For the love of God can someone please stop this ride and LET ME OFF! In the past 7 days I have cried like a baby and been so very mad at the big guy upstairs, laughed out loud, wanted to beat the ever-loving crap out of someone, and have wanted to do a cartwell I was so happy. Maybe I should change my name to Sybil. Let's hit the training highlights first. Weds I had the pleasure of running in Stewartstown, PA, home of my lovely cousin Chris and as far as I can tell nothing else but alpacas and cows. I did indeed see both while I was there. I had 8 miles to do and let me say if I lived there I would be very well trained for Lake Placid. Holy Hills Batman. I was topping out at 966 ft according to my Garmin where as back here in flat-ass Mass I am lucky to hit 144 ft. Thurs I had a weird run where I had to keep my HR at a certain number while running two miles on a track. That wasn't hard but what WAS hard was not being able to pass the old guy running on the track with me. Come on. I was clearly faster than him but not allowed to get my HR rate up so he kept getting further and further away from me. As soon as my two miles were up I took off like a bat out of hell and zipped passed him and then left the track to finish out my 6 mile run on the streets.
Sat featured a 90 min trainer ride followed by an hour run. Kerry and I did the run together and it was so good to be able to talk to her and vent about my week. All was well until 45 mins in when we ran into this
OMG. We were running on a paved bike path when her illegally non-leashed dog took off running toward us. The dog cut right in front of me and I damn near tripped over the thing. Crazy Dog Lady (CDL) was doing the "Oh honey come back here" thing. The dog kept running in front of us so I told her to contol her damn dog which sent her into a tailspin about how this was our fault!!! We should have stopped. So Kerry nicely informed CDL that there was a leash law in Salem and we were certainly not at fault. CDL then started yapping about the Human Law. UMMM WHAT???? We continued to yell back and forth at each other all the while continuing our run. It took every single ounce of self-control in my and Kerry's body to not beat the crap out of that psycho woman. In fact I was pissed off over that all day. Sunday was the big day. Century ride. I was sick to my stomach and shaking the entire drive to the start. In fact when we went to stand in line to check in I dutifully got in the line marked A-F just as Kerry was saying we had to stand in the same line. I was confused since Kerry's last name is Murphy so I set her straight and said Kerry you are in the G-N line. She then informed me that my last name started with H and I too was going to have to stand in the G-N line. OOPS...told you I was a nervous wreck. After the first hour I settled in and began to enjoy the ride. When all was said and done I rode 105.2 miles yesterday in 6hr and 10 mins of riding time. Most importantly I crossed a major mental hurdle. It felt very good to get that accomplished. For more ride details see Kerry's blog. I did 15 hours of training this week so I am very glad today is a recovery day.
I went to Baltimore this week to see David. It was a whirlwind trip and certainly jam-packed full of emotion. It was wonderful to see him and get to spend time with him. He still has that family sarcasm and humor which is great. So much about that trip just made me mad. This wasn't how his life was supposed to be. He was an engineer with a great career, a beautiful wife and son. A life full of promise. He should be golfing, watching Collin play, taking vacations, working on his beautiful home not confined to a bed. MAD AND PISSED OFF. Aunt Lorrie, Uncle Jim, Chris and Susan should not have to watch their son/brother slip away. They have been down this road before . Why them again? MAD AND PISSED OFF. I cried when I left there which isn't too unusual. What is unusual is that I continued to cry IN PUBLIC. Let's face it....I am the person in the family who takes care of everyone else and then goes to some private place and breaks down alone. NOPE..not this time....cried at the gate waiting for my flight, cried on the shuttle back to my car, cried in my car on the way home, cried when I got home etc etc. All I can say is despite being pissed off and mad at God I am thankful he has given us such a close family for support and comfort. Love you all.
Sorry about the crazy dog lady Dee! Glad you didn't get mauled though. Also glad that your ride was a success-again I need to say how amazing you are!!! My weekend in Baltimore with David was bittersweet-so grateful to have gotten to spend that time with him and the rest of the family. It was truly wonderful to laugh with everyone. A lot of tears too! It just doesn't make sense though. David does still have a great sense of humor and that made me feel somewhat happy! I love each and every one of you and am so thankful to have you as family!!!
ReplyDeleteLove you all
Jacki
I too am thanking God for your sucessful ride, I sure prayed a lot about that one...p.s. lets just be thankful I did not encounter the freaking crazy dog lady, it would have been ugly...onto this family and our experiences....I say it all the time but this journey this weekend has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is nothing in this life I cherish more than all of you, it was the most loving thing I have ever experienced, I didnt want to leave Davids...I would have stayed there with him and helped take care of him if I could have...there was soo much laughter and soo much sadness, and some people may not understand that but we certainly do. I am soo thankful we have all had this opportunity to express our unconditional love to David and just to let him know that we were there. I am thankful and so full of love for each and every one of you.
ReplyDeleteI am so stupid! When I read that you ran in Stewartstown, PA, I thought "Oh how nice that she had a race there. I wonder if she let Chris know so that she could see her." Duh - you were staying at her house!! I repeat - I am so stupid!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your Century Ride. You are amazing - but maybe you should try to fit some more schooling in so you can learn what letter your name starts with. Just a suggestion!
I am truly amazed every day (but never surprised) with how our family throws love and support around like it is nothing. What other families could manage to get 16 aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws to converge in one place on short notice over the span of two weeks to show the love and support they have for one another? NONE! Mom, Dad, Chris and I will get through this because we have no other choice. However without all of you being by our sides, we would not be able to get through this in one piece. I will NEVER be able to express how much I love each and every one of you.
You have had way more than your share of psychological turmoil since we signed up for this thing. I'm sorry I couldn't hang in there with you for longer on our century ride. I'm amazed at how brave and tough you've been throughout our training. I know I would not have come back from that accident so quickly!
ReplyDeleteMaybe when all this is over you'll decide to be a Zen Buddhist. Or maybe a bounty hunter.
Deanne, What can I say about the love and support you, Jacki, Tracie and your Mom have given us in the last weeks.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine going through this without the help of our wonderful family. For all the cousins and Aunts and Uncles to come and show the Love they have for David is overwhelming. It is the stuff that keeps us going..
I must admit I had the exact same thought as Susan when I read about your Stewartstown experience. Go figure.
Also enjoyed the tribute to your wonderful Mom and my wonderful sister Dee. She's truly one in a million. Who else would clean house for something to do while I was taking care of David!!
Love you all!!!