Jason

Jason is the son-in-law of my friend Amma. The husband of my friend Lucas. He died on the second day of August last year after a tragic, freak accident, and his death literally changed my life.... I'm not sure anybody really understands how much. I wrote the following as a comment on one of Amma's recent blog posts at Tribe.net, and then decided I wanted to have it here, too.

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On Saturday I "broke the rules" and had a swim workout the day before a race. I needed to expend some energy and use the rhythmic motions to zone out and process everything that's happened in this past year... everything that began when Jason died, and swimming was the least stressful of the three for the job. I've said this before, but pretty much everything I've done since then has been a direct result of the messages I received loud and clear in the wake of Jason's death.

We have to live life like there is no tomorrow... not in fear but with joy and a mindfulness of all of the gifts we receive and have the opportunity to give, if we'll do it. We need to savor everything. It almost seems paradoxical to say "move slowly, savor everything, live mindfully," at the same time as, "live like there is no tomorrow!" Haste is not the answer. Rushing doesn't slow things down. Nothing slows down the inevitable, but slowing down means you see everything between here and there.

Yes, I made last year's resolution and planned my trip to Madrid before Jason died, but I lived the trip so differently than I would have otherwise. For this year's resolutions, I decided to take some chances I normally would not take. Risked some things that I would hate to lose. But in doing so I stretched my horizons and have turned into a more patient, more accessible person. I live with much less fear and far more faith that things will find their right place eventually.

When I signed up [last winter] for the race I participated in last Sunday, I honestly did not make the connection that it would be the day after the anniversary of Jason's death. But it was oh, so fitting to have him on my mind. The gifts he's given me this year I can never repay, but I am so grateful for them.

SheROX 2008 is History

I had the best day. The race I've been training for over the past 8 months is finally done, and now I look ahead to my first half-marathon.

SheROX was a blast. Eben (in the photo with me) got up at 4a.m. and came with us. Dave & Eben brought their bikes and rode all around, cheering for me in at least five different places, and there were lots of people from the clubs that I train with there, too, racing and/or cheering and marking up the pavement with all sorts of fun slogans and drawings.

And dang if it wasn't another beautiful race day! I even wore a jacket for about the first hour there. They allowed wet suits at the very last minute, and that was interesting. I actually had to *think* about it before I decided to wear it. I'm glad I did. It was my first time racing in a wet suit (the only other time I've raced a tri they weren't allowed because the water was too warm), but it only took me 23 seconds to get the thing off in transition (and probably three extra seconds to make the effort to check my watch!).

I was FIRST!! .... Well ... first into the porta-pots in the transition area! I've never seen a clean porta-pot before. First time for everything, huh?

Results: They're still revising them, but as of this posting I was 14th out of 112 in my age group and I improved in both my swim and bike. Best of all, today I feel great! No injuries! I can move ahead with training for the Distance Run. Dave told me that the thing that he thinks ROX is that I was 163rd out of 1,211 (as of earlier today). Well, whatever! I'm just happy to be happy!

I've posted some pictures... The one at the top is right after I got my body marked. They put your race number on your arms and legs and your age on your right calf. That way, if you're 45 and you're trying to catch someone on the run, but you see she's only 28, you can just let her go, cause she's not in your age group! You can't see the smiley face I had the volunteer draw on my left calf. I liked the idea when I saw it on Steve Stenzel's blog, so I stole it!

This one is my transition set up....

I had a primo slot in transition because I got there really early. Lots of tri-friends checked out my set-up and gave me a thumbs up. Less is definitely more!

Dave took this photo of the swim at about the time my wave got in the "pool."

Isn't it a beautiful day? Oh, it's a myth that you'll drown if you smile while you swim! And for this race, it seems everyone was told to swim to the outside to avoid the crowds. So I swam way inside, close to the buoys and never ONCE had anyone on my feet. Everyone was way off to my left, so my breathing side was clear, too!

Here's the swim exit, facing east. You can see part of the inflatable arch that was easy to sight from the water.

In fact, the arch, the huge inflatable orange buoys and the triangle-shaped huge inflatable orange buoys at the places where you turn right (always right turns, always the buoys are on the right... heaven for right-breathers like me), made this feel a bit like pre-school!

But, you'll see how steeply the beach dives into the water. It was a rocky, steep climb out of the water, and before you ever touched bottom a volunteer grabbed your arm and hoisted you out.

This is the view south from the swim exit, the view we saw on the longest part of the swim, if we felt like looking up.

Did I mention what a gorgeous day it was?

I can't wait to get more pictures. Everybody had a camera. You can always depend on women to be sure there are photos!