Gratitude 07/29/2010
Everyone has now moved on, appropriately so. I still feel compelled to put down some thank you thoughts. Like always, will ramble. First, of course, goes to God. His strength and mercy is motivation in itself. He brought us together and guided us safely. We were just tools for the day. God is good. As for my wife, Sheri...I can't say enough about her. She does all of the dirty work behind the scenes to make this kind of thing happen. She holds the house together through the training and obsessing. I always push her to her limits and she never gives an inch. And when the big day arrives, she shows up ready to tackle any challenge because she knows how important these crazy things are to me. She made the whole trip, awake for the entire time, focused. supportive and cautious. She had the power of veto at any point and didn't take that lightly. She knows more about this stuff than most of the endurance athletes out there. I'm sure that when she married me and we started a family, at no point did she envision the idea of ironman races and ultra events being such a big part of her life, normal (and, unfortunately, daily) conversation. Let's face it, it's a little more work than the normal mom/wife has to deal with. Thank you, Sheri, for being the wife that you are, the mom that you are, and the voice of reason that I so often need to hear, whether I like it or not. Your support and love is unconditional and I thank you so much. Keith Cowart and Rick Tindol get a huge shout out, too. Both of these guys were kind of the heads of the Atl side and the Sav'h side, respectively. Keith would have no part of anything short of being there for the whole trip. And, when he was still considering racing his oly tri on Sunday, I was aghast, and a little concerned, so glad he made the trip and was there for this. I'll make that oly up to ya, maybe even race it next year! Keith will be doing his first Half-Ironman at Augusta70.3 on September 26th, first of many to come, I'm sure. And Rick....Rick heard this idea a long time ago...and as crazy as the idea was, he jumped right into it as if it were normal and reasonable...as if to say 'YEP, COOL, we'll pull that off! No Problem!' Website/route/logistics/driving/unameit...no questions asked, fixed, done, what's next?! Rick is training for the NYC Marathon in November, real excited that he's into the long distance stuff, great trashtalking opportunities! My nephew, Brett Fultz, also made it the whole way from Atl to Tybee at golf cart pace. He did a great job, worked so well with all of the others, very proud of him. He did earn the honor of being the only one who took a nap on the trip, on top of all of our gear. Though a brief nap, he will hear about this forever! He's gonna try the tri thing and knowing Brett the way I do, he'll do it right, a good attitude and stick-to-it-tiveness goes a long way, in sport and in life. Eddie Wilson came with Rick from Sav'h. This marine 'gets' the idea of a challenge, especially when it is applied to a good cause. He has a huge CrossFit challenge that will benefit The Wounded Warrior Project and The Lance Armstrong Foundation, https://rapidgiving.com/fundraising/page/427/going-for-300. Eddie understands that no goal is impossible if it is for a higher purpose or cause! Great to see you Eddie and thanks to Ellen for coming out to support us when we hit Savannah! Chris Hart joined us early and stayed for more than half the trip. As a physician and a triathlete, he was crucial for his judgement on where that 'danger' line was. His background was a security blanket for both Sheri and I, and he nailed that IV when he had to! But, more importantly, he's a great friend and I was honored that he worked his schedule clean just to be a part of this. I look forward to training and racing with Chris in the upcoming seasons. He, also, is prepping for his first Half-Ironman at Augusta70.3 in September. One of the greatest treats of the whole thing was having my son, Evan, chip in for most of the ride. Evan has a ton of other things that he could have been doing, but he chose to be with us and he did a superb job. I will always remember rolling on the bike and taking bottle handoffs from E. He'll see it as no big deal, but I see it as a privilege, and I will cherish it as only a dad can. Thanks Evan, very proud of you. Zack and Lauren came down and gave us several good hours. And they helped by giving E a ride to Nana's to catch some sleep before the home stretch. I know they think we're nuts, but I think they dig that, too! Thanks ya'll. Others who joined in for the trip were Ben Bondeson and his son, and Joaquin Marrero. Each of these guys helped pace me on run and bike, respectively. Great to have ya'll around. Jim Stone and Michael Hickey, also, came down to throw some support out there. Thank you for the help. Joanie and Jerry, thanks for all of the support and help. Thanks for putting the crew up the night during and also giving us a place to crash for a few hours after, until we had to head home. No man alive could ask for better in-laws. You guys mean so much to me. I need to thank Kim Cowart, Michelle Hart, Kris Tindol, and Ellen Wilson, also. We all lead very busy lives with family and work. And for these women to give their blessing to their husbands to go away for the weekend to help with this was a huge sacrifice in itself. Chores, errands, daily activities carried on and they took it upon themselves to carry the load while we were out putzin' around rural Georgia. Thank you so much. Chris Settles dropped off his magnetized safety strobe light the night before. This was nice to have on the top of the truck, 'cuz I don't know if I could take anymore of the flashers. MThanks, Chris. And to John Steiner for riding with me over the last 20 (?) minutes into Tybee. Ironically, John is the fella who introduced me to this sport. And, he was kind enough to let us crash at his beach house right after we finished, until we were stable enough to drive back to Nana & Papa's. Thanks, John. A special thank you to Kim White for all of her help with the flyers and graphics. It was so nice of her to donate her time and energy to this, very kind. Her work was 'top shelf' and I highly recommend her if you need anything done in the graphics world, http://www.chicgraphicdesign.com/. Thanks, Kim. To an old friend, Robbie Byrd, and all of the fine officers that escorted us in from Statesboro to Tybee, thank you. That was very exciting a special treat, not to mention how safe it made it! And Dad, thanks for the support and believing in us. I know that the task at hand seemed a little too big at times, but, in God's will, we 'gotter dun'! Thanks for the hard work, talking it up all over Savannah. Mom would be proud. And to everyone else out there who donated time, $, and prayers, thank you so much for helping this ragtag crew pull off something this nutty for a GREAT cause! I believe that we did get that kick into cancer's gut! One good shot was all I asked for and ya'll did GREAT! THANK YOU SO MUCH! CommentsWed, 27 Oct 2010 01:38:27 Cosmic beautiful, Because the love of god, Flowers are beautiful, Because of love, The sky is greenery is beautiful, Because BaiYunZhi love, Earth is beautiful, Because the love of friends! My good wishes, Through the space sent to you! Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:20:26 MeiLanJu bamboo can achieve, piano, chess, Calligraphy and painting can contented feeling. ChangYuan storage space, Internet friendship everlasting message. Friend is more walk more wide, message is connected to two lines, The space is common to see, The virtual world show love. Fri, 29 Oct 2010 02:20:20 Truth is better than a thousand gold pieces, a warm WanLiHan frost, Can arrive a salute sent sweet, A salute all take my thoughts, Busy day take good care of yourself all gold and silver, A LuBao from a prairie greetings, Bring me fragrant smell. From the north's blessing, Let me feel friendship is precious. Leave a Reply | C. HardbeckJust an average joe, diggin' the multisport lifestyle, tryin' to take a one time punch at cancer. ArchivesJuly 2010 CategoriesAll |
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