Philly Triathlon & "Down the Shore"

Swim!
Bike!
Run!

Swim, Bike, Run - grueling, but HE DID IT! I wiped tears away each time I stood, trying to find him in the crowd of 1,900 some competitors, knowing why he wanted to do this, but it was great. I think Christi would be proud and with CHOP's oncology unit being the benefactor, it was all a great thing. When Shayne finished and I asked how he was he said, "I've been to hell, after that, this was just a run in the park." (Fairmount Park, actually, was where the triathlon was held. And his reference to hell was made back in September of 2006 when Christi was in tremendous pain and dying and Shayne said after enduring that, he no longer feared hell because it could not be worse.) He did tell me he was fearing "9:00" and thinking he might sink to the bottom of the river during the swim, but he didn't. (Christi died at 9AM and the day before he got his flat time going to his meeting at 9AM. With his divison heading out on the competition at 8:48 he thought by 9AM he might be at the bottom of the river!) He ended up finishing 15 out of his division of 56 and that was something like 551 overall, out of just under 2,000 competitors. His time was 30 minutes longer than the overall winner. He's amazing! When we packed up his things, he drove us "down the shore" to meet up with the wonderful Grant family. Although I do have wonderful memories of Philadelphia, and MANY wonderful people and places we would have liked to have visited, I was happy to get out of that city. (I'll never forget Christi died there, but perhaps with time my great memories will outweigh the terrible ones.)

The Grants treated us to their charming shore house and took us out on a boat ride Saturday afternoon. I think it was my first "real" boat ride and I absolutely LOVED it! Of course, I managed to get in some reading on the beach too as I'm trying to prepare for Question Two. (Unfortunately, question two and three are back to back without a break in between them like after the first one.) Last night we went to dinner at a wonderful place on the beach (or is it the shore?) and then Debbie drove us all around this amazing Wildwood area. Although Shayne brought Shayla here with the Grants last year, I was at a teachers' meeting so this will be my first experience. This quick trip has been fabulous; I just wish Christi were here with us! Last night, Shayla lost her second cannine tooth and while I was happy for her and kept saying, "You said you wanted to lose it in New Jersey," I kept thinking, "Christi only ever lost one cannine tooth, not two." Weird!

Shayne snapped this for my doc committee, just in case they're checking up on me through the blog, they'll see how hard I'm working (wink) as I prepare for Question #2, arriving soon.

BLOGGER MIMI: YES, I will email you "orb" pics; I'm happy to do so. Please email me next week to remind me. They're on my home computer. THANKS!!