Ghost

The Ghost

RAAM 2005-  The Race Across America is not just a bike race.  There is so much more to it then just riding a bike especially if you are on a team.  There is lots of drama in this race.  There was lots of drama in 2005 with a full crew of rookies that were all getting paid. 

The Ghost-  My crew and I actually chased a ghost for about 10 minutes.  It was sometime after the Mississippi in the mid afternoon. When you are on a team your sleep breaks are short.  I remember getting woke up at weird times to get on the bike.  I was unable to sleep most of the race from the anxiety of needing to get up.  My crew also had to sleep at weird times if they did.  I stayed in my crew vehicle most of the trip unless I took a shower.  I got off the bike one afternoon and we drove ahead to the where the next transition was supposed to take place.  Brad and Peter were in the front and I was in the back.  We all nodded off in the hot sun.  Brad woke up and hit the dash board waking me and Peter up.  He said " I just saw our rider go by."  We were freaking out disappointed that we missed the transition.  I started putting my helmut and shoes on while drinking a red bull.  Peter started the car and we started driving frantically down the road.  We were all stilll half asleep.  Brad was so out of it he could not tell if we were on course with the GPS.  I got to wondering why the RV was not at the transition.  Trust me.... the RV was always at the transition when the teammate got off the bike or they would of been in big trouble.  Peter swore that he saw the rider also so we kept going looking for the teammate and his crew.  We decided to call the RV to see where they were.  They were still an hour down the road and so was my teammate. It turned out that we had only slept for about 10 minutes and we were chasing a ghost.  Peter and Brad had both hallucinated. We laughed until tears came out of our eyes.  I never saw the ghost but they swore they saw the teammate go by.  I guess you could say this was one sleep break that got ruined! RAAM can get pretty crazy!

Healthy Lubbock-  I attended our first board meeting for the year.  We have 5 commitees formed and I am only going to sit on one of them.  The "get fit Lubbock" committee will be just fine without me.  We are starting a "task force" to work on the obesity in kids.  Lubbock is number 2 in the nation with obesity in kids.  I can believe it!  I eat lunch at a grocery store that the high school kids eat at.  I predict most of kids are freshmen since they are not in their cars. I have not seen one that I would call skinny.  I am not sure what the attraction is with a fat teen sitting down with her "whales tail" hanging out. (That is when the pants slide off the butt and their underwear is showing). This seems to be the trend here in Lubbock.  I would love to sit on all the commitees but my goal is kids for now.

5 year plan-  now that I am not planning huge races like RAAM I have been able to think about goals outside of racing.  I suppose I had to many personal goals as well.   The past month I have been researching what I want to do for a career.  The career is still corporate wellness and I am excited about the classes coming up.  I will massage until this career takes off. Motivational speaking is not going to be my career.  My goal is to speak to juvinile teens so see if I can't make a difference.  This is my volunteer work that I want to do.  Sure if someone cuts me a big fat check I will take it but I want to do this regardless.  I am passionate about the obesity in teens but there are lots of people worried about that.  I can help the Healthy Lubbock task force commitee with that.  Individually I can make a difference with the trouble makers.  I did some speaking engagements last year to "trouble makers" and I felt the most reward from this.  I am in conact with the person that will put me in front of "trouble makers."  The book will help me with my motivational speaking goal. That is the purpose for the book.  The past month I have spent hours on the computer reserching college and other options and I do have some of my crazy ideas illuminated and a plan.  I guess I just needed some time to figure out all of this.  I just needed to figure out where I can make the most difference.  I will be taking time for school this year rather then training camps.

Rat on a wheel-  I had a long ride planned today but I was not motivated this morning to sit on the trainer.  I decided to take care of some things this morning before the meeting.  I did however get to hop on the mountain bike for about 40 minutes before work.  There was a guy that told me it was slick.  I was like a rat on an excercise wheel going up some of the hills.  There were lots of times that my wheels were spinning in one place.  I could only do it for so long before I would loose balance and have to put my foot down.  I was not biking very good today but I did get out for a little while.  Mountain biking is just not ever going to be my thing.  I am doing it for a change.

Grandad is calling me for our evening peanut butter and cracker.  He has not noticed that I quit eating out of the same jar.  Perhaps because he does not see his drool falling into it.  He mentioned he was glad to have me around and that felt pretty cool!

Thanks for reading

2 Comments

Jan 10 2008, shanna