I called some of you race day and night and some of you have already heard. Some have talked with Jean already and I’m sure some have talked to Diane, Becky and Bill who were also there. Since I’m writing this I’m sure my version is the correct one.

Jean finished the race in 12:58:54 and was third in her age group (a very competitive group of women). She is not only an Ironman but a WINNER as well (force her to show you her medal, t-shirt and trophy).

Here’s the race from my perspective.

The day was beautiful and the Gulf of Mexico (Jean called it the ocean) was fairly calm. There was a chop from a pretty good wind. The swim course was laid out in a rectangle. Everyone had to swim one loop (1.2 miles), go through a counter (chip mat), angle over to a buoy and do the loop again. I felt the angle was poorly marked and the swim course was not well staffed by volunteers. I would estimate that we saw at least 300 racers not going toward the buoy but swimming up the center of the course cutting plenty of distance. Jean found herself past the buoy so she swam back and went around it so she wouldn’t get a penalty but it cost her time. None of the other 299 did and none of them were penalized.

The bike course was fairly flat and Jean tore it up. She beat the others in her age group and passed over 500 other racers. The ladies that ended up 1 and 2 were very competitive, had been to Kona before, and knew where everyone was. They were afraid of Jean and when they met on the out and back run they said hi and “AWESOME BIKE” and it was.

The run was a 2 loop out and back and Jean kept a steady pace. She had blisters on each foot and one toe that was a mess with an ugly blood blister. She was smiling and happy every time we saw her and was thrilled to finish in such good condition.

She had a revelation on the bike that she was done swimming in salt water and wanted to enter bike races (and probably will). Diane has some digital pictures and Bill has some film pictures so see them for a look. I will send some out to people not from Hastings. Some are from the awards banquet with Jean on stage in front of 1500 people.

As for my recovery I’m feeling good. This will be the last report unless you talk to me and ask. I feel I’m no worse now than Diane’s achilles, Martin’s foot/ankle, Becky’s ankle, and on and on. So I’m “Just Jack” now, not “Poor Jack”. I intend to start swimming again today or tomorrow and will jog tomorrow morning. The bike will be after the doctor’s OK. I started driving on the way to Panama City Beach and I’m driving all the time now (Thank God I don’t have to ride with Jean driving anymore). Jean had driven to Lake City (2 and 1/2 hours) and we had lunch at Bennigans. I took the wheel there and drove the rest of the way to Panama City Beach (4 more hours) and felt good.

When I first started driving I saw hallucinations but they went away. I backed out of the parking spot, put it in gear and saw a fire truck right in front of us being backed into the driveway. There was a bevy of large chested Hooters girls wearing very skimpy outfits (they looked nearly naked to me) climbing all over the fire truck with a group of men ogling and taking their pictures (fire truck-naked women-is there a Freudian dream analyst out there?). I drove right through the mess and the hallucination went away.

We found a motel to stay in and went to dinner at an Outback Steakhouse. When we came back I asked Jean to help me find the right driveway to turn into because it had gotten dark and it was my first real day of driving. I started to turn into the Best Western drive and she said I was in the wrong one and I should turn in the Hampton Inn driveway (we had checked into the Best Western a couple of hours earlier so she must have been testing my memory).

My brain accident difficulties must be contagious. We all went out to breakfast Sunday morning after the race at an American Grill. They had a fair breakfast buffet so we all got that. Jean came back with a huge helping of butter. I jokingly asked her how her pudding tasted and she said “Is something wrong with it?” as she tasted it with her fork. Apparently she didn’t see the 4″ x 8″ sign right above it that said BUTTER and said she thought it was vanilla pudding.

I still have some outbursts. A teenage kid was playing with the elevators and, as he got off he  punched the buttons on every floor-15 floors-so the elevator had to stop on each floor and took forever. As he walked by I said “Nice job asshole”, followed after him and called him an asshole again. I never do anything like that. My mother washed my mouth out with soap so maybe I won’t do it again.

I checked my luggage and found both of my lock box keys in with my toothpaste. The lock box is in Michigan and everyone at the bank knows me so no one could have gotten in even with the keys. Apparently I locked the file cabinet in my computer room, taped the key to a piece of paper and brought it to Florida in my shaving bag (there’s nothing really important in the file cabinet). I also have a file pocket folder with a bunch of useless papers (I must have thought they were important) in with my laptop computer. Coupling that with Jean telling me that I tried to tip a nurse $10.00 at Spectrum Hospital in Grand Rapids because she was doing such a good job, I think I still need a babysitter.

We will be in Michigan for Thanksgiving and then who knows where for Christmas.

Happy Veteran’s Day, veterans.

Just Jack