for sure.

So, every Thursday this summer I will write about some of the things that "I Know For Sure!"

And one thing that I definitely know for sure is that nothing just happens; we need a plan.......

Most people can not decide today that they are going to go on a vacation tomorrow. Most of us need to plan. We need to pick a date, select a location, decide if we are going to fly, drive, catch a bus, maybe decide upon what we want to do when we get to our destination, decide if we want to pay for the activities in advance. AND, we need a plan! We can talk about the trip everyday, but the trip is not going to happen without a plan that we implement.

You know that I love for my summers to be filled with adventures and activities, and nothing will happen in my summer if I do not have a plan. Around March I start to think about my summer, and not only do I think about it, but I start to make plans, I put ideas on my calender, pay deposits, buy plane tickets, contact people to see who will join me on some of my excursions. I know that without a plan, I will waste my entire summer doing absolutely nothing.

I know that I love the House Music picnic in Chicago, and it is always held at the same park the weekend after the 4th of July. I checked the website around March for the details, I booked my flight around April, and I booked my hotel around May. Then, I started to let people know of my plan, and one of my friends whom I have known since high school, and she currently lives in San Francisco, will be joining me on that trip. Now, the only plan that we have in Chicago is the House Music picnic, and we will see what else happens. One thing about Chicago is that the downtown is sooooo awesome, you really don't need a plan for every moment, because there is lots to do; biking trails, shopping, the beach etc.

However, I know that I needed a plan and I needed to implement it in order for this trip to take place.

We need plans people........

And, we need a plan for almost every area of our lives, because it is totally irresponsible to let life just happen. Of course things come up, and we will need to adjust our plan, but we still need to have a plan in order to get started.

I plan my workout times to make sure that I do them, I plan what I am going to eat so that I will not end up at some fast-food restaurant, I plan when I will see friends and my Momma, because they are important. (I know that it would be a crime, punishable by death, to have an entire summer off and not spend at least one week with my Momma.) I am already mentally planning for the next school year, I am starting to plan for my century bike ride in October, I am starting to plan for Tuskegee's homecoming that is in November....Plan, Plan, Plan or nothing will happen!

I met with a friend a few weeks back, and we both realized that she had never really sat down and thought about what it is that she wants for her life, and since she does not know, she seems to be running around in circles. We talked about her doing some serious thinking, getting out her comfort zone, and coming up with a plan for her life and implementing it. (Time ain't waiting on us!)

People, we must name what we want, come up with a plan, and go get it.......

I think about how I want my life to look at 50, 60, and 70......and today, I am constantly working the plan to have the life that I want....

People, one thing that I know for sure is that nothing happens without a plan...

Consult your creator, and get to planning and implementing.

Happy "What I Know For Sure" Thursday!