Perseverance

My friend Megan and I have been riding our bikes to school for the last couple of weeks. It's a great little half hour ride and I really enjoy it. Except for one thing. Well two really. The Hills. On the way to school there is a really long hill coming out of the river valley, it's long because it's switchback. On the way home there's a short but oh-so-steep hill coming out of the other side of the river valley. I can make it up the long switchback hill, but the whole time I'm thinking "oh my goodness, I just need to stop. I should just get off and walk. I should just walk" Even though I know that I can do it.
The funny thing about going up the hill is that in order to not focus on how exhausting it is I let my mind wander to the strangest of things. Like today for example, I was thinking to myself "Yesterday when I went around this corner what was I thinking?" I never did remember.
Then, the hill going home is brutal. Each day I've gotten a bit further up the hill before I've had to give up, and today I made it almost to the very top, but just had to stop before the end.
The interesting thing this time was that when going up that hill today I was thinking about perseverance. I was wondering if I have any. Does the fact that I wanted to stop and walk so badly mean that I have no perseverance? Or does the fact that I kept on going anyway mean that I do in fact have perseverance? Is perseverance doing something because I really want to quit??
I'm not really sure, but I will say that the feeling each time I go a little further is fantastic. And the feeling as I fly down the switchback hill and look out across the river is thrilling.

But the best part is going past the Equine Centre and smelling the horses, wet trees, and wild roses.