Meeee-shigan

Here we are in the one state where every person carries a map of the state with them....It's their right hand, assuming you're not counting the UP (Upper Peninsula). I love that joke!!! I'm not a big University of Michigan fan since I'm a PSU guy. Also those Detroit Red Wings just beat the Pens in the Stanley Cup finals.

Anyway, the trip up went well and actually pretty fast for a 6+ hour trip. I think the hour I spent listening to the Pittsburgh Pirates Extra Innings Podcast of the potential Jason Bay trade to Tampa Bay or the three-way with Boston and Florida (Oops, neither of those happened). Bay actually ended up in Boston and the Pirates got four players including Adam LaRoche's younger brother. I need to sit down and look at these guys a little more before I give a final opinion on the trade.

Thursday night we grabbed dinner at Bob Evans (evidence of my French Toast for dinner on Beth's blog) and then drove the 56 mile bike course. Friday consisted of a short ride & run for Beth (while I held down the fort) and then a swim in the lake. I'm getting more and more comfortable in open water and am looking forward to trying an Olympic tri next summer. Dinner at Pizza Hut and off to bed.

So, we get to today and the race. We're walking the mile up the beach to the race start and I see the waves and the chop and I am on the verge of pooping my pants. I was scared to think people were going to swim in that and was going back on my thought about doing open water tri's. Sure enough, the waves were fierce enough that they ended up cancelling the swim and doing a 2.1 mile run to start instead.

The race goes off and Beth's first out of the run for her age group with Kim right behind her. I caught Beth & Kim once on the bike with about 3 miles to go and then was up at the Whirlpool campus to catch them a bunch of times on the run. Kim came through first and Beth was a little over a minute behind her. I was surprised at that, but figured that there was still 9 miles left and a lot could happen. And happen it did, as Beth wrapped around the campus I saw her again around mile 5. She was now over 2 minutes behind Kim.

When I saw Beth this time, she looked slow and went down to a knee. I was right there, but didn't want to run up to her and force her to drop out. I stayed back, across the street for about 30 seconds. Then, I went across to where she was and asked her how she was feeling and if anything hurt. She looked done and I wanted her to be done, but didn't want to make that decision for her by helping her up or giving her water or any other outside assistance.

I looked her in the eyes and said, "Do you want me to help you?" She said yes and I immediately gave her water and got the attention of a volunteer who was great and gave her this huge (32 oz or bigger) Gatorade and ice. We walked back to the start and she was bummed. I'll let her give the rest of the story, but I told her that you can't be awesome at EVERY race. People have off days. When we reflected on the great races at St. Anthony's, Columbia, Black Bear, Philly, and NYC, I think she felt a little better. But, you're obviously bummed. I'm sure she'll share her feelings (she's blogging across the table from me at the Panera Bread....not Internet access at our hotel...bad move on my part!).

So, we'll be heading back to PA in the morning with lessons learned and a chance for Beth to recover for her two October races in Dallas and Tempe. I tried to share one of my lessons from my softball game last week......

Softball didn't go well last Tuesday. I/we gave up 21 runs and lost 21-9. It was a team effort on the defensive end of things. I hit 4 batters and got hit hard and the defense wasn't at it's best. One inning, there were three errors committed on ground balls with TWO OUTS--that was a frustrating inning. On the bright side, I went 4 for 5 with a double. Fortunately the playoffs are double elimination so there's still hope. My aunt's in from AZ, so I'm hoping we don't get rained out on Tuesday so she can see the game. She's big into softball and travels to over 50 softball tourneys all over the country.

Next blog from back in PA!