It’s the last week before Ironman Florida and Jean is well into her taper. This next week will be short workouts in each discipline (unlike Jean’s normal workout schedule-if the schedule calls for a 1 hour bike then a 2 hour bike will be twice as good). We both have massages scheduled for Tuesday and will leave Wednesday noon for Panama City Beach. We will probably stay near Tallahassee Wednesday night and go on into Panama City Beach Thursday morning (it’s a 7 or 8 hour drive to Panama City Beach from here).

I’m still not driving so Jean has to take me places. My outings (I feel like Grandpa in an outing from the rest home) are to Wal-Mart or the grocery store. Jean is morphing into a Florida driver so I’m hoping to be able to drive soon.

Jean is a shopper and I’m a buyer. When I go to stores I know exactly what I want, make a beeline to it, and check out quickly. When Jean gets into the store her body goes into slow motion. She goes down every aisle looking at everything. It drives me crazy (or crazier depending on your perspective).

My condition changes slowly and will over the next few weeks. I’m sleeping longer, feeling better after exercise, having fewer headaches and fewer body aches. I’m still having some memory problems but I hope they will improve with time (I still don’t want to remember the wreck or the hospital details so don’t tell me what you know). On the plus side, the reruns on TV aren’t reruns to me! I have a slight shake in my right hand but again, on the plus side, when I add cream and sugar to my coffee I don’t have to stir.

One thing bothered me this past week. This summer I spent a couple of hours teaching Kim Evans how to change a tire and how to remove and put on the back wheel (by the way-nice scoop-necked top Kim). Bill Bradley came by and watched for a while. We did it several times (get your mind out of the gutter-I mean put on and took off the rear wheel-besides Bill was watching) and I showed her some of the tricks to put it on quickly in one fluid motion.

Thursday I helped Jean put on her racing wheels and I couldn’t remember how to put on the back wheel. I had the 11 gear on the cassette under and wrapped onto the bottom part of the chain. It was a disaster and I couldn’t figure out how to fix the mess. Jean had to show me how to do it. Jean was patronizing and said it was probably because I hadn’t done it in 8 weeks (again I mean putting on the back wheel) and just forgot. That was kind but I reminded her that I never forgot how to put on the back wheel over a 6 month Michigan winter. And I’m not going to give back the thank you gift from Kim of Bell’s Pale Ale.

I will end on a serious note. Jean has been training hard and does an awesome bike (both true) so everyone expects her to win. That puts a lot of pressure on her. There are 10 women in her age group and a couple of them are back from last year. They are good so it will be a tough race. Some people will look at the Womens 55-59 age group and see one winner and nine losers.

I see things differently. Winners are people like Larry who did the entire Great Floridian with a smile on his face. Winners are like Diane beating Karen Standley for the first time. Winners are like Becky who swam her first Half Ironman swim under the time cutoff. Winners are like Bill who completed the Muncie Endurathon twenty years after he first set it as his goal. Winners are like Gary who told everyone he saw from the team on the run part of the Muncie Endurathon they were “looking good”. Winners are like an un-named racer who finished The Escape From Alcatraz on Fathers Day with his kids all watching and his Dad’s cremation medallion sewn into his back pocket and didn’t care whether he was first or last in his age group. And winners are like Jean who _________ (fill in the blank).

I will send a race report after next weekend.

Jack